The Wildcatter’s Battleground is our take on the classic Point/Counterpoint style of debate. It is a place for everyone to discuss light-hearted, yet oftentimes controversial, topics affecting today’s society. We hope to present this debate in a manner that is fun, respectful, and most of all, enlightening. More opinion-fueled than fact-based, these questions have no right or wrong answer and everyone is free to join the conversation…as long as they can defend their point. Welcome to the Battleground, where only the fittest survive!!
For:
In today’s media culture, it’s hard to stay relevant. There’s no longer such a thing as good press or bad press, just effective and ineffective press. Years and years of market research will tell us that one of the single most important factors in brand loyalty is familiarity. Whether it is conscious or subconscious, people instinctively trust what they know….even if it is a case of the fear of the unknown. The only way to become familiar is to be as visible as possible.
In the days of social media marketing, personalities have become brands, and the people behind them are only human. Any amount of good press will necessarily come with a certain amount of bad press. That’s the beauty of the first amendment! Nowadays marketing isn’t as straightforward as it once was and sometimes creative marketing tactics can backfire in unforeseen ways. (Example: The Kendall Jenner Pepsi Commercial)
Sometimes even good press isn’t even good press these days! When Budweiser tried to use their philanthropic efforts to bring visibility the company, they were immediately ridiculed by some for spending “$5 million on a commercial to brag about donating $100k of water.”
Does this mean we should no longer try anymore? It’s always been impossible to please everyone and the rise in use social media has given small dissenting minority opinions a platform that makes them seem bigger and louder than they really are.
The news cycles so fast in the digital age that even though bad press will be a permanently searchable part of your record, it will be quickly forgotten by the public consciousness. Many companies and public figures try to avoid taking stances on controversial issues, but the reality is that those who do take a stance aren’t suffering, at least not where their bottom line is concerned. No matter which side of the spectrum you fall on, with every boycott there’s an even stronger backlash of support.
Against:
What’s the old saying? A reputation takes a lifetime to build a moment to destroy.
With so many people willing to sell out for their 15 minutes of fame or a one-time paycheck, it’s never been more important to protect your reputation. The internet is a permanent archive that no amount of technical know-how can completely scrub clean. Tweets that get immediately deleted are first screenshot and reproduced into perpetuity without the author’s consent and private conversation recordings might be illegal in a court of law but certainly not in the court of public opinion.
Furthermore, if all press was good press then musicians and artists would never be compensated for their work. There’s a reason Prince spent more money on copyright lawyers than he ever made of selling digital copies of his music and there’s a reason Jay-Z started Tidal in an already saturated music streaming market. We all remember the song we fell in love to or the movie that changed our lives, but “exposure” doesn’t pay the bills.
While bad press just doesn’t seem to have any effect on a lucky few, the public has been clear: morality and politics in personal lives matter. Whether you are the CEO of a company, a famous athlete, or media personality, your brand is your business and consumers are starting to speak with their money more and more on issues that are important to them.
Just ask Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong how it felt to lose all that endorsement money. Or ask Colin Kaepernick and Justine Sacco how it felt to lose their jobs on top of the widespread public criticism they endured. While everyone loves a comeback, the brand will never be as strong and the public will never forget.
Have you ever heard Oprah Winfrey utter a bad word? Do you see Elon Musk getting in Twitter fights?