When it comes to consumer transparency and brand engagement, Latin American residents can teach us a lot about how to fight for these things.
When I’m king of the world, I plan on making a few changes. Yes, there will be free Irn Bru for all, and I’ll have the Sultans of Swing swapped for the English national anthem, but beyond that, the one big change will be to let people make up their own minds.
I think I’ll call it the Don’t Be So Blooming Stupid law, so when people try to bring $65 million lawsuits against their local dry cleaner because he lost their trousers (true story), or sue the fast-food industry for making them eat fatty food (again, true story), the judge will be able to say, “Don’t be so blooming stupid,” and just chuck it out of court before anyone’s time is wasted.
It will cut both ways, of course. If companies or people are being deliberately misleading or making promises they can’t honor, then I’ll listen. It came to me when I was in the supermarket recently and suddenly realized I was surrounded by the fruits of ludicrous legislation. Here was a jar of peanut butter with a sign on the back that said: Warning, may contain traces of nuts. There, some tins of tuna boast that they are “dolphin friendly,” but the skipjack tuna doesn’t share the same waters as dolphins. It’s entirely meaningless, a victory for obfuscation.
Why consumer transparency and brand engagement are important to each other
So who benefits? Well I’m fairly sure that most of these labeling laws were set up to benefit the consumer, but they are confusing and too often exploited. And the thing is, like any relationship, if a brand treats you like an idiot and leaves you feeling exploited, what does that do to your loyalty?
In an ideal world, the Don’t Be So Blooming Stupid law will also have an elite task-force set up to check out the veracity of brand’s stories as well as the promises they make. Latin American consumers already have the bit between their teeth on this front and – having survived years of corruption, cynical about being lied to by those in authority – are quick to call out companies that over-embellish things.
According to Trendwatching’s “Transparency Triumph” bulletin, some of these busts include Brazil-based ice cream brand Diletto, for entirely fabricating the story of ‘Vittorio Scabin’. the Italian grandfather of its founder; and processed food brand Seara for featuring an Italian ‘lasagne expert chef’ in its commercials – who doesn’t in fact serve lasagna in his restaurant. Brazilian consumers also renamed Black Friday “Black Fraud”, making over 2,000 complaints about companies raising prices in order to knock them back down on the day.
And it seems from this report that brands, big and small, are beginning to take note: Coca-Cola and Hellman’s both offer tours of their farms and factories, furniture maker Apartamento61 shows its mark-up and profit on every sales ticket. This is only the tip of the iceberg. It’s a movement that is spreading to politics as well. Dilo Aqui, a new Venezualan app, has been created to help citizens anonymously report bribery and corruption.
It seems that in Europe and the States we’ve got some catching up to do. Until then, I’ll have to harrumph away to myself – like all the best grumpy old men – and hope that slowly, incrementally, consumers realise that with great choice comes more power than you might think.
