This industry op-ed is from independent researcher and strategist Robin Scheines.
The recent news cycle has been running at a fever pitch. Our phones are ablaze with news links, melty-face emojis reacting to headlines, and deep philosophical debates about the nature of fascism. One of my favorite ongoing text threads helped crystallize something for me as we bemoaned our collective sense of helplessness.
See, I work in marketing, which elicits different reactions depending on the room. I’m also the daughter of two PhDs, still working in academia, and I’m a longtime New Yorker who has been lucky enough to spend much of my time with talented artists, designers, and writers. I am not bragging so brazenly in order to impress you, but to explain that I often feel out of place among my loved ones who can quote medieval poets on command or casually mention having dinner with Aubrey Plaza.
Lately, I’ve become more aware of a particular disdain for marketing in circles of what I think of as the “liberal elite.” When I describe my work in market research and branding to friends of friends, their reactions are often some variation of: “Oh, I always figured I’d go into advertising if everything else fell through.” Marketing is categorized—often subconsciously—as occupying a lower rung on the intellectual ladder. A few recent moments illustrate this condescension:
During lunch, a seasoned journalist friend dismissed a colleague in a story, “Oh, she was just some marketing type, so I brushed off her advice.” (He quickly realized his audience and apologized.)
A renowned psychiatrist (and friend of my father’s) said casually over wine, “I think advertising is the worst thing to happen to modern civilization.”
I attended a two-hour documentary about a filmmaker lamenting his “failure” as an artist—because he became a highly paid advertising creative.
The moment of clarity that inspired this story came in a wonderfully overactive text thread with a friend, who said, “Intellectuals are living in a dream world.”
Yes, marketing and advertising—like any powerful tool—can be used for manipulative ends. But marketing itself isn’t the culprit; the issue is who is wielding it. And if we take an honest look at the past election, one common takeaway is that liberal elites lost the attention game.
So, instead of condescension, I’d like to plead for our ivory tower residents to emerge from their quiet hallways into the gray winter reality they live in and that they’d presumably like their work to make a difference in. If it sounds like I have a personal axe to grind, I do.
As MSNBC host Chris Hayes writes about in The Siren’s Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource, our most valuable asset is our attention. What we consume—media, products, ideas—shapes our worldview and is our greatest leverage over corporations that have been known to prioritize profit over public good.
Whether we like it or not, marketing shapes the world we live in. Signage at bus stops, billboards, TV shows, grocery stores, the phone in your pocket—all of it exists in part because of marketing. Each ad, each line of copy, sends signals that, over time, construct and paint the walls of our built environment as well as human consciousness. These signals shape our perceptions of social issues, politics, and each other.
Right now, half of America is experiencing a state of shock, mourning, and confusion. The general public, it turns out, has arrived at conversations about immigration, gender, and racial equity with more fear and hate than expected.
Meanwhile, my beloved intellectual friends lament that people don’t understand their work. If only the masses understood science. If only they understood economics! But my friend, your brilliant book is launching into a void. Your beautiful song is being sung in a room with terrible acoustics. And while you’re shouting into the abyss, Harvard MBAs and Meta’s “marketing types” are gobbling up attention by the spoonful.
We need to start at square one: How do we shape the cultural priorities we want—truth, science, equality, community? Marketing techniques aren’t limited to just selling a product; they set the table and create the menu.
We won’t dismantle the harmful elements of capitalism overnight, but can we start by shifting its focus? Nike can champion peace and community. Apple can celebrate curiosity. Hinge can bridge divides. Remember those PETA Super Bowl ads in the ’90s—bikini-clad women advocating against animal cruelty? YES.
This is a call to action. I’m not saying you should quit your cool job, but we need our best minds to roll up their sleeves and wade into the trenches with us sellouts. Every research lab should have a storytelling and communications requirement. Climate nonprofits should prioritize marketing from day one. Politicians should master the algorithm—with poets helping them craft the message. We need to learn how to sell peace and progress the way Apple sells the new iPhone. Set KPIs. Track those click-through rates. Turn the mic back on.
And, for the love of humanity, if you have children, raise them with high ethical standards—and then pray they go into marketing so they can put those standards to real use in this new world.
Your ideas need attention to encourage change. Collectively, we need to learn to harness attention for good, for progress, for the best version of ourselves. Our future depends on it.
Robin Scheines is a researcher and strategist based in Brooklyn. Her work focuses on gaining attention for nonprofits, cultural institutions, and companies on a mission to improve our world. Read more about her work here: www.robinscheines.com.
Header image by Ruan Richard Rodrigues for Unsplash+.
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