Covert Strategies, Overspending Consequences, and Legal Aspects in Marketing - Free Report

Tactics the Joneses applied to enhance the American Dream Personified

The Joneses, a pseudo-family that idealized itself to the neighborhood as well-knit is really a party of individuals conniving with cooperation to influence trends and attitudes and ultimately sales. To accomplish this, they employ a number of covert strategies which get the target population acting, and more importantly, thinking and desiring certain commodities. Enter stealth marketing.

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Steve, the father in the family, strategically flaunts his toys, toys ironically referring to very expensive facets of his lifestyle like cars and watches which other people more adult males find most intriguing. Stratification of the target population will be applied to achieve a more personalized approach to pushing specific commodity trends. This fascination serves as the fuel that drives their need to obtain similar 'toys'. The Joneses employ secrecy in that they withhold that they're in fact not a family but rather competing members of a unit pushing trends in that neighborhood. Through secrecy, the people are rather unguarded of the allures of a fancy lifestyle and fall into the wagon of desiring such an existence (Pehlivan et al, 2015).

Miscommunication is employed in the event of Steve fronting as a novice golfer. This sets the stage once again for their associates to be unguarded to any scheming. As Steve's swing appears to improve, and rather drastically, it catches the attention of the other golfers. This attention is directed to the drivers Steve uses; a consequent interest in the particular type of driver that Steve uses is the result. Rightly so, because this was the intended result of the scheme.

Demographics that are targeted in the Joneses' story

Steve appeals to adult males by virtue of his luxury watches and vehicles as well as his clothing. His 'wife' Kate is in the line of sneakers and tracksuits which get the adult ladies in the suburbs in a stir. Jenn, herself a high school student flashes her trendy, fashionable accessories which are a real variety and her segment of people is commonly young girls of the school-going age. Mick is a young boy in high school, as well. The accessories he systematically flashes around generally have more appeal to boys typically the age to attend high school.

The allure of overspending and its consequences

Impulse buying has long been a bane for many despite full knowledge of 'responsible' financial decisions to take. The inclination to overspend may stem from varied sources which vary with individuals. There exist those who ride on whims to direct how their finances will be apportioned. That, coupled with access to digitized payment methods, sets some individuals on a speedy collision course with overspending CITATION LaP19 \l 1033 (LaPonsie, 2019). There are yet those who lack sound financial knowledge, and this affects their ability to make shrewd choices with their money.

Overspending, especially over a long time, has seldom accrued any benefits to an individual other than the stereotyped hit of dopamine. It may affect, negatively, an individual's credit score with hinder then from accessing credit in the future when they are a possibility of actually needing it (Dayrit, n.d). This is based on the credit score algorithm that primarily takes into account the credit balances and running balances. It may affect your work-life as well in the sense of employers' consideration of credit score or even your ability to concentrate. That brings in the aspect of its effects on health. Overspending may leave one in an apparently deplorable situation financially leading to physiological and even mental issues such as depression.

Many times overspending may put a strain on relationships in terms of tampering with transparency and accountability. Individuals in a relationship may feel the need to conceal their expenditure trail from their significant other fearing backlash over decisions they may not share the same financial attitude about. Studies show that in America about half of married couples argue about money (Dayrit, n.d).

These effects are vividly portrayed by an adult male who gets overcome by the hustle of overspending to maintain a perception of high financial status in the story of the Joneses (Pehlivan et al, 2015). It brought about secrets in his marriage, and eventually, he went on to take his life due to all that stress.

A selected case study on Stealth and Marketing

Sony Ericsson in 2002 hired a party of 60 actors around America to the front as tourists. The actors would subsequently request unsuspecting passersby to take photos of them using the newly unrolled T68i camera phone. Being a novel device, the created necessity to be shown how to use it sets the platform for divulging its grand features. Therefore the fake tourists would seize the moment to talk about the features of the device. In a blunter world, this is directly referred to as guerilla advertising. The paid actors did not identify themselves as being affiliated with the Sony Ericsson company, which constitutes deception. Deception can exist both where there are commission and omission CITATION Mar08 \l 1033 (Martin & Smith, 2008); the latter, in this instance. A lot of people through these stage-managed interactions came to be exposed to information about the new phone. Yet more people came to learn about these devices through word-of-mouth referrals.

In a different phase of the same underhand advertising campaign ladies were positioned in distanced ends of recreational centers to play interactive games with this aimed at invoking the curiosity of those at the venue. Additionally, other ladies were commissioned, also in recreational places, to engage strangers in conversation while exploring the new device.

The unsuspecting members of the public were stopped in their tracks with the request to take a photo of a seemingly neutral tourist. It is debatable as to whether that can be termed as intrusion given it didn't consent initially but what is clear is the goodwill of members of the public was rode upon to ultimately get them into the ordeal. Very similar to this angle is the claim that the kindness of the unsuspecting public was exploited given they were willing to take photos as requested only to be baited into a scripted interaction.

This incident is of particular singularity because the executives were unapologetic in the wake of the case, and it can be said to be a rather errant use of the freedoms and leeway allowed in marketing. New sources alleged that they claimed it is an everyday occurrence to be talked up by strangers, all in an effort to downplay the covertness of the scheme. Any day of the week, it is unethical to take advantage of the kindness of potential consumers and even border on infringing their liberties.

A selected law case regarding Anti-branding and Stealth Marketing

American comic designer Kieron Dwyer was sued by Starbucks in 2002 for imitating and ridiculing their world-famous logo. The charges were copyright infringement, which refers to unauthorized usage of works protected by copyright laws, trademark infringement, and dilution. Mr. Dwyer had altered a number of elements from the original Starbucks logo, including swapping the slogan 'Starbucks Coffee' for 'Consumer Whore'. He went ahead to paste the parodied logo on a variety of items such as t-shirts and magazines which were put up for sale.

The court decided that Mr. Kieron's work legally constituted parody under how the constitution spelled out parody. However, they enjoined any further publication of that modified logo on the grounds that it was hurting the image of the franchise and also that it was commercialized.

The parodying of the Starbucks logo by Mr. Kieron, like the courts, shouldn't be accepted as it influences negatively how the market perceives the entire franchise rather than protest or create awareness of certain ill-doings by the company which is the whole point of anti-branding. Also, when one goes ahead to commercialize the activities around parodying that is considered unfair as their stacking upon the market presence, and franchise, already laid down by Starbucks as a brand. Tools such as magazines should sooner be invested as vehicles to increase awareness in the market about products. Awareness of both the benefits and ills if any. Effects on the consumer from the marketer’s actions or products are frequently highlighted and critiqued. However, what is rarely shed light on is how consumer freedoms may be misused to sometimes bring upon marketers adverse effects.

References

Dayrit, F. (n.d.). 5 Consequences of overspending. Retrieved from TYCOON: https://tycoon.ph/consequences-overspending/

LaPonsie, M. (2019, May 31). 3 Reasons We Overspend. Retrieved from US News and World Report: https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/spending/articles/3-reasons-you-overspend#:~:text=Why%20People%20Overspend,A%20lack%20of%20self%2Ddiscipline.

Martin, K. D., & Smith, N. C. (2008). Commercializing Social Interaction: The Ethics of Stealth Marketing. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 27, 49.

Pehlivan, E., Berthon, P., & Hughes, M. U. (2015). Keeping Up The Joneses: Stealth, secrets and duplicity in marketing relationships. ELSEVIER, 6.