A bit of a follow up to my recent post on the social responsibility of brands. The other week, I read an article that talked about how the current generation of children and teens lacks any real role models, and the negative impact this was having on their social development. In describing this trend the writer coined what I thought was a rather good term: herosion.
For previous generations, heroes were untouchable, unknowable, and altogether somehow perfect, living in a world we could never be part of: which is why we listened to them; wanted to be like them. How very different things are now. The rise of the internet means we can know everything about anyone. Whether it is true or not. And what we don't find out for ourselves, we can guarantee the media or our mates will tell us about soon enough.
In many ways, this is a good thing - there are some truths about the people we look up to that it is important we know: role models should always be worthy of our respect, not just actors playing the role of respect worthiness. But at the same time, a lot of what an increasingly intrusive media informs us about is trivial at best; plain wrong at worst. The minor character flaws and failings that actually make us rounded, interesting individuals, and which shouldn't really effect someone's hero potential, are blown out of all proportion. And this drip feed of minor foibles soon add up. We end up trusting no one, even those we have no reason to doubt - because ‘they’ are all as bad as each other, aren’t they?
A cause or effect of this I don’t know (maybe both) but, in parallel to this hero erosion, it does now seem that the only quality our culture deems worthy of pursuit is superficial ‘fame’: taking Warhol’s 15 minutes to ludicrous, pointless extremes (I think what Andy had in mind was probably more like 15 minutes of genuine achievement of the kind he tried to cultivate at the Factory). But there is a fundamental problem with superficial fame, which is that it tends to be achieved by those who are, well, superficial (just watch Big Brother, the Apprentice, I’m a Celeb, Pop Idol etc. ad nauseam); people who have few qualities beyond their ability to be famous for being famous. All of which just reinforces the perception that our modern day ‘heroes’ have feet, and maybe whole bodies of clay. They are just like us (and it could be us), so why look up to them or respect them, when you can laugh at them or envy them (something the media is all too keen to remind of us).
But the fact remains that, psychologically and sociologically, heroes and role models are important to our development as people. Sometimes, we need others to point the way for us, when we can't see it for ourselves. And we need to respect them if we are to follow in their footsteps. Unfortunately, all that Paris Hilton and her ilk are able to offer us are cautionary tales of the vacuous and famous. So what are the alternatives?
Strange as it may seem, but I wonder if this is where businesses and brands come in. Now, in our post-No-logo world, where the internet can tell us as much about the dark side of companies as it does the failings of celebs (and where these companies and the brands they promote are inextricably linked in a way which wasn’t the case before), this might seem a strange thing to say. Whether the corporate bullies (the oil companies spring to mind), the corrupt (see Enron et al) or the apparently ‘nice’ companies invading every aspect of our lives (Tesco, Microsoft, and now Google), all the business world seems to offer us is yet more evidence of the trust and respect erosion in our society.
But many businesses HAVE seen the writing on the wall. Maybe cynically some would say, or maybe not (the truth WILL come out - that's the whole point), but a new generation of businesses is emerging. Empowered by the internet, rather than caught out by it (Nike anyone), this new generation sees business as a partnership with consumers: rather than speak from the outside, they make sure they are rooted in the community they are want to engage with. And the best of them go a step further still, inviting consumers ‘into’ the company to be involved with the co-creation of the brands that unite them. Also, because they see their fortunes as so intrinsically linked to the lives of their consumers, these businesses seem to take their social responsibility seriously: that there is more to a successful business than making money. Time will tell whether it is all smoke and mirrors, but maybe this new generation of companies and brands can begin to fill the role model vacuum for a new generation of consumers.
For an ever increasing list of companies that seem to fit this bill (to greater or lesser extent) see the side bar to the left.
