4 ms·
What is the difference between virtue signaling and marketing when a corporation is doing it?
by birken 6y ago
What is the difference between virtue signaling and marketing when a corporation is doing it?
- MR4D 6y agoVirtue signaling implies morals. Marketing doesn't.
- brighton36 6y agoI used to think that. Marketing is all about moralizing the product.
- dx87 6y agoI think virtue signaling would be saying something to stave off public criticism with no direct monetary benefit, and marketing would be like companies that support gay rights because it means they can sell a bunch of rainbow colored merchandise during pride month.
- pwillia7 6y agoWhat motive would a company (of sufficient size) have to signal virtue if not in pursuit of profits? Companies without an all powerful strongman on top are amoral, and primarily in the U.S. are only concerned with their shareholders as opposed to all stake holders in the chain's long term value and health. https://www.inc.com/maureen-kline/why-debate-over-stakeholder-value-vs-shareholder-value-is-all-wrong.html https://www.inc.com/maureen-kline/why-debate-over-stakeholde...
- __s 6y agoSome companies have real action behind their words, so while they may be saying "We're doing X" with a long term view of profits due to virtuous behavior, this should be viewed distinctly from saying "We're doing X" when there's not actually a long term strategy backing the statement
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoPatagonia sacrifices profit for its virtuous goals.
- dx87 6y agoI think profits are still involved, but the virtue signaling would be about preventing loss of profits. For example, reddit making its logo black, or Activision adding a splash screen in CoD saying they support black people. They don't stand to make any extra money with their change, but they are less likely to have a twitter mob call for a boycott due to not supporting their cause.
- bryanrasmussen 6y agoIt depends on the company - Disney needs to signal virtue because virtue is part of their brand and everyone knows who they are, Thomson Reuters is not that well known and only need to signal virtue to their valuable employees who might not want to stay at some place they found too scummy (but who knows, money is a great persuader), Monsanto - I don't know, I somehow feel virtue is not on-brand where they're concerned and signalling would make people uneasy.
- scarface74 6y agoYet Disney celebrated Pride month even though they had to know that it would cause criticism from the “Focus on the Family” crowd. https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2020/06/recognize-pride-month-2020-with-the-new-rainbow-disney-collection/ https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2020/06/recognize-pri...
- pwillia7 6y agoI think you could argue this is also about money. Disney parks have already won nearly every family in America. Most families would like to take their kids to Disney. Pride month probably only minorly affects that. Now how will Disney Parks keep showing a healthy growth rate? Well, they'll need to tap into new markets. What kind of tactics can they use to lure those new markets to the parks? I just don't believe altruism or pure evil exists in these large orgs. I'm sure there are exceptions to prove the rule, but it's rare you'll see an action by a large corporation that can't be explained by money and growth.
- pwillia7 6y agoBut all of these reasons can be summarized as a pursuit of profit. While the surface reasons may differ the ultimate place they end up is the same.
- AlexandrB 6y agoThere's almost always a direct monetary benefit to staving off criticism - it keeps people that might otherwise boycott buying your products. I think this is a difference without distinction - for most companies "virtue signalling" is marketing. This is apparent from their political contributions which rarely align with their stated positions.