The Ethos Weekly, Vol. 10
When Optics Outsell Truth: Blind Beliefs and Bad Data
There was a time not all too long ago when even doctors smoked cigarettes regularly.
The general public?
They were actually comforted by it, because “if the doctor’s doing it…” has a nice ring to it.
Take a look at this advertisement from the back cover of a magazine printed in 1946. A white lab coat, a stethoscope around the neck – surely this is a REAL doctor!
And would ya look at that? They prefer Camels!
This was much more than an ad. It’s a symphony of well-orchestrated examples of how optics can silence reason, override facts, and manufacture trust out of thin smoke and a cheap mirror. That’s called framing; it sells (extremely) well, for better or… much worse.
In some regards, we’ve come a long way from cigarette endorsements on magazines. The fact remains that many leaders still fall for the same illusions; if it looks credible, it must be!
When a household name goes out on a limb to make claims such as, “More Doctors Smoke Camels”, it may be – coincidentally enough – doing irreparable harm to itself. This type of framing scores a 9.6 out of 10 on the Elemental Sleaze-o-Meter.
Let’s look closer at why that is.
“113,597 Doctors from Coast to Coast Were Asked!”
“Family doctors, surgeons, nose and throat specialists… doctors in every branch of medicines were asked: “What cigarette do you smoke?”
– This does not state how many responded, just that they were asked.
“Three nationally known independent research groups did the asking.”
– Okay, but still no mention of how many responded, nor who hired the three groups.
“The answers come in by the thousands. Actual statements from doctors themselves. The results? Camels… convincingly!”
– Hmm. Alright let’s unpack that. “Convincingly” isn’t so.. well… convincing without the data behind it.
The Buzz-word Breakdown:
- “More… than any other…!”
- “recent Nationwide survey”
- “nationally known”
- “like you, like yours”
- “Only your… can decide”
- “by the thousands”
They go on to reference a, “T-Zone: T for taste and T for throat – is your own laboratory, your proving ground for any cigarette.” With this, they’ve effectively tied it back to the highlighted comment atop the ad that says they even asked “nose and throat specialists”.
They continue with the Throat theme, and finalize their ad with, “For only your throat can decide which cigarette tastes best to you… and how it affects your throat.”
Altogether now. What’d we just witness?
This ad normalized smoking by framing it in a way that removed your doctor’s opinion on whether smoking is bad – highlighting only which brand they’d prefer if they did smoke. Further, it ends with telling the reader, “only your throat can decide”. With this, the author(s) effectively remove the thought process of asking your doctor anything at all about your smoking.
One might think, “If so many thousands of doctors prefer camels, it must be the healthier choice.”
That’s the power of framing in sales and marketing. Buyers see optics instead of making observations, and hear the tales over truths.
We as leaders owe it to ourselves, our team(s), and our customers to do better than this. Misleading is the easy road. How can we differentiate in a way that stands the test of time without misguiding?
Integrity. Transparency.
In sales, that means position true solutions solely and you’ll never steer anyone wrong. In marketing, it means we’re offering hard facts more than framed fictions in fancy fonts. In leadership, it means reinforcing guide rails that allow room for creativity and innovation without enabling our team(s) to slide down that oh-so-slippery slope of trusting optics over truths.
Helped you see things differently? Don’t keep it to yourself. The most powerful thing you can do is share it with someone who needs the same clarity.
Need sales enablement that really connects the dots for your team? Let’s talk about how to help them perform with purpose and close with character.
What’s Next in The Ethos Weekly?
Vol. 11: The Ego Trap: Why Sales Lies… and Leaders Let Them