Guilt Trip explores why issues of corporate responsibility are now so important in consumer decisions and how companies are taking advantage of this importance to work towards their old commercial objectives. Guilt Trip argues that unlike other causes or issues that the marketing world has piggy-backed, this is an area where companies cannot simply communicate their way in and, at their leisure, out again. The book issues a warning to marketers and consumers alike that this deal (continued custom in return for the removal of guilt) can be only a short term answer to consumer needs and that a systematic move towards accountability and transparency will soon be demanded by consumers. Guilt Trip book provides both the evidence for this shift, and a manual to prepare for it.
Book Details:
- Author: Alex Hesz
- ISBN: 9780470685532
- Year Published: 2009
- Pages: 284
- BISAC: BUS043000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/Marketing / General
About the Book and Topic:
Guilt Trip explores why issues of corporate responsibility are now so important in consumer decisions and how companies are taking advantage of this importance to work towards their old commercial objectives. Guilt Trip argues that unlike other causes or issues that the marketing world has piggy-backed, this is an area where companies cannot simply communicate their way in and, at their leisure, out again. The book issues a warning to marketers and consumers alike that this deal (continued custom in return for the removal of guilt) can be only a short term answer to consumer needs and that a systematic move towards accountability and transparency will soon be demanded by consumers. Guilt Trip book provides both the evidence for this shift, and a manual to prepare for it.
CSR, Green, Ethics, Fair Trade, Organic are all buttons that marketers are keen to push right now to get us to engage us with their products. Why? Because, amongst many, these issues hit a nerve and our consciences can be salved in the knowledge we are purchasing for the greater good. A simple change in our prevailing mood in the West has become evident in the last couple of years. From near-hysterical fear of everything, of terror and global warming, famine and rogue nations, liberals and neo-cons, we have started to feel guilty about all of it. Guilt is the new fear. Charitable and Commercial ventures are using the collective guilt we feel about what we are doing to the planet to convince us that they provide an answer and, conveniently, all we need do is choose them to assuage our guilt. However, much in the same way that the 90s greenwashing began to occur, where hollow promises of products green credentials abounded, we are lurching back to this trend on a broader scale while marketers try to capitalize on our guilt.
TIMELY TOPIC: What with the constant push for everybody to be more ‘green’, ‘ethical’, ‘moral’, etc, the marketplace has become overun with companies tapping into people’s lives and making them feel guilty about how and what we buy AUTHOR PLATFORM FOR THE BOOK: Hesz and Neophytou are already making a name for themselves in this area, with some important speaking engagements lined up. The authors also have strong networks with clients built up over the last few years. CONTEMPORARY THINKING: The timeliness of this book is excellent tying in with key trends that are currently widely debated. PRACTICAL ADVICE: The book offers advice for marketers at both large and small organizations, those working in the communications business and those beyond on what responsibility could mean and how it can make a difference in communications and marketing.
About the Author
Alex Hesz: Across Ms largest brands and businesses, including British Airways, Diageo, GlaxoSmithKline, Coca-Cola and the UK Government. In his new venture, The Brand Plant, he is working with CSR Network to help clients integrate CSR messaging and transparency into their broader marketing communications. Bambos Neophytou: Bambos spent five years at Jesus College Oxford, acquiring a double first in English and an MPhil in General Linguistics Since abandoning his academic research program (to explain sociological theories of code-switching through the apparatus of cognitive pragmatics), he has been paid by various organisations (BBH, VCCP, Coke, The UK Government, BA, Unilever etc.) for strategic work in the marketing and communications sectors. He currently lives in West Berkshire and freelances on communications strategy.