This past weekend Elizabeth Warren reminded us you can’t believe what you read or see. The presidential candidate, hoping to draw attention to Facebook’s decision not to
censure paid political ads, purchased and ran a blatantly false ad on the social media platform. The ad intentionally featured misinformation, saying,
“Breaking news: Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook just endorsed Donald Trump for reelection.”
More than 80% of Americans now get their news from online sources and almost 70%
get news from social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Some of the most popular news sources do not consider themselves part of the media. These sources will not take responsibility for
distributing factual content and as a result we have a believability crisis in America.
I fully understand the complicated role platforms face when attempting to police
content. This issue requires serious discussions on First Amendment protections, especially around the intent of our founders when this amendment was written. But be that as it may, advertisers are
facing a real problem in selecting believable environments to reach their customers. If no one trusts the media, why should anyone trust what appears in the media? If the lake is polluted, why would
you eat the fish?
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Context used to mean a thing or two. Context--where an ad appeared--helped us understand a brand relative to other brands, including its values. But that assumed
that a consumer believed what appeared around the ad. If a brand advertised in Vogue, the brand was fashionable. If it advertised in The Wall Street Journal, the brand must know something about money
and finance.
But today if a brand advertises in a place where everything is a lie, what does that say about the brand? If everything else on the platform isn’t true, why
should a consumer believe the brand, especially if the brand is trying to communicate something new that might elicit skepticism.
As we move closer to the election and our
bullshit meters become even more sensitive, there is only one thing a brand can do--become radically honest. Radical honesty is the only thing that will break through the crisis of
believability.
If a brand message is not consistently radically honest the brand will suffer the wrong “borrowed interest.” Instead of being considered premium, the
brand risks being discarded and bucketed with all the other lies consumers come across in their day-to-day internet browsing.
One group, however, will gain from the
believability crisis; that’s a small group of publishers. Those publishers that fact check and take responsibility for all the content that appears on their platforms and sites will benefit,
because brands will pay a premium for the truth.