[External Blog] Is every story a manipulation?
Following the ethics post and lecture, I stumbled on this marketing blog post by Tom Cleeland that was motivated by a video by documentary maker Ken Burns. The post highlights an idea that you don’t realize at first until someone else has told you. The idea is that ‘manipulation is present in every story whether we like it or not’ which makes advertising in its purest form manipulation. Whether through social media, commercials, or posters, it’s easy to try to tell story and to craft an ‘emotional hook’. This gets the viewers engaged and moved, even sometimes to tears.
The question becomes if advertising is manipulation, when is this okay and when is it not? In Tom’s perspective, “manipulation is okay when it’s rooted in the fabric of the story we’re telling and not rooted in a sales pitch or promise.” He then elaborates on a commercial about a little boy waiting anxiously for Christmas to give his parents a present. The ending of the ad is touching and relatable to everyone who knows the joy and love that the Christmas spirit brings.
In my opinion, telling a story and influencing people to take action in a positive way is perfectly reasonable. But of course, like everything in life, there needs to be a balance.
A slightly different example I can think of is the ads run by the Canadian Cancer Society. As I volunteer with the organization, I was recently sifting through their ad campaigns on YouTube to pick out specific videos and found many that stood out for me.
The focus of many of their campaigns is to tell a story and find ways to connect and relate in viewers. In a way, the Society manipulates viewers to recall their own experiences and feel a sense of sympathy for those who suffer or relief that they are healthy. But the end result of these advertisements, the positive impact the organization makes on people’s lives, and the change they bring is more substantial than trying to make a sales pitch. I know the organization’s mission and values and therefore can trust their advertisements, but this may not hold true for other organizations.
