BC politics are not something that I follow often (and neither do most of my peers I would presume), but something that always intrigued me in politics in general were the “attack advertisements” or “political bullying”, especially during the recent election in May 2013.

Let’s take a look at just the NDP and Liberal parties. On one side,  Adrian Dix (NDP) said he was running a “positive campaign”, but from the ads targeted at the BC liberals on the NDP YouTube page that heavily criticize the Liberals, I feel like that wasn’t truly the case.  On the other side, the “Concerned Citizens for BC” (BC Liberal supporters) posted extremely negative and personal attack ads on Adrian Dix and the NDP.

I feel that attack ads break marketing ethics because of its damaging and slanderous attitudes presented, and the negative effects it has on both the people running, and the voters’ opinions.

Attack ads intentionally try to mislead voters by shaping negative images of the competition. In marketing terms, instead of creating value or benefits (which makes a successful platform in business), I feel like attack ads create the opposite – high cost. For example, personally I felt a sense of fear – “Will such terrible things really happen if he/she gets elected?” I also felt apathy – “Both candidates are so terrible. I really don’t care who wins.”

Instead of satisfying customers’ (voters’) needs, attack ads intend to force voters to form a pessimistic opinion about the competition. These kinds of advertisements might be allowed in politics, but if they were transferred to other markets, it would likely cause an outcry. For example, imagine if Tim Cook (Apple’s CEO) ran attack ads on Samsung and Kwon Oh Hyun (CEO).

To sum it up, I find attack ads in politics unethical because: it causes direct harm to competitors, negatively manipulates the feelings of viewers about someone/something, and the advertisements may not be telling the whole truth or over-exaggerates facts to misled people. Essentially, it’s like expensive bullying – on the grand stage of local BC politics.

Extra stuff

A video showing an example of unethical marketing: Christy Clark Deceives Public by Disguising Ad as a News Story

An article about Liberal attack ads: http://bc.ctvnews.ca/latest-liberal-attack-ad-targets-dix-s-memo-gate-defence-1.1273482