Not All Marketing Is Good For Us

Not all marketing is good for us – but smokers with lung cancer already know that.

And bad (as in ‘not good for the world’) marketing has been going on for years.

Take Shark Fin soup. It’s long been an Asian delicacy – diners pay up to $120 a bowl.

Shark Fins Have No Taste At All

Fishermen catch the shark, cut off the fins and then toss the shark back to die.

But here’s the thing: Shark fins have no taste. No taste at all.

That’s the power of marketing – to get you to pay a premium for something that doesn’t exist.

Not quite as bad as selling you something they know will almost certainly contribute to a quicker and agonising death, but not bad all the same.

I’d like to see all marketers sign a Super Hero type Code of Conduct:

“We will only use our powers for good.”