• by Jeff Einstein , August 9, 2004

Last week's column talked about deceptive marketing practices, and how we engage in them primarily because we don't really believe in the power of our own profession as marketers, or in the addictive power of the media. I positioned our disbelief as a function of denial, a signature characteristic of addiction.

So when did we begin to believe that outright deception constitutes a viable and legitimate marketing and advertising option? How did this happen? I would like to suggest that the turning point in the confluence of fact and fiction occurred in the digital 1990s, concurrent with the accelerating confluence of work and home. It happened when we invited all of our office productivity tools -- the Internet, cell phones, pagers, and PDAs -- into our living rooms. It happened when the World Wide Web put a graphical interface to millions of American dreams -- however misguided -- and exchanged the false 'Utopian' promise of increased leisure time for the equally false 'Utopian' promise of unlimited wealth and prosperity.

During the dot-com boom that ensued, there was no accountability anywhere: not in the promiscuous behavior of the investment community, not in the entrepreneurs themselves (or in their business plans), and certainly not in the medium. Nevertheless, the 'Great Lie' attendant to all this unaccountable behavior was -- you guessed it -- accountability, just about the only dominant feature of the dot-com era to survive.

We are less accountable today than ever before. Our current focus on ROI is little more than the 'Great Lie' of the dot-com era repackaged, recycled, and re-introduced. We work harder and longer for fewer professional and personal returns, and we call it ROI. I call it addiction.

True, deceptive viral marketing campaigns seem like minor offenses in comparison to those featured in the news headlines each day. And they are. But the quality of life relies less on our ability to battle the big fights like global terrorism or corporate scandal, and more on our ability to address the million and one little hurts and insults that inflict us body and soul each and every day.

According to George Kelling's broken window theory of urban renewal, if a window in a building is broken and not repaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken. This is as true in nice neighborhoods as in rundown ones, and has nothing to do with demographic or psychographic profiles. Rather, one broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows seems inconsequential. The proliferation of graffiti follows a similar evolutionary path: Untended, the first tag attracts a second, and so on. Untended behavior leads to a breakdown of community control.

The same happens with viral marketing. The first little lie is soon followed by another, then another. Before we know it, the line between advertising and editorial is gone, along with our ability to distinguish fact from fiction -- or even care enough to try. We wind up with nothing but wall-to-wall reality programming, nothing but scripted product placement masquerading as real life.

We've raised the performance bar and lowered expectations. It's what eventually happens to all addicts: Faster-smarter-better becomes the minimum daily adult requirement just to feed the beast. We all get "Punk'd" because we expect and demand nothing more, but more of the same.

Many thanks as always for your gracious time, dear reader. Best to you and yours...

Please note: The Einstein's Corner discussion group at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/einsteinscorner/ is dedicated to exploring the adverse effects of our addictions to technology and media on the quality of our lives, both at work and at home. Please feel free to drop by and join the discussion.