CryptoCurrency Marketing, is it Moral?
This Was an Actual Statement a Young Man Said to Me Recently at a Crypto Meetup.
After the young man asked me what I do he followed my answer with this statement, "Randy, I think blockchain and crypto products that use marketing techniques to promote themselves are frauds." You can imagine the shudder that went from the top of my head down to my toes. This person was calling me immoral. My whole business and life has been built around crypto and blockchain promotion.
I Took the High Road and did Not Take the Bait.
Since the response to what I do for a living was so vicious I was caught off guard and could not respond with anything eloquent. So I responded with, "I guess you are entitled to your opinion" and I walked away.
Now that I have had weeks to think about it, my response should have been, "I guess you don't use Apple, Mastercard, Visa or never ate at McDonalds". Get to shining kid!
Does a Blockchain Need to Grow 100% Organically, Like Bitcoin, to Be Taken Serious?
Frankly I don't believe a project has a chance in hell with all the noise in the industry. Imagine trying to launch a new product in the current market. Do you think that you would have a chance in hell if you just used Reddit? If your code was found how do you think the masses would find out about it? How long did it take Bitcoin to really start gaining momentum when it was the only game in town? Bitcoin launched in 2009 and started getting media attention in 2011.
I Know, I Know People Don't Like Marketers.
It is true that marketing kills everything. We saw what happened in late 2017 as so many fraudulent ICO's hit the market with amazing websites, online advertising, a flashy social media presence and personalities to match. Well, many of those projects are getting subpoenas. The ones who did it right will be here for years to come.
People Like to Pass Judgement But Forget That We Are Surrounded By Marketing.
Very few opinions we have are our own. Most of these opinions are based on some sort of marketing. Here are some examples.
- Apple devices are the best.
- People believe that Iran and North Korea are huge threats to their lives because they have been told that through the media for decades.
- Ben Affleck is a good actor.
- Trust the pharmaceutical companies.
- Marijuana is bad.
- Eggs are unhealthy.
- Go to school, university, work a job and then retire.
- Facebook is free.
- Bitcoin is the only viable cryptocurrency.
Marketing comes in all forms and one should be educated enough to be able to sort through it all with sound rationalization and common sense. Take that guy on TV now who claims he has the world's most comfortable pillow, Guaranteed!!! Really? Some marketers might be downright criminal while others serve a good cause. Most marketing can be avoided and ignored as inaccurate but good marketing is worth... well, worth its weight in Klondike Bars!
those are the people say it only by listening from others, they dont check it out themselves
Trading in cryptoCurrency is about as unethical as buying a bottle of water given how criminals also drink water. Do you have a problem with using money? Criminals use that too.
What about guns? I think you already know.
“Using (something) because it’s used by criminals” is a cop-out argument. It’s a strawman and a red-herring fallacy. It’s non-sense.
Of course, it’s ethical to use CryptoCurrency!
Yes you make great points, except on the Affleck thing, I guess some people might think he is a good actor, I wouldn't know because I stopped seeing movies a long time ago.
That could have been around when the Bitconnect fallout was still fresh in everyone's mind. It certainly isn't fair to group all marketing of crypto products or currencies as frauds though. He could have also been echoing the decision by Google and Facebook to ban advertising of cryptocurrencies. There certainly are scams that exist: pyramid schemes, pump-and-dump schemes, vaporware, etc. I wouldn't take what he said to heart though.
As long as you believe in the things you are promoting and you are doing your own due diligence to sort out the bad apples, you shouldn't feel bad for making a living promoting cryptocurrencies. In fact, a lot of people may actually end up being better off because of you if you are giving them insight on certain projects. Keep doing what you do best!
What a terrible blanket statement. In order to compete in this rapidly growing sector, marketing is definitely required. I wouldn't have even heard of some of my favourite projects without marketing, nor would I have eaten that Papa John's pizza the other night...
I guess the issue, like you've raised, is when disingenuous projects use clever marketing techniques to hook people in when there is no actualy substance to their projects, or in some cases, all they're offering is a scam.
That doesn't make marketing a bad thing though. Like anything, a tool in the wrong hands can be a dangerous thing.
wow this is really amazing
you are a great photographer, thanks for sharing..
FRAUDS or SCAMS have always been present in our lives with regular mail, with contracts of paper and shaking hands or we can still receive some tempting invitation of a millionaire widow in X country, all of them use marketing, cause marketing is just the name of the action of communicating something. Crypto is a huge improvement in how things might be done and distributed (Steemit is a really good example). It is your own responsibility to investigate and educate yourself ir you are going to invest any money (or time) in any kind of business, it could be a restaurant, a clothes shop, an IPO or an ICO.
Again... marketing is just a way for communicating the benefits we believe our products have or who we are. NOT MORE NOT LESS
The words are very sound that Hua shopping ethics
But there are so many people who do not really have this morality