Taking controversial marketing positions

My “Buy the Way” topic is Gerber’s brave choice for it’s 2018 Gerber SpokesBaby, where they chose an adorable 18-month year baby boy, Lucas, which ostensibly anoints, Lucas as the cutest baby in the land. Nothing Earth shattering about that, right? Well, the distinction this year is that Baby Lucas has downs syndrome, where some might have cause to take an aback from this decision, Gerber has primarily been applauded for this bold and timely statement. When I, personally first learned of this a few days ago, I smiled widely and said to myself, “it’s about time”.

At it’s surface and human level, I think it is about time that companies and organizations regard and portray who we are as consumers as everyday human beings within their various marketing and advertising efforts instead of just framing their brands along side perfectly chiseled models that, for the most part, do not reflect the remaining 99% of humankind. All that said, Gerber’s decision provoked me to dive deeper into the bold decisions made by other large corporations in taking marketing positions that could potentially hurt their respective botttomlines, and did so anyway because to them, it was the right thing to do.

My first example is not necessarily a bold or ultraistic marketing statement but more so a bold marketing position that not only, and freely, takes a bold position that could easy offend and/or alienate a large part of its potential market share, but does so solely based upon the extensive amount of market data it has collected in order to arrive at its risky decision. The company is Carls Jr., and its somewhat radical marketing position heavily leverages its long running campaigns that feature scantily clad woman in order to promote and sell its fast food burgers. Although many might view their campaigns as sexist, Carls Jr., knows exactly who they are and exactly who their clientele are as well. They know that although they may lose sales in droves to female customers, especially older female customers, they also have significant data that shows that older woman primarily do not frequent their fast food establishments, in sharp contrast to the legions of 15 to 28 year old men that do. As such, Carls Jr. has taken its firm marketing positioning knowing all full well that they are doing so at only a small price in its alienation.

Another marketing position that is more in tune with Gerber’s bold decision is Lumber 84, who caused major shockwaves in the home improvement industry when it aired its profound commercial during the Super Bowl in 2017, which featured a large wall as its centerpiece as a defiant statement to the current administration’s stance on illegal immigration and its desire to build a massive wall to keep out illegal immigrants. In doing so, Lumber 84 knew that they would most likely alienate a large portion of its customers that are either pro Republican and/or anti-immigrant. Despite these sizable concerns, Lumber 84 established its decisive marketing position based on its beliefs and core personal values especially given that the company is privately owned. The irony of the commercial is that Lumber 84’s CEO, Hardy Magerko, is a Republican and a Trump supporter, however she stated that her political beliefs had nothing to do with the commercial, which she helped develop, where her reasoning to move forward was based on her beliefs as a human being and for common decency to all.

In realizing this vexing turn of events from this discovery, I immediately thought about the quote shared with us a few weeks ago from the creators of South Park that read, “sometimes what’s right isn’t as important as what’s profitable”. However, in the cases of Gerber and Lumber 84, profits, or at least the risk of losing profits, comes at a hard price when factoring in unpopular marketing positions, but in these two examples, both companies followed their hearts and convictions while still realizing that those bold decisions resulted in profits as well.

References:

Carl’s jr.; carl’s jr. unleashes a new monster. (2008, Aug 04). Gastroenterology Week Retrieved from http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.libproxy1.usc.edu/docview/237360577?accountid=14749

Lashinsky, A. (2014, Apr 28). Finally gave a damn ’bout a bad reputation. Fortune, 169, 35. Retrieved from http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.libproxy1.usc.edu/docview/1528367212?accountid=14749

Lucas was just named 2018 Gerber baby. He has Down syndrome. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2018/02/07/lucas-was-just-named-2018-gerber-baby-he-has-down-syndrome/?utm_term=.54248b96f6f8

Punj, G., & Moon, J. (2002). Positioning options for achieving brand association: a psychological categorization framework. Journal of Business Research, 55(4), 275-283.

Positioning: How advertising shapes perceptions. . (2004, Jan 01).[Video/DVD] Retrieved from http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.libproxy1.usc.edu/docview/1822678708?accountid=14749