“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” – George Orwell, 1984
If marketing is an effective tool to communicate the true value of goods and services available to consumers, it can also be effective in misleading consumers.
The image below is an advertisement from America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) aiming to promote natural gas. In front of an image of a blue sky and a beautiful landscape are six words that ‘jump’ out of the page so as to attract the viewer’s attention. One can immediately feel oneself breathing in the fresh air of the mountains while six simple words resonate in the background: “Protecting air… Preserving land… Protecting water…”
After drifting into the utopia illustrated in this advertisement, the viewer notices the entity’s logo and name in capital letters: AMERICA’S NATURAL GAS.
Soon thereafter, the association between the image & words and the logo & name has been formed and ingrained in the viewer’s mind. He/She is now inclined to believe that natural gas is a rather clean source of energy.
This, however, is most definitely misleading. Those who have researched hydraulic fracturing – the method by which natural gas is extracted – can attest that it is by no means an environmentally friendly process. The truth is, it is impossible to extract natural gas without releasing copious amounts of methane into the atmosphere while pumping highly polluting chemicals mixed with water deep into the soil.
(I invite you to compare and contrast the attached advertisement with the trailer for the documentary “Gasland,” which deals with the consequences of hydraulic fracturing)
I believe this example illustrates how marketing and ethics are intrinsically inter-linked. Here, AGNA represents the interests of profit-maximizing firms such as Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) and is not as interested in the realities surrounding natural gas. AGNA’s objective is to convince consumers that natural gas is in fact “natural” gas while consumers are misled to support an activity which will in actuality harm their “air, land [and] water” at the expense of a few firms’ profit.
