Viral Marketing and Political Correctness
By: Michael I. Alcantara
Tags: Politics, Viral, Political Correctness, Digital Marketing, ESPN

The progressive nature of our society driven by the “acceptance” or dare I say “tolerance” of other’s views and freedom of expression has ushered a new ideology and self awareness of how we speak to each other and ironically how we express ourselves while balancing on that thinning line of freedom of speech. In this piece I discuss how this new awareness of political correctness affects marketing for brands, and how brands can take advantage of it.

PC Culture

Taking into consideration that I believe everyone should think before they speak, the civil consequences particularly to prominent figures in our society, has risen tremendously and is more of a requirement to be incredibly aware of how they interact with the masses. I am simply saying that it affects the bottom line. Wether or not those entities (human or brand) actually care, is a totally different conversation.

It’s quite irrational that for the amount of time humans have spent on Earth, we still haven’t been able to get past the outer layer of what we look like, particularly when we all bleed the same color and function, mechanically; the same. The possibility that you might offend someone in your rhetoric is absolutely something that we all should have in mind when we speak. Brands are not exempt, they should try to remain neutral in all issues, to prevent alienating a sect of their market share.

DISCLAIMER: Some of this footage may be offensive, this clip does not represent my view or Volta Global’s views on any particular topic nor do we condemn the breaking of Jimmy’s legs.

However, an an example from the clip above, there is a thing as going too far. I don’t think we can always correctly conclude if something could be conceived as offensive. History shows that when we assume, we make a donkey of ourselves. With that said, I do believe brands and individuals should have the opportunity to regress and apologize for any given action that comes off as offensive. But what happens when a brand thinks something is going to be offensive and in an effort to prevent the offense, pulls back? Enter ESPN.

ESPN and Misguided Political Correctness

As reported this Tuesday, ESPN decided to pull sports announcer Robert Lee a radio and television personality from broadcasting Virginia’s season opening football game on Sept 2nd against William & Mary because of the similarity of his name to the Confederate general Robert E. Lee, amid this month’s clash in Charlottesville with White Nationalist and counter-protestors.

“We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name. In that moment it felt right to all parties. It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play by play for a football game has become an issue.” — ESPN OFFICIAL STATEMENT

ESPN claims that the decision came down to a potential mockery that could come from the event, they came to the defense of their employee and prompted the action to prevent distraction or worse social hectoring and trolling. Even if you agree with ESPN on this decision, it still caused a negative perception on the brand out of fear. Instead of dealing with any issues that could have risen, they assumed for their audience, they made the issue bigger than it needed to be. Almost, like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When you don’t want to go Viral

Deciding the publics appetite for political correctness is a dangerous slope, particularly when you can’t control the flow of information, now a days a feat that is almost impossible. In the attempt of not going viral, ESPN went viral by telling the Internet to not make fun of something and we all know that Section 5322 Clause 7 of the Internet hand book states: “When you tell the Internet not to make memes, the Internet makes a million memes”. It’s almost as if going about your regular business is the best way to not go viral.

If your cogs are spinning, then you are getting what I’m trying to allude to here. From a marketing perspective, this behavior could create for some interesting opportunities. After all, if you want something done, and all you have to say is “not do it”, then this reverse psychology could be quite profitable. While the media perception has been mostly negative for ESPN, the attention in itself has been enormous.

Perfect Timing Perfect Topic

Of course reverse psychology on just anything and at any time wont work, because the Internet, can generally tell when it’s being played. This was a perfect storm that was generated on the tails of a dying national story and a paradigm shift to a more politically correct civilization. As South Park has demonstrated, sometimes goes a little too far.

Now, I’m not saying ESPN planned this, but if they did, a perceivably small nick on the brand, has sparked tremendous coverage and conversation on political correctness. As the media reports on this news, I already see ESPN shifting the conversion. New articles written with titles, “Political Correctness, Are We Going Too Far?” no longer attacking ESPN but using ESPN as an example, providing them, the Brand, further “Viralasticity”.

Media Manipulation and #fakenews

Wether or not you like President Trump, his take on media manipulation and articles written from bias directives isn’t wrong, nor new. A great book on how to engage the media and move them in any direction was released not so long ago, by Ryan Holiday “Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator(affiliate link). As the Head of Marketing for American Apparel, he led campaigns utilizing the media’s hunger for content to not only create but also steer conversation about the brand.

Ryan calls it “feeding the beast”, the most dangerous weapon to our society. Due to the speed in which we receive and consume information, we have accustomed ourselves to not verify or check facts thus basing our positions off mostly headlines. While the ESPN situation shows the possibility of steering a conversation, it also shows the potential caveats of it. It should serve as a warning for all brands, when attempting to go Viral to make sure they are prepared for the backlash.

“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.” — Jim Morrison

If you enjoyed reading this, check out my other recent posts on Medium.com