Advertising

This past week McKinney’s agency communications director sent out an email if there were any Ayn Rand fans. Being a Rand fan I wrote back and she said that BrandWeek is writing an article about Rand and if I would answer some questions. After answering them they decided to use one of them:

“Raleigh Felton, an art director at McKinney, for instance, says he long ago internalized Rand’s philosophy. “It fits in strongly with my work ethic and the importance of being productive,” he said. “Doing the best work possible for myself will allow my employer  to become more productive, which will make each of our clients more viable. It will eventually allow for the consumer/individual to have a better product or experience which can change their life and ultimately make the world grow and become a better place.”

The article itself is alright, you can find it over at Brandweek. I wanted to be able to give the rest of the questions they sent over because sometime you do not get the whole picture with just one quote. Here are the questions they sent over to me.

How into it are you?

I believe most of Ayn Rand philosophies when it comes to capitalism/government intervention and every individual’s moral right to pursue his/her own happiness. She understood the problem with calling for increased government intervention at any problem and the expense it had on freedom.

Do you consider yourself an objectivist?

I consider myself a neo-objectivist, because my belief in God. I agree with the objectivist core values, but I accept the possibility of the spiritual or supernatural. I believe in strong morals, and that we as individuals should put forth our absolute maximum to which each one of us is capable. I also believe that we are entitled to every single monetary benefit that comes from our ability, effort, creativity, and productivity.

Do you belong to any objectivist groups, etc?

No, I just follow a lot of objectivist on twitter/facebook/blogs…

How does it relate to what you do?

Well, first off it fits in strongly with my work ethic and the importance of being productive. Doing the best work possible for myself will allow my employer(McKinney) to become more productive, which will make each of our clients more viable. It will eventually allow for the consumer/individual to have a better product or experience which can change their life and ultimately make the world grow and become a better place.

I believe in making myself better everyday when I step into our office, learning from my mistakes, each day is a stepping stone to the next day, next project, etc…I take responsibility for my mistakes, and try not to make excuses or put blame on co-workers/clients.

Do you see any contradictions with marketing/advertising and what she espouses?

Not at all, Rand believed in free will, that advertising cannot force consumers to buy products they do not need or want, that consumers must choose to buy them. I don’t believe that advertisers can force consumers, especially nowadays. I believe we should be focusing on knowing and understanding the connection with people/social bonds. It is bigger than just repeating or telling a lie about a brand, its about connecting and believing in a brand or product—see Apple.

Every brand should be striving to put out the best product or service they can possibly produce for their consumer. People do not realize, Ayn Rand had a very strong ethical belief system, she believed that being dishonest is being disconnected from reality, and it has consequences. If you do not believe that being dishonest has it consequences just ask General Motors marketers/advertisers or the everyday automobile buyer:

JaffeJuice

GM Reinvention Commercial (SPOOF)

The Daily Show

Do you know others in the business who are into Rand?

Closet Rand fans, but not really…Generalizing, our industry seems to strongly favor collectivism over objectivism.

Reading Atlas Shrugged changed the way I view our government/politicians and the thought process of which I need to be productive vs needing the help of anyone and especially my government. How do we know when our government is acting altruisticly? We don’t and typically they don’t. Their self interest is to become re-elected. Those decisions that result from that motive don’t always result in whats best for the city, state, US, etc. (see soft despotism)

Anyways, not to get into it or anything, these are my beliefs and mine only. I just love that we live in a country were we can all have different beliefs/values. What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Tagged as: Advertising, Atlas Shrugged, Politics

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