Dr Ahmad Ibrahim in his article, “Pull the plug on misleading ads” (NST, March 18) raised the need to pay attention to rebranding, where marketers create products by sourcing the products from wholesale manufacturers and suppliers and just repack the products and stamp on their brands. As a result, consumers bear the brunt of the abuse.
He had cautioned that becoming a developed nation should reflect a balance of interest between marketers and consumers, and not a situation where consumers’ interests are sidelined and marketers have free rein.
Essentially, products serve a consumer’s need, therefore advertising is necessary to communicate the information to the consumer. In practise, it depends on how the advertiser puts the inconspicuous details, ideas and feelings to
affect the subconscious level of
the consumer.
Information creates perceptions that can differ in meaning and understanding. What is construed as information by the advertiser may appear as scam to the consumer, and what is relevant to the advertiser may seem like puffery (exaggeration) to the consumer. Product information is seldom complete and puffery is used for appeal.
It fails in legitimacy when there is deliberate use of misleading, biased and distorted information. Information can be seen as deceptive when it amounts to deliberately lying to the consumer or masses. For the consumer, product information is not confined to function alone as it also has a social, psychological and economic value.
In the marketing world, only four words matter, “source”, “market to sell”, “convince” and “influence”. The distribution channels and networks link the source and market. Coded information is used to convince and influence is created through personal selling. For example, “Viagra” reached the market through personal selling via the network of teachers and doctors.
Marketing’s competitive advantage is that there is no content audit. Content quality is also disregarded. This allows them to dominate the share of conversation and storytelling.
When unsound and unscientific product information dominates the environment, such parity marketing causes distractions and dislodges the mind as the marketing goal is to “put the information inside the consumers’ head”.
Some of the supportive marketing tactics that affect consumers greatly are contract terms, making an offer upfront, not revealing the hidden costs, not addressing the main issues, focusing on minute details, giving opposing views, being overtly negative and intimidation. Thus, marketing professionals, using their creativity in a subtle way, adopt positional marketing (a game theory approach that builds an impersonal and dispassionate mindset) resulting in arguments in society because slowly the voice of the consumer is silenced.
Marketing is primarily a one-way communication where information revealed is sometimes based on personality, hidden agendas, manipulation, refusals and threats.
Marketing communication is a resource that is available to anyone and that makes it easy to pass information, ideas and feelings to market their products. How communication is used in advertising and marketing depends on the value system of the business or organisation.
In marketing, there are subtle ideas being thrown about for self-gain. Unless there is a governing policy of affirmative disclosure, and a legal requirement, the advertiser is not obliged to provide information that may be of interest to the consumer.
This creates a harsh environment of “marketing myopia”, an inward-looking approach where the focus is solely on the needs of the company or business.
Is marketing a way for someone to become financially strong by doing something morally wrong?
MENA JEYARAM,
Subang Jaya, Selangor