Why always doing the right thing is not being chicken! Good guys win in the end..

The demise of the 160 plus year old newspaper in the UK (News of the World) this past weekend due to the effects of the scandal of phone hacking and paying police for information, proves again to me the importance of always doing the right thing. No matter how hard it is. No matter how difficult it makes your life.


In the end the good guys always win. It is important to make a stand when you see things are wrong, even if not illegal. Brands and companies need to be the right thing.


Doing the right thing has to be important for all brands - no matter how big they are. As although the noise and drama may not be as big as when a celebrity or star "goes wrong" - the effects can be fatal.

I think it is too easy for brands and businesses to let doing the right thing slip, especially when things gets tough and they see others around them taking short cuts or pushing the boundaries of what is legitimate. But, as my mother used to say "the good guys always win in the end". It is always important to focus on the high ground and the implications of what you are doing. We are see the consequences of the ruthless drive and demand to get prices down of products leading to more pressure on the suppliers - and more cases of workers being taken advantage of, terrible conditions - or animals being treated badly to drive down costs.

We need to always think of consequences. What would we think and feel if we were an outsider looking on and saw the practices taking place? This is always a good way of having a sense check. The other is the "red face test", how would you feel if you have to look your mother in the eye and tell her what you are doing......

I first wrote about this back in 2008, and thought was time to discuss the topic again...


I am very much in the camp that believes that doing the right thing will always mean that you win in the end. Even when the short term road looks harder going as a result.


It is easy to get distracted and to believe that because others are doing something that it must be ok to do it that way as well. I think as marketers we should have the courage and vision to do the right and best thing- always. And, let's face it, it is still better to fail knowing you have the moral high-ground, than succeed knowing you have not done the right thing.


This is also true of us as consumers, and not just as marketing people. We are obsessed with the price of things being cheap as a consumer, and so we turn blind eyes to the effects on rights, the way we treat people and animals, all in the drive to get lower prices. Brand owners looks at how they can cut costs by cutting costs, things like safety, quality control and sourcing from countries and suppliers where they drive down costs but not investing in good practices and places.


Our obsession, for example, for cheap disposable clothes means we consume more cotton and fabric and the knock on effect on the environment is huge.


We need to be more focused on doing the right thing. Just because others around us are doing the wrong thing and doing well in the short term (which seems to have been the case with phone hacking, and getting the big stories), does not mean you win in the end. The good guys do finally win, and not just in the movies...


There are so many examples in recent years and even months that drive this home for me, a few include:


British Airways and Virgin Atlantic colluding on "fuel surcharges"
This has lead to some high profile job losses within BA, massive fines and now they have to refund millions to travellers who flew between 2004 and 2006. The travellers can soon register for a refund at http://www.virginbapassengerrefund.com/. In fact having done about 20 - 30 flights at least that could mean a refund of up to a staggering £400 to £600 for my flights alone. There is also, of course, the likely impact on their brands and loyalty which may make the penalties look small. The potential loss to their brand standing and loyalty may be greater now with new "open skies" policy meaning that BA and Virgin will no longer be protected as the only UK based airlines allowed to fly in and out of Heathrow.


Chickens, Chinese made toys and cheap fashion...
The major grocery chains in the UK, obsessed at fuelling a consumer predilection for lower and lower prices keep squeezing suppliers. This has led to less and less humane and terrible conditions for raising chickens, something celebrity chefs are now trying to attack and expose in high profile TV shows.


At the same time we saw that the obsession with cheaper and cheaper toys not only led to terrible conditions for workers, but also corners being cut on safety. This meant that we saw that paint with lead was used, leading to the huge recall of toys by Fischer Price.


As consumers ourselves we also need to start doing the right thing, and accepting higher prices when there is clear evidence of better and more appropriate conditions (from everything to how chickens are raised through to how much workers and paid and how they are treated to make those £10 and less jeans).


These wrong and terrible consequences will keep happening until we all accept the importance of doing the right thing, both as marketers (ensuring our entire supply chain has the moral and still efficient high ground) and as consumers. We need to accept that there is a huge cost of cheaper and cheaper products. Turning a blind eye to this potential cost in quality, safety and suffering is not an option.


News of the World, and phone hacking
This finally made the brand so toxic and reviled, it was closed down..

Bad guys lose. Final News of the World Cover July 2011

What do you think? Leave a comment below in the blog or email me!