The 7 Deadly Sins Of Marketing - #2: Anger

By: Steve Blom | Posted: 19th October 2005

Here is the second in our series of articles on the well known seven deadly sins and how they apply to marketing. The second deadly sin we will cover here is Anger.

Now how could anger possibly have anything to do with marketing. Believe it or not, you see it often in advertising.

Recently there was a radio commercial in which a child breaks his tooth while eating a Hardee's burger. The child says something like "I don't like this bun. It's too hard. I want to go to McDonalds."

Who was the commercial for? McDonalds? NO. It was for Hardee's.

Apparently some advertising whiz convinced Hardee's to "go after the adult market" by positioning against McDonalds.

Here is anger at work in marketing.

Many companies want to attack their competition. So they create advertising that does this. The advertising says something very negative about their competition and mentions them by name. Generally this only results in making the company look mean and giving free promotion to the competition.

Yes, marketing is often a battle. But don't assume that your prospective customers are as passionate as you are about why your product may be better than the competition. Angrily attacking your competition by name makes your company look bad and gives your competition free promotion. It may even result in potential customers going their way. I know I won't be taking my kids, or myself, to Hardee's anytime soon.

----- Toli Cefail

Toli Cefail is a 20 year marketing professional. She is currently providing online & paid search marketing services to businesses as a principal in the In Touch Media Group - www.InTouchMediaGroup.com .

Read The Rest at Toli Cefail's personal marketing blog at www.MarketingExpertsNews.com

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Tags: whiz, marketing services, prospective customers, mcdonalds, blog, anger, personal marketing, free promotion, media group, seven deadly sins, bun