image credit: Window of The Poor Man’s Store by Alfred Eisenstaedt
So you’ve heard we’re in a recession. We’re all happy to be working, we’re all hoping for the best. But the landscape is transforming, and with vigor.
We’re doing a bang-up job in the 24-hr news cycle of measuring financials, but what are the impacts to the emotional, philosophical, and logical norms in our culture? What is emerging in 2009 is an acute marketing awareness, that isn’t just reacting to budgets, but crafting a focused strategy and message based on the current culture, day by day. The result is an explosive trend of “self-aware” advertising, or messaging that has pre-written a common state of mind for the consumer.
It’s being described as the “Virtuous Recession,” and it has literally taken over the tone of advertising at large, with high-profile campaigns from Allstate, Sprint, Hyundai, and a host of others.

Early development of the sentiment was born out of post-9/11 culture and transformed in recent years with the capitalization of the “Green” movement. Marketers promised a new economy with an ethical underpinning, racing to appropriate the message of a brighter future, the promise of a better world, brought on by the threat of global climate catastrophe. Exxon and BP’s marketers jockeyed for the ownership of energy independence. In 2008 the financial crisis added to the catastrophic threat. In an election year, all the Obama campaign had to do was take the sentiment and slam-dunk it — done and done. Even Pepsi jumped the Obama bandwagon.
It seems that “appropriation” is the word of the year. And the message is about weathering the storm…together.
So as we brace for the continuing impact, a consensus is forming that online marketing (and, in particular, social media) is a cheaper, more measurable solution for the economic climate. Traditional awareness campaigns are being branded as extravagant and doomed to fail. But the argument goes beyond just the financials, and the strategy spreads beyond messaging.
What does a social media campaign look like in terms of a “moral economy”? Social media is a natural fit for community values, the importance of family, the middle class. It’s not just a more efficient way to spend dollars; rather it appears the more responsible and honest choice. And appearances are everything in a time where an industry like U.S. auto is not only concerned with the marketing dollars available, but how they’ll be perceived when spending it. With this in mind, it makes you wonder: did GM drop out of the Super Bowl to cut costs, to avoid criticism, or to build confidence in its vision? It seems that the viability of a campaign is no longer simply tied to potential sales results, but to its ethical implications and adherence to a set of vaguely austere criteria. Automotive may in fact be a unique sector, where the strategy is expected to be airtight and budgets lean, while emotional messaging might not go over as well — no one wants to be branded as pleading.
So according to the blogosphere, social media has made the cut, while evidence is gathering that perception of the moral may guide the marketer’s compass as much as efficiency and cost. But is there any truth to the message they have adopted, or is it timely exploitation? Are we really all in this together? We may even try to put a better light on it and decide that it’s a good thing for marketing to develop a conscience. After all, what’s really important? Is it the material wealth? Or is it family, community and good will?
The question that remains as yet unanswered is “How do you effectively advertise products and services with the subtext that raging consumerism was a mistake?”
Nick Sternberg