Brands increasingly prioritize engagement over ethical considerations, often resulting in tone-deaf humor surrounding sensitive issues. The reaction to the Coldplay kiss-cam incident illustrates this trend as numerous brands, including the Stroke Association, attempted to capitalize on the moment with inappropriate jokes. This behavior reflects a normalization of such practices, where the first few brands making light of a situation encourage others to follow suit without consideration for context or ethics. Moral licensing allows brands to justify their actions, eroding brand guardianship and integrity in communication.
The Stroke Association, a £40m+ turnover charity with a serious mission, made a joke in a now-deleted Threads post about Coldplay destroying families "faster than a stroke". It received thousands of likes.
This isn't just a tone misfire. It's the logical outcome of a system where "engagement" quietly becomes more valuable than ethics, and where chasing culture is rewarded, but questioning whether it belongs to you isn't even in the playbook.
The more brands that joined in, the more it felt normalized, a textbook case of normative influence - we look to others for cues on what's acceptable.
Add in a dose of moral licensing - the idea that doing something good can give a false sense of permission to engage in unethical behavior.
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