Ok, I donāt know if literally anyone who follows me cares about this, but you guys know about the Geese / chaotic good psyop scandal? I wanted to talk about it because I have a metaphor that I think explains what theyāre doing pretty well and why itās so bad.
I want you to imagine two situations where youāre at a bus stop waiting for a bus. In the first one, a guy walks up to you wearing a green shirt with a Subway logo printed onto it, holding a clipboard. He asks you if you have a minute and if you want to talk about Subway. He tells you they have a new spicy chicken sandwich out. Your reaction would probably be annoyed, a little confused, but you obviously understand whatās happening here, which is that someone is getting payed to advertise Subway to you. You probably donāt go get the sandwich right after, because most people donāt immediately make a purchase after seeing something advertised to them, they just block it out.
Now imagine another scenario. The same day, same bus stop, but instead of that Subway guy, a cute girl nervously walks up you you, not dressed in Subway attire, just normal clothes, and asks if you know what time the next bus arrives. She starts what seems to be a natural conversation about the day and mentions to you that sheās getting on the bus to go get some lunch. She mentions Subway by name and says they have a really good spicy chicken sandwich, and then when her bus arrives the two of you part ways. Youāre thinking to yourself that you met a stranger who happens to like a fast food restaurant, which is pretty normal. You also mentally take note of the fact that people must like that sandwich enough to organically bring it up in conversation. Maybe you even go try one if you like spicy chicken.
Imagine finding out that the girl was being payed by Subway, and wasnāt really taking the bus to anywhere. In fact, imagine that the girl wasnāt even real. Thatās what Geese did when they created a bunch of fake āpeopleā on social media who were talking about loving Geese.
Now, is Geeseās music good? Is the sandwich good? It doesnāt matter. Itās irrelevant to the topic at hand, which is ethical marketing practices. Undisclosed advertising to manipulate you is wrong, period. Thatās my opinion at least.
And to be clear, deceptive and manipulative advertising practices are not at all new. This specific one is, but things like this have been done before. It is always wrong, no matter whoās doing it. I like some Geese songs, but Iām still criticizing them heavily for participating in this knowingly.
jacobvanloon
discoholicmusic
yousharknotpass
snowghoul
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