As a big proponent of radical honesty (with ourselves, friends and family, and the community we serve), I’m so excited that the talented and huge-hearted Leona Devaz has contributed this timely piece on “vulnerable marketing.” She explains that by being better educated about our options AND by connecting deeply with other humans, we can empower ourselves to seek out the kind of healing we truly need, rather than be lured in by “wellness” marketers capitalising on the pain of vulnerable individuals and communities. Read on for a discussion about the morality of marketing, recent controversies in the wellness and self-help industry, and the power of community.
There are two days left to sign up for the 6-day challenge I’m hosting on the theme of Spiritual Bypassing. Learn more and sign up here. It’s totally free. Totally awesome.
“The swindler finds particularly good customers among the disadvantaged, since he expects the consumer not to understand much about contracts and ‘formalities,’ such as confessions of judgment, and to be unlikely to read legal language carefully or to peruse contracts disguised as receipts” (Andreasen 1975).
If you’ve got an emotional ailment, you can bet your bottom dollar there’s a cleverly designed marketing cure. Perhaps it’s an e-course that promises to bring you ‘abundance’, if you JUST SIGN UP NOW, or a more indulgent and expensive fix like a yoga\detox retreat in [insert name of beautiful tropical destination here]. The most dazzling is the one-day conference, claiming to CHANGE YOUR LIFE and teach you things you never knew. It’ll reveal all the secrets to great wealth, finding the love of your life and the business of your dreams.
They’re big calls, yes, they sure are.
Big calls designed to lure big bucks out of your not-so-big wallet.
And, we all know big calls come from big phones. Big phony’s that is.
In a landscape where people are luring you with new and holistic ways they’ve pioneered to remedy the shit, hurt, psychological trauma and downright bad times a lot people have had, using spirituality or self-help techniques and products to bypass one’s pain – a.k.a. Spiritual Bypassing – is the road more travelled.
The thing is, majority of folk have been through something. They really have. In Australia, statistics reveal that one in three women will experience violence in an intimate relationship. That’s a seriously high proportion of the female demographic. One in eight men will experience depression. The odds are, most people you know or meet, are either going through, or have been through a challenging time.
Navigating your way through hardship is a very personal and individual journey. One size doesn’t fit all, and it’s easy to end up more fractured than to begin with. I say this from real-life experience.
I’m part of the one in three statistic.
Being fractured is a place many stay enclosed in for a long time. Vulnerable is the home you create. Spiritual Bypassing your wounds is often the path chosen. And whether a person’s numbing agent of choice is spirituality, drugs (legal or illegal), entertainment, or clothing, marketers understand this drive very well. Marketing can be a clever way to offer products and services that deeply benefit and enhance people’s lives, or it can be an insidious way to cultivate traction through vulnerable communities.
As a freelance journalist, this piece is not designed to point the finger and cast blame or aspersions. Neither is it about lambasting certain movements or individuals. It’s about looking at the ethics of marketing to vulnerable individuals and communities, why it is important to understand the term ‘Spiritual Bypassing’, and shedding light on the counter-movement that is putting power and choice back into people’s hands.
I read a great line from a young student, Juan Ramos (NFTE Class of 2013), who quite simply said, “I truly believe that education is the greatest weapon to eradicate poverty.”
It really is. Poverty can be centric not only to a person’s financial life, but also to their emotional and spiritual lives as well.
Certain proponents of the ‘wellness’ industry know consumers intimately, and tailor their offering to capture people right at this moment of weakness. Oftentimes wellness marketers are neither qualified, nor experts, but rather eager business owners looking to win the race to the utopian ‘six-figure salary’– at your expense.
The ‘wellness’ industry is also incredibly beneficial, and research shows this to be true – yoga, meditation, and good wholesome food. There are great providers practicing ethical approaches that are worth checking out: Yoga By Candace, Mark Sisson and Rachel Brathen. And of course, the inimitable Stephanie Lin. They focus on building communities, and harnessing good health.
Others are not so ethical, and this is where vulnerable individuals are susceptible to being lured in by attractive marketing techniques while forgoing really working through their issues; in some instances, not seeking the right type of therapy needed. We know empowerment comes through: understanding, acknowledging, creating strategies and better coping mechanisms. Band-aiding pain with yoga retreats, super-foods, green smoothies and other luxurious items may make you feel superficially ‘better’, but they don’t address the fundamental aches that reside deep within your psyche.
In light of all of this, there’s a question I keep turning over. Is it morally justified to use marketing techniques to take advantage of people’s vulnerabilities?
After researching this topic, I found two statements, which resonate. One is by the author of ‘Marketing and the Vulnerable’ George G Brenkert (1985): “… moral marketing must exclude treating customers unfairly, marketers need to “qualify” those they propose to target as genuine market clients before they introduce marketing campaigns which target them.” Put simply, help them become qualified, or avoid marketing to them. Better yet – change the way it’s done!
The Australian Law Reform Commission also has a section devoted to ‘Direct Marketing to Vulnerable Individuals’. This is especially relevant given that specific individuals within the Australian wellness industry have gained both positive and negative media in recent times. The late Jess Ainscough, chef Pete Evans, and Wholefoods advocate Belle Gibson, have all felt the scourge for information they brought to the table. The debate ranged from asking ‘Should we accept advice from people who are not experts?’ to questioning the model of their business and offerings.
I interviewed Jess two years ago, and as a young woman with cancer, she approached disease from an ‘organic’ standpoint. Ainscough received a deluge of criticism for utilising the Gerson Therapy treatment and advocating her lifestyle to the wider public. Belle Gibson’s case highlights the lack of fact-checking on the mainstream media’s behalf, and the ethical responsibility ‘wellness advocates’ have to their wider market. Gibson’s now under fire for falsifying claims of having terminal cancer, not donating money received by followers to charities, and duping the wider Australian public of her recovery methods. She has confirmed that an explanatory statement will be released, but this is still pending.
In Chef Pete Evans’ scenario, health and medical professionals are currently questioning his ethos. His paleo recipes for babies have raised eyebrows from the federal Health Department, who tout they are unsuitable. Evans, a popular television host also experienced backlash from his publisher, who pulled his book deal.
It’s a dire reality for these former wellness advocates. But, in the midst of the furor, one element stands strong.
People want to know the truth.
People demand the truth.
They deserve it, and when consumers as a collective band together, it is as empowering as it is powerful.
This grassroots phenomenon is gaining momentum, and countering ‘vulnerable marketing.’ Social media is working to galvanize communities and conversations. Fraudulent behavior is aired quickly, and in the case of Gibson, she deleted her Instagram, Facebook and community forums. Now, online groups are springing up, devoted to investigating her history and sharing anomalies during her six-year cancer journey. It’s a tenuous time for this former wellness darling, and no doubt one in which coming to market and ‘owning’ her situation is imperative.
On the flip side of this, there’s another movement offering a far more ‘wholistic’ and genuine environment for those of us who find ourselves engaging in avoidance mechanisms like Spiritual Bypassing. It’s called Social Enterprise. The formal definition of it is: An organisation that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well being, rather than maximizing profits for external shareholders.
The not-so-formal definition is: People doing cool shit, so that other people going through shit, can get their shit together. In other words, “Holy Shit! That product or service is the shit!”
Social enterprise is genuinely caring about other human beings, putting people before profit, and looking at the world as a unified entity – instead of ethnocentric or egocentric mandates that ‘six-figure salary’ hunters are chasing. The model is based on designing and creating sound products and services that service a need, fill a gap, and create a buzz.
A great example is Flow Hive. Co-inventors Stuart and Cedar Anderson (father and son) created Flow Hive to allow people to collect honey – straight from a tap-like mechanism. They launched a crowd funding campaign, set a goal of $70, 000. They poured a whole lot of love into this project and their brand story, and explained why making it happen is great for harvesters, and bees too. Right now, as I type this, they’ve raised over $7, 300, 000. Yes, that figure is correct. People from over 116 countries have donated and there’s 10 days to go.
What has this got to do with Spiritual Bypassing? Everything. The next time you’re going through a dark time and feel like signing up for the ‘abundant’ e-course, or an international detox holiday, pause the thought! If you feel yourself preparing to commit your mortgage to a one-day extravaganza (promising the world via PowerPoint and motivational quotes), take a deep breath. Hell, even do Stephanie’s guide on ‘How to Meditate When you are Pissed Off’. And then think about community.
Connect with someone in your local area. Skype an international friend. Peruse some crowd funding campaigns and get involved. Why not set one up yourself! Chances are, one of the key things lacking in your life at that moment is connection.
Everyone goes through something. Marketers know this. But now that you know how to step outside of the vulnerable marketing catch net, take the power back into your hands.
Leona Devaz is a freelance journalist, relationship marketing expert, teacher and a contributing author in the best-selling series ‘Adventures in Manifesting’. She loves writing long form features and profiles on individuals, movements and giving people a voice by telling their stories.
She’s collaborated with agencies, direct employment with SEEK (the world’s largest online global marketplace) and the Australian Writers’ Centre (leader of adult education). Leona’s work ranges across media and marketing, with a focused interest on music journalism, employment & education media, relationship marketing strategy and interviews. She’s also a part-time Associate Producer for Perth’s independent radio station RTRFM – assisting in producing the news and current affairs program ‘The Mag’.
Leona believes in the saying, ‘Knowledge itself is power’, and is currently creating workshops to harness the power of collective learning. Connect with her at www.leonadevaz.com.