Your Kitchen Sink: Advertising's New Frontier

kitchen sink, originally uploaded by bevcraigwhite.

The latest disturbing thing I’ve heard about is "word-of-mouth" advertising. Apparently, consumers are no longer particularly swayed by traditional advertising. People see a television commercial, for instance, for what it is: an attempt to manipulate them into opening their wallets to buy a beer, a car, or a meal at McDonald’s. Throw in the fact that much of America scans right past those commercials on their Tivo, and it’s clear that advertising companies are facing some stiff new challenges.

Enter “word-of-mouth” advertising. Now, advertising companies are hiring your friends and neighbors to chat you up about how much they love Clamato and Dunkin’ Donuts, and how much you’re gonna love it, too!

That’s right, you heard me. Corporations are hiring ordinary people to talk about company brands “in casual conversation.” In a campaign for Dawn dishwashing liquid, word-of-mouth advertisers were advised to work Dawn’s brand name into conversations by talking about “how difficult it is to get kids to help with the dishes.” Naturally, the people who are willing to engage in these staged conversations about dish soap with their friends and neighbors are not obligated to disclose to those friends and neighbors that their newfound appreciation for Dawn may have been prompted by the fact that Proctor & Gamble sent them a case of it for free.

Am I the only person who’s disturbed by this? Isn't it a little bit—I don’t know—creepy to have your kitchen conversations being dictated to you from some corporate conference room? Do you think if we all promised to stop fast-forwarding through the commercials on our Tivos they’d let us have our private conversations back?

NPR’s All Things Considered quotes Peter Kim, who analyzes the advertising industry for Forrester Research:

Only 6 percent [of consumers] perceive ads as truthful. But what consumers do trust are their own experiences and the words of others. About 56 percent say they trust the words and recommendations of friends and family in thinking about products.

Right. Well, I’m sure once word-of-mouth advertising really takes off, it’ll only be a matter of time before we can stop trusting our friends and family as well.