The US Chamber is Wasting its Money

The US Chamber of Commerce is planning a mega campaign aimed at reselling capitalism to the US public. They want people to recognize that regardless of all of the problems we have had, our capitalisitc system is still the best there is.

What? I didn't realize that people in the US were turning away from capitalism. This must be a bunch of Chamber people who really believe that we are headed toward socialism and that the public must be warned. Is the Chamber now an arm of the right-wing Republican party?

This is the most ridiculous waste of money one can imagine. The issue is not about capitalism, but rather about abuse of trust. We have become warry of the Madoffs and Sanfords and Thains, as well as the AIGs of the world. We have seen great companies go down the tubes, led by CEOs who seemed to be unable to grasp changes in the marketplace. While many people may be questioning whether "greed is good", that is a far cry from questioning capitalism.

One of the biggest problems US business has had has been its inability to understand the market dynamics and changes in perceptions among their consumers. The Chamber is showing that it is a leader in this tone-deaf business activity.

This reminds me of the ill-fated attempt under Pres. Bush to sell the "virtues of the US" to the Middle East through a PR campaign. The problem in the Middle East is that they are tired of foreign governments (UK and US in particular) in their region and biased toward Isreal. Regardless of whether or not we agree with those assessments, we must understand them. Bush showed that he did not understand them. He assumed that they didn't like our values and so we had to sell them. Such stupidity!

This is not bad brand and reputation management, this is bad business strategy. The inability to fully understand the needs and interests in the market is a kiss of death to business. Businesses move toward the wrong targets.

The Chamber is demonstrating that it is an organization more interested in touting political ideology that leading to the restitution of trust in business. If they were concerned about the latter, they would be focused on their members and the untrustworthy behaviors many have shown rather than assuming we do not understand them. When someone says: "you don't understand me; trust me", it is time to assume that they don't get it and are not worth the time.