Lie Like A Politician

By Frank Todaro

I have always assumed that honesty was the best policy and that telling the     truth, especially in advertising, was ultimately the best course of action. After watching the latest round of elections and the flood of deceptive political advertising I am beginning to wonder if I have been flat out wrong.

If you even half way paid attention to the latest round of national elections you noticed that politicians have no compunction at all about lying. I don’t mean spin — the shading of the truth to promote your cause — I am talking about saying things that they know to be false. In the past, if you or I did that to promote our businesses we would have to answer any number of government agencies and would likely have a lawsuit to defend. But politicians may have ushered in a new age where lying is not only common but expected.

And it’s not like we don’t know until well after the fact that the politicians are lying. Thanks to organizations like www.factcheck.org, we know it almost instantaneously and yet they keep doing it. There is only one explanation for this — we (their customers) don’t care. And not only do we not care, we accept the lies and gladly pass them along to our friends and family as truth (how many chain emails did you get?) and even discount the “unbiased” folks who tell us they are lies.

The lesson for marketers is that now we can disregard all the restrictions we ever had on what we say in our ads. I think our lawmakers have set a new standard for us. And surely they will support us by changing those now outdated laws on “truth in advertising” by allowing us to do what they have been doing — lie with abandon.

My favorite story about lying politicians occurred in the South Carolina Republican primary in the 2000 election that John McCain lost because of the lies perpetrated by the Bush team in ‘robo-calls’ to voters accusing him of fathering a black child outside his marriage all while he and his wife had adopted on orphan from Bangladesh. As irate as McCain was, it didn’t stop him from hiring the very same operatives for his 2008 campaign. Why — because lies produce results and results are more important than the truth.

Yes, smear tactics and falsehoods have been used in the business community, but up until now the courts have supported the victims. For example, back in the 80’s some over enthusiastic Amway distributors started spreading rumors that Proctor and Gamble was in cahoots with the devil and P&G had to fight it for years to get relief. It was awarded nearly $20 million in damages nearly 15 years later. I am sure those days are passed and the Amways of the future will not have to worry about the courts.

So it is clear we are in a new era where lying is not only OK, but is rewarded. Why? Because it works! So my new motto is “Lie Like A Politician.” Soon we can take this beyond advertising and into all aspects of our life.

Why tell the truth when a lie will work so much better?