The Ethical Frames Blog

When I joined Ogilvy in the 1980s, the agency prided itself on using persuasion as a method for evaluating advertising success. We had to educate new clients who came from agencies that lived and died by Burke recall scores that recall was “necessary but not sufficient.” The emphasis on recall had…

What are the top causes of disagreements and how do they affect how you listen? People vary on a continuum on the following psychological factors: • Tolerance for ambiguity … • Sensitivity to disgust … • Safe vs. unsafe worldview …   … When people fall on different points of these spectrums of…

In the last month, I’ve been blogging about how to really listen and destroying some myths about listening. Today we’ll talk about the myths that people in the advertising and marketing fields are special in certain ways.  … The first way we think we might be special is in having a special capacity…

In order to really listen to other people and hear what they’re saying, first we have to clear the ground of some myths. Today, I will focus on the myth of objectivity and impartiality. Webster’s definition of objectivity is lack of favoritism. We might be willing to admit that we’re biased towards…

Last week, I discussed the myth of objectivity and impartiality as a barrier to really listening. Next, I’m going to talk about a related myth: the myth of universality. Because we don’t see the influence of our group on our thinking (see last week’s post for more details), when we hear things that…

Last week, I raised the question of how we can really listen to someone we disagree with.  Let's go deeper. One of the most common answers I have found is that you need to really get to know them.  That’s hard to do.  I hear examples of people feeling empathy for those they disagree with or feeling…

I recently saw that a blog called “How to really listen” was one of the most popular in 2018.  That’s great, it’s one of the first tips on how to understand others, which is helpful when creating advertising. This advertising planner guru included lots of good stuff, but he missed something. The…

A friend of mine shared this ad with me.  … It's for a snack product and shows a man and some animatronic birds passing food back and forth, with a tag line:  Nature feeding nature … https://www.ispot.tv/ad/own3/clif-bar-the-eagle …   … My friend is grossed out by it. Are you? There’s a set of…

A blog by Wharton professors claimed brand loyalty is dead.  Ubereats has blamed lack of brand loyalty for its poor results. Is brand loyalty really dead?  If not, what else could be going on? I claim it’s really about who your target audience is.   … Some consumers crave change and novelty. Others…