Just Story It

As a brand guy who’s worked in advertising all my life, I’ve seen my fair share of ethical issues. To be frank, ethics and advertising don’t go together all that well. Training for a career in advertising commonly happens on the job, and the ethical guidelines are filed away somewhere in legal departments’ archived rules and restrictions.

OK -- heady stuff for a Tuesday morning. And who wants to really wrestle with tough ethical issues when it is just a lot more fun to barrell on along in our work.

But at some point, we do need to pause and reflect on the ethical implications of our work.

I included this article because it is a lone voice in the wilderness in the wild and wooly world of story branding. As more and more ad agencies, brand specialists, and marketers incorporate stories and story dynamics in their work to increase engagement, interaction and loyalty, ethical issues arise.

This post is actually a quick read, and I like the 10 guidelines he offers. They dovetail nicely with the Story Ethics Guidelines available as a free download on my site (Article #5 http://www.juststoryit.com/howto).

Of the 10 guidelines in this post, numbers 2, 4, and 5 relate most directly to using stories. #2 is about permissions, #4 is about being transparent/authentic, and #5 is about being vulnerable.

Good points all.