Posted 5:08 PM by Gene

On the second day of the buzzword-bloated confab of the American Association of Lia -- Advertising Agencies, its "senior VP-counsel" wows the crowd with a "Top-10 List of Responsible Advertising":

1. Focus on CSR, not just ROI. (That's corporate social responsibility, not return on investment.)
2. Empower consumers. Involve them in your advertising so they feel a sense of ownership of it.
3. Pay attention to values. American culture is coarsening, so you need to make your values explicit, don't be too nuanced.
4. Be careful with protected groups, especially kids, the disadvantaged and seniors.
5. Build strategic alliances, or in other words, keep your friends close but your critics closer.
6. Pursue public-private partnerships, link to a worthy cause.
7. Be diverse and inclusive.
8. Liberalize technology. Technology should not be a barrier to consumption.
9. Police yourself. Create your own sector-specific models with rules, advisory boards, codes and then make sure you remind Washington of them often.
10. Do good and you will do well.

This is the biggest, smelliest pile of bull since B. S. DEFENDER's last post (or consulting job, whichever is richer). All of this is code for continuing to put one over on us. 1., 4., 6., and 7. reflect big business's burgeoning love affair with PC. 2. is an admission people don't like being whacked by ads, but the damned two-by-four is all advertisers have. 3. is flat out hypocrisy given the kind of junk most advertisers finance. 4. is also neutralized by these idiots' fixation on 13-TO-34. It further makes a covert statement to government types that we've done too much selling to kids. 5. makes no sense as "strategic alliances" can be enemies of competition (when not illegal), although this may be another expression of big business's burgeoning love affair with PC. 8. is a mere extension of the tiresome Web 2.0 chant that has become like an especially toxic virus at such affairs. 9. is a recognition government types may not like us, and 10. is a wishy-washy restatement of the Golden Rule, which big business repealed decades ago.

Adonis! Run for the Senate!