We’ve noticed a trend in advertising recently: More and more, big brands are incorporating humanitarian messages into their advertising—with varying degrees of success. For example, this Heineken ad unites people from opposite ends of the political spectrum to highlight their similarities over their differences. As this marketing trend becomes more common, we’d like to pause for a moment and ask whether these moral statements represent the values of the company, or are a form of insincere branding used purely to increase their brands’ reach, attract viewers and ultimately increase their bottom line.
Unpacking “Moral” Ads
Let’s start with the Heineken ad. You can see how the commercial might leave viewers with a warm and fuzzy feeling, as people who seem destined to hate each other bond through conversation. It’s even been called the “antidote” to the ill-fated Pepsi ad, which was negatively received (to say the least). But does Heineken’s ad actually help the cause it claims to support? Criticisms of the ad note that portraying bigotry as a difference of opinions is an oversimplification that can be very harmful to marginalized groups. In an attempt to display morality, the ad normalizes discrimination as merely another point-of-view. Considering Heineken is doing all this to sell beer, the move could actually be considered pretty shameful.
It’s no coincidence that the Heineken ad came on the heel of the Pepsi ad debacle. Heineken didn’t create the “Open Your World” ad randomly out of the goodness of their hearts: it was a competitive business move provoked by the Pepsi blunder. There is a clear motive behind the timeliness of their “social justice” campaign. If you think the move is more than a little fishy, consider using InsincereBranding.Sucks to make your case.
The Heineken ad actually does point to a potential solution: the Human Library Partnership. Much like the ad itself, this social organization works to bring people of different backgrounds and cultures together to talk and share. Despite its follies, Heineken is at least offering viewers a direction to channel their social action. So, perhaps things aren’t as black-and-white as they seem—but we’re not rushing to buy Holland’s favorite green-bottled lager just yet.
But Surely Not All “Good” Ads are Bad…?
Another social marketing trend is companies giving to charities when patrons buy from them, like the snacks company Project 7, and popular slip-on shoe company TOMS shoes. Sure we can appreciate the gesture, but this is another overtly consumerist tactic to increase profits. This approach has been met with mixed reviews—many critics suggest that it masks the symptoms of social issues without addressing the real problems (e.g. buy shoes instead of combating poverty). If you can think of a better way to address poverty in your community, the premium domain Poverty.Sucks could be a springboard for your own social action campaign.
A Better Equation
Some brands have come pretty close to figuring out the equation for the perfect marketing/activism balance. For example, Twitch, an online video streaming service, supports the Games Done Quick fundraising event, where highly-skilled video game aficionados compete for world records or just show off the latest and greatest in the world of “speedrunning” (short and sweet: playing games very quickly, often exploiting glitches and bugs).
The past few events have raised money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders. As a host of these livestreams, Twitch gets increased traffic on their site and media attention. But rather than structuring a commercial around their brand with the charity as a punctuation mark, they leave their presence in the background and let the nonprofits “advertise”. The charity, the amount of money raised and the volunteers (players, organizers, tech specialists, announcers) are center stage while the folks at Twitch stay out of the spotlight, letting their presence be felt through their support.
The Takeaway
So is there a non-manipulative way to leverage a brand’s marketing presence to do good? Or are brands all destined to be heartless and self-serving? Share your stance with a domain like Heartlessness.Sucks.
Think there’s a larger discussion to be had? Join the conversation with a custom .SUCKS domain today.
Photo credit: Shutterstock / Lee Snider Photo Images, Shutterstock / OlegDoroshin, Shutterstock / Minerva Studio
