When I was taking up Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication many moons back, consumers made choices in life with the help of old school advertising, which was then the very essence of how people considered alternatives like they were given a guide book from where they would make decisions and pick specific brands and products.
But in this age, legacy media where advertising belongs shares space with social media, digital marketing, and other virtual means. And with bloggers, vloggers and the so-called social influencers, virtual channels have the capability of promoting subconscious marketing on social media pages. Subconscious marketing takes place when a consumer’s thought is effortlessly shaped and formed through subliminal messages. Subliminal messages are hidden images, sounds, smell, tastes, and even text that only the subconscious mind can receive and process into action.
Haven’t you noticed that you are easily lured by content that triggers your emotions? Triggering people’s emotions is a marketing strategy. Content is deliberately designed to produce compelling emotions and to appeal to the subconscious mind. So, do not wonder why the video of a misogynist and sexist who decides to go on a bad mouthing spree, verbally assaulting a woman, easily goes viral on social media. Yes, such content is foul, obscene and obviously in bad taste, but either a negative or positive emotion elicited by this type of content will make netizens view the same content more than once, and even share the same to their families and friends. When one does that, he or she is either consciously or unconsciously spreading and sharing content that is “unsafe” for consumption. But these content consumers may not have the reasons for sharing such content. Regardless of their motivations, the social media content that is profane, obscene, disrespectful, and harmful is spread exponentially.
That is why it is very important for consumers of social and digital media platforms to remember this: if a message successfully engages people’s subconscious emotions, you can nudge them to take action in your desired direction.
Social media and the virtual channels are all about getting attention, hooking people whose attention were grabbed, and keeping them glued to a specific content or page where they are fed subliminal messages that will eventually lead them to making a decision – either make a purchase, choose between or among options, and make decisions that will impact their lives. My question is: Who decides what content to feed you? The answer: the content creators. You do not have control over how they create content or what they include in their content. So, unless you are a careful and choosy consumer of social and digital media content, you will easily fall prey to content that is “unsafe” and “unhealthy”.
Self-regulation on the part of industry players and content creators is very critical in ensuring that any content that is created and published is suitable for mass consumption.
Let me zero in on social media influencer marketing which has been on the rise in Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia. Influencer marketing is gaining a strong ground in the said country where brands use so-called influencers to endorse products because they have been known to generate more sales from a home-produced video as compared to a full-fledged studio shot and produced television commercial.
It is for this reason that Andrew Lee, president of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia, strongly pushes for self-regulation for it is the only way to hold industry players and content creators accountable by the public for content that they create and release for mass consumption.
According to Lee, “effective self-regulation is instrumental in protecting brands and companies’ reputation and can be seen as a social obligation for businesses to build trust with their consumers by assuring them the content put out is honest, legal and truthful.”
The Communications and Multimedia Content Forum in Malaysia has adopted the Content Code to set out guidelines and procedures for good practices and standards of content disseminated to audiences by communications and multimedia industry service providers. The code demonstrates a commitment to self-regulation by the industry in compliance with the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588). Furthermore, it seeks to identify offensive and objectionable content, while spelling out the obligations of content providers within the context of social values in the said country.
I strongly agree with Lee. A content creator or “influencer” if given absolute freedom to whatever he or she likes or feels to do with content that is intended the public, it is like handing the him or her a loaded gun and leaving it up to the creator to whom he or she wants to point the gun at and start shooting with content that is unregulated, uncensored. That is very scary.
A vlogger who draws attention and views by the thousands and even millions by merely talking trash and using humor that is distasteful, offensive and obscene is not only dangerous but lethal when left to speak and influence a multitude of people who are clueless,
Lee believes that these new players on the block (vloggers, bloggers, virtual content creators) need to be put on a leveled playing field with traditional advertisers. Make everyone involved in content creation accountable and sanctioned for their actions, especially for content that is misleading, obscene, untruthful, and those that exploit its consumers.
As Lee puts it, “all content creators will be compelled to be transparent and disclose the nature of content whether it is commercial, editorial or user-generated. It will also serve as a framework and guideline when it comes to self-regulation.”
While the Constitution guarantees everyone’s freedom of speech, expression and of the Press, the provisions of the Bill of Rights however, clearly tell us that these freedoms are never absolute. That the freedom of one ends where the freedom of another begins. When these freedoms are made absolute, and anyone who has a gadget and wifi access decides to create any content without fear of being held accountable for violating ethical standards and the law, then we can expect consequences that are detrimental to public order, personal growth and progress of a society. Unregulated social media can be a haven for hate speech, disinformation, profanity, pornography, all forms of shaming and discrimination.
And when our unsupervised children get exposed to such content on a regular basis, unconsciously, they get educated by the so-called influencers who in the guise of humor and entertainment, they are fed with content that is not fit for human consumption – the kind that does not promote learning, truth, compassion, personal growth, humility, respect, positive inspiration, and motivation. Isn’t that scary?*
