My first interaction with controversial marketing was banned commercials on YouTube with a collection of downright hilarious videos. As digital advertisers become more consumer friendly, physical advertising is a different game. It’s true too – studies have shown that as with the decline of television and print, everyone is moving to smaller more personal screens, and advertisements are becoming ineffective.
Let’s start with the Sony Playstation Portable campaign. Sony decides to release a white version of the PSP as opposed to the regular black one and decide to use color as a theme. The ad shows a Caucasian female in a white dress and a black male in a black suit in an intense confrontation with the female dominating the man. The execution of this ad was not in poor taste – objectively, it’s actually a celebration of races. By defining who upends who has cultural blow back, that’s where the problem is for this campaign. The past of subjugation and slavery are a sore topic for modern culture even though it still exists.
The next example of controversial marketing is complete lack of information and is a part of a hashtag campaign that kick-started with domestic violence. An American Football player named Ray Rice knocked out his then fiancé in an elevator. When the video of the elevator was released, Ray Rice was terminated from the National Football League. In a misguided attempt to defend her then fiancé, Janay Rice posted a note justifying the abuse dealt on her. The note was posted on twitter with the hashtag #whyistayed, highlighting her reason for staying with the abuser. The hashtag got a lot of traction and a pizza company decided to cash in. Digiorno pizza tweeted “#whyistayed You had pizza.” The company retracted their tweet and apologized after learning of the circumstance of the tweet.
Both of these instances are a product of insufficient knowledge about circumstance.
- It was a talk by Curt Cronin about teams and leadership. Based on his experience as a Navy Seal.
- There are always plenty of great talks – I focus mostly on FullSTK and binate.io as a developer.
- I try to engage with as many people as possible to see where things are leading and where the focus is.
What’s the Most Useful Talk You’ve Ever Seen at Genesis Expo?
One of the best talks I’ve seen was at Expo in 2018. It was a talk by Curt Cronin about teams and leadership. Based on his experience as a Navy Seal, he discussed how teams of developers (and the greater tech space) can function better when focusing on trust and communication. There are always plenty of great talks – I focus mostly on FullSTK and binate.io as a developer, with the occasional nod to a Centre Stage talk from leaders in the industry.
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
That said, nothing compares to being involved. I try to engage with as many people as possible to see where things are leading and where the focus is. There are some conversations that become more “what not to do”, but overall, engaging with people is where I learn most.
