Marketing lessons from govt reaction to violence

That by trying to advertise to any sort of mass market consumer by simply saying “ We Care” falls on deaf ears. The consumer has developed beyond swallowing marketing platitudes.

The headline in today's (Tuesday, 27 May 2008) edition of The Times says it all: “Mbeki Speech Flops.”

Not just words

The reaction of local communities, refugees, foreign nationals and just about every South African who was horrified and shamed by the violence, was quite simply that they don't just want words of condemnation from politicians. They don't want sympathetic mutterings and they don't want politicians or anyone else grandstanding with tub-thumping speeches about how disgustingly some South Africans have behaved.

They want promises and they want action.

Promises

In exactly the same way as the modern consumer is not interested in advertisements telling them how wonderful products are and how companies care. They want promises about what advertisers will do if their product or service expectation ns are not met. What they will do is products are faulty.

The past two weeks has been an eye-opener in terms of consumer behaviour. The people committing acts of unspeakable violence are also consumers. Those people who reacted to the violence with abhorrence and disgust are also consumers.

For once marketers should resist the temptation to bury their heads in the sand in the belief that all the violence was completely unrelated to the commercial world.

Consumers have sent out a very clear marketing message.