EMOTIONAL PROFITEERING
I’m getting pissed off.
Here’s the situation, and I doubt I’m alone.
A brand that has me on their database emails me.
It asks for me to support a cause by paying money in some way
The cause is worthy, and my COVID-charged emotions are running high, and so I’m generally pre-disposed to do so.
The mechanism seems simple enough. Buy a bit more XX, and help the needy.
But wait. Let me read that email again. Ah….the commercial penny drops. This is emotional profiteering.
Here are three examples I have received this week:
The worthy note from a chocolate brand urging me to keep buying their product and they’ll support the NHS with their ‘profits’ (which of course is the ultimate get-out clause in a time when few businesses are expecting to operate profitably). Why not say they’ll give one for one, and then I know they’re contributing too, not just trying to prop up their business?
The chirpy message from my coffee supplier reassuring me that in these tricky times…“We don’t want you to have to think about coffee….. Worried about running out? Get more frequent deliveries, and stock up”. At a time when the UK government is trying to stop us stockpiling, why not support the home workers of the country with some discounted product and recognise the massive opportunity for new customers to trial your product in the process?
The holiday cottage company that is offering FREE Refund Protection on all bookings, but then explaining that it is not liable for any cancellations. Why not recognise that, as the government is encouraging us not to move around, it might, just might, be more responsible to be encouraging people NOT to travel at this point in time, thinking beyond short term profit, and encouraging current customers to defer their bookings.
(Now is not the time for Corona-shaming, but don’t think I wasn’t tempted to name them)
As I have written below, we all need to be supportive and generous. I don’t mind there being a long term benefit for the brand in all this, but if there is no evident skin the game from the brand, then I’m sorry but I will interrogate these offers with suspicion. It may not be commercial profiteering in the strict sense, but it’s cynical nonetheless. And it will have consequences. That holiday cottage company? I’m going to be desperate for a holiday after all this. But not with them!!
We’re in unfamiliar, emotionally-heightened times. We all want to do our bit to help. And there are lots of ways that brands can meet these emotional needs: with transparency, honesty and integrity…or with small print, cynicism and spin. Brands of the world, we are watching your actions and we WILL judge you.