Funny how some articles can trigger memories and associations. The OregonLive.com interview with Myron Orfield about the need to assure social justice alongside sustainable development in Portland, Oregon made me think about freedom and equality in marketing.
In a political philosophy seminar exercise back in graduate school, I was paired with my friend Farah from Jordan to argue for our favorite political philosophy. At the end, the instructor asked us to summarize, in a single word, the principal reason for our selection. I said, Because it’s more free (as in liberty). Farah said, Because it’s more fair.
The trade-off between liberty and equality remains the core debate in Western political philosophy. Freedom versus justice is just another way of contrasting individualism and community: too much equality among community members may undermine individual freedom, and too much liberty may undermine community ties.
Because the pursuit of individual fulfillment and the desire to belong are among the primary human motivations, the fair versus free divide relates to sustainable marketing as well. Negative externalities aside, can an individual’s purchasing to satisfy her needs impinge on the freedom of others to satisfy theirs and thus degrade community? Can community building suppress individual expression and generate intolerance toward outliers?
At first sight, freedom and fairness (liberty and equality) are two opposite paths you can take in defining the meta-level benefit of your product.
- Freedom / liberty / individualism: Will your product help your customers achieve what they want to achieve? Will it help them become who they wish to be?
- Fairness / equality / community: Will your product help your customers achieve what others have achieved? Will it help them become a member of a group?
There’s no value judgment on either option – both are aspirational and useful in their own right. There’s also no prescription as to what option to favor with your product – successful brands help attain both individual expression and belonging.
However, the third piece of the French revolutionary motto may throw all this out the window. After reading Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone (watch out for the review Friday), I am convinced that individualism versus community is a misleading dichotomy to focus on. Conceptually, both individuals and communities are static units of analysis. The connections and relationships among individuals and the networks within communities inject dynamism into the equation and actually matter more. Without relationships to other people, we as individuals are nothing; without connections among its members, communities fail to materialize and thrive.
Sustainable marketers should opt for the third path and aim to build social capital. The power is in the networks and in the relationships they promote. The questions then become:
Will your product help your customers connect with other people? Will it help them cultivate meaningful relationships?
***
Image credit: waywuwei
