Given the shocking facts regarding the health risks, I’ve always thought cigarettes should be even more heavily regulated, if not banned outright here in the U.S.

Imagine my delight when I learned the FDA and Department of Health and Human Services are proposing graphic, somewhat gruesome, warning labels on all cigarettes.

Here they are:

With big tobacco’s long, storied history of blatant lies and deception, the only way these companies will ever market responsibly is if they are forced to do so.

Agree or disagree?

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Few professional athletes have ever been bigger than George Herman “Babe” Ruth.

His achievements on the baseball field were epic, garnering him the nicknames “The Sultan of Swat,” “The Colossus of Clout,” “The Titan of Terror,” “The King of Crash,” and of course, “The Great Bambino.”

Arguably, the greatest player in the game today is Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod has a few nicknames, too:

• After leaving Seattle for a “contender,” he signed the largest contract in baseball history to play with the Texas Rangers—a team that has never contended—he became “Pay-Rod”
• He’s known as the “The Cooler,” since teams go cold when he joins them and hot when he leaves
• Several nicknames I won’t repeat due to his philandering, most notably with Madonna
• In light of the recent steroid revelations, he’ll forever be known as “A-Roid,” “A-Fraud” and “Alex Roidriguez”

Still, prior to the steroids news, baseball fans held out Rodriguez as the one person that might be able to remove the asterisk from Barry Bond’s home run record.

What does all this have to do with Responsible Marketing?

Baseball has a trust problem, and last April I asked the question, Can Responsible Marketing save baseball?

In it, I was hopeful that some of the things the MLB was doing might be able to help baseball regain its footing.

But as the highest paid player in the game, A-Rod’s irresponsible and fraudulent actions have a reverse halo effect (also known as the ‘devil effect’) on the MLB brand.

So, now I’m left asking the question again, do you believe Responsible Marketing can save baseball?

What’s your take?

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This week, tobacco companies were dealt a blow when the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of allowing lawsuits to proceed under state law for deceptive advertising of “light” cigarettes.

Tobacco companies are now in what I call an irresponsible marketing death spiral:

The proliferation of traditional and social media have created millions of professional and private corporate watchdogs. Irresponsible marketers may be able to run, but they can’t hide.

When irresponsible marketers are caught, the U.S. legal system rewards companies, individuals and attorneys that prosecute said marketers for their actions.

Of course, controversy sells, so traditional and social media will document every step and misstep as the company attempts to respond.

Competitors gain traction as the distracted irresponsible marketing is forced to shift time, money and other resources to defending itself and/or working to mend it’s broken brand.

The company dies a slow, painful death.

Okay, not every marketing misstep will result in a class action lawsuit, boycott, movement or campaign against a company.

It’s usually more subtle than that, as customers and prospects respond with their pocketbooks—and their voices.

Truth, authenticity and transparency are no longer optional, folks.

Responsible Marketing is what the people want. One way or another they are going to get it.

Which other companies (or industries) are entering an irresponsible marketing death spiral now?

Comment below to share.

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The last thing any online retailer would want is have their website down for maintenance.

Well, that’s what the Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic brand family are all claiming on their respective website as of 9:15 a.m.

Everyone knows this isn’t a “scheduled site improvement” on a day like this.

Clearly this is standard page that goes up when there’s an outage. But on a day like today, they should change it so they don’t look like they are lying to try to save face.

It’ll only take a few minutes, so why not just tell the truth?

You know, people do talk about this sort of thing.

Your thoughts?

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Take a look at the following cigarette ads from When Doctors, and Even Santa, Endorsed Tobacco in the New York Times:

These ads weren’t objectionable then, even though they were deceptive. Today they’d be considered outrageous.

The fact is, Responsible Marketing is a moving target. What’s responsible today, may not be tomorrow, and vice-versa.

There are restrictions on tobacco and alcohol advertising today. What’s next: Sex aids? Pharmaceutical ads? Political advertising?

Or will the racy ads of Europe make their way to America?

I’d love to hear your take.

Comment below to weigh in.

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View this video on YouTube

The problem is, the credit reports aren’t free at all. When you get your “free” credit report, you are agreeing to a trial membership in Triple Advantage Credit Monitoring, but if you fail to cancel your membership within the 30-day trial period, you’ll be billed $12.95 per month from that point forward.

The company has been slammed for this practice, and it’s defense has been they have included the following disclaimer at the end of their ads: “Free credit report requires enrollment in Triple Advantage.”

Still, it’s so fast, you can barely understand it, and it’s often cut off in transition to other ads or programming.

Is the disclaimer enough?

Is FreeCreditReport.com responsible or not?

Comment below to weigh in.

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So, is the following Responsible Marketing?

Top Quality & Affordable Forum Population
Paid forum posting is about providing your forum, blog or community a jumpstart, by seeding your site with active conversation & enthusiastic members. From visitors to Google, your site will start getting the notice it deserves!

The notice it deserves? Everyone has to start somewhere, but paying strangers to pretend they are interested in your content is downright sad.

Here’s their pricing:

You can’t buy love

If your blog or forum is a ghost town, does your content need a little help? If it’s worthy, don’t sink to buying a temporary audience.

Instead, share it with the people you know and seek out individuals and groups that might be interested in what you have to say.

If you have quality content, an audience will follow. Like any relationship, first you have to establish trust. And that’s pretty tough to pull off if your conversations are phony.

What do you think about paid conversation seeding?

Unethical or just “faking it until you make it?”

Comment below to weigh in.

We don’t trust anyone anymore. It seems the great politicians, celebrities, corporate titans and athletes have all let us down one way or another.

And while part of our psyche seems to revel in watching the demise of greatness, there’s also a part of us that hurts a little.

Where have all the good ones gone?

Yesterday, Barry Bonds’ controversial 756th home run ball was delivered to the Baseball Hall of Fame by Mark Ecko, the fashion designer that acquired the ball in an auction for $752,467. Ecko conducted an online poll to determine what to do with the ball, and the winning choice was to carve an asterisk into the ball.

For those that aren’t aware of the significance of the asterisk, most baseball fans believe the record is dirty due to Bonds alleged steroid use and it shouldn’t count. If Bonds did indeed use steroids, he cheated. And if that’s the case, since he said he didn’t use steroids while under oath, he’ll be a liar and may be found guilty of perjury.

What does all this have to do with Responsible Marketing?

Your marketing results should never come with an asterisk. Here are are few examples to illustrate what I mean:

This is obviously just the tip of the iceberg.

I’d like to know what other marketing activities you believe are worthy of an *.

Comment below to weigh in.

Tim Girvin and I go back. Way back. Okay, not that far back.

We were on the advisory board of a before-its-time start-up six or seven years ago, then reconnected through social media recently.

Tim’s firm, Girvin, is known in design circles for its work on identity programs for over 350 motion pictures such as Ironman, Braveheart, Beowulf, Unforgiven, The Matrix and The Last Samurai. But Girvin’s firm isn’t just movies—other clients include Gucci, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Yum! Brands and a long list of other companies you’ve heard of.

Tim has been reading The Responsible Marketing Blog since its launch, and unbeknownst to me, wrote about The Concept of Responsible Marketing [& Its Etymology] in late May.

It’s a fascinating linguistic journey, with stops in the years 1200, 1225, 1300, 1390, 1599, 1651, 1787 and 1836 A.D.

Really, what Tim is seeking is the Truth, and he sums it up here:

For me, it’s all about truth. And truth, these days, is hard to come by. Being “truth full” is laden with challenges. How can you market something being truthful? Because, in a way, the legacy of marketing is about stretching the truth—it’s telling a story that extends beyond the actual, to the imaginary in premise. When I think about it—it’s about the premise as the driver to actualization of marketing principle—and that premise delivers against a promise.

Make sure you subscribe on Tim’s blog, and don’t miss his post Exploring the Brand Obama. It’s one of the best I’ve read on the topic.

So, what does Responsible Marketing mean to you?

Comment below to share.