SUMMARY: Businesses absolutely love to talk about ethics. They even give each other awards for showing how ethical they are. However, virtually no one in the country has stepped up and said that a Kansas City video firm acted unethically in selling internal videos it shot for Wal-Mart. A guest column written by Bottom Line Communications' John Landsberg was rejected by both the Kansas City Star and Kansas City Business Journal. Is it reprinted below for unlimited use. 05-12-2008
MEDIA NOT INTERESTED IN DISCUSSING ETHICAL ISSUES WITH WAL-MART VIDEOS
�As the CEO of a major business, what is your company�s policy on the major issue of AIDS in the workplace?� The CEO stared at the interviewer with a classic �deer in the headlights look.�The question was designed to completely catch him off guard. And it certainly did. �Well, I, err, uh would say that we definitely are against it,� he stammered. Everyone in the room started laughing hysterically, including the interviewer. That happened to be me. It was all part of one on-camera media training session we had conducted. It was similar to the training we had provided for literally hundreds of individuals.The goal of the training was to prepare folks to effectively work with the news media and be able to handle tough questions that might be asked during an interview. Under the glare of harsh TV lights and with a camera in their face (many for the first time in their lives) individuals sometimes give absolutely idiotic responses. It�s part of the training.It�s far better to give a ridiculous answer during training than it is to say it on �60 Minutes.� But never in a million years would we take that internal training footage of executives stumbling and stammering and attempt to sell it on the open market.Could we make money selling it?Without a doubt. Lawyers would love to take major goofs and tongue-tied answers and show them to a jury with the hope of a major settlement. To me it is very simply an issue of ethics. That is why I am stunned by the massive media support shown to Flagler Productions, a small Lenexa video company that is selling internal video footage of Wal-Mart executives to lawyers, the media, union organizers, etc. To me it is totally unethical and borders on blackmail. It�s not even a close call. Yes, copyright law might be on the side of the video company since technically they shot the footage (and were paid handsomely to do it).But, this really isn�t a legal issue. It is an ethical issue of two businesses who sealed a deal for nearly 30 years on a handshake when a handshake actually meant something. That�s a pretty good run.A business strategy of relying on a single client for all you work is pretty risky. To be candid, when I have raised this issue with students in my graduate classes almost unanimously they say things like, �Hey, if Wal-Mart didn�t have a legal contract with the company it was their own fault.�Or �Wal-Mart stopped using the firm and nearly caused them to almost go out of business. They deserve to get hosed.� In more than 25 years of media training the issue of who owned the video footage never once even arose. It did not need to. We were hired to do a job, paid for our efforts, and either gave the client the footage or simply erased it.There was no need to have attorneys involved. It was a matter of integrity. Sure, it�s tough to lose a client, but it happens every day. That doesn�t mean everything you did for that customer (speeches, photos, video, etc.) are something you can then sell on the open market. What amazes me most about this story is it has even gone global, and I have yet to see any media story that supports Wal-Mart on this issue.Possibly this is because Wal-Mart is not a huge advertiser (recently ranked 36th by Ad Age) compared to its revenues. Possibly it is the classic David versus Goliath story that the media absolutely loves which pits the world�s largest business versus a little Kansas firm. Every day business folks around the world attend lofty-sounding sessions on �Integrity in the Workplace� and �Business Ethics.� Maybe it is time for some of them to actually start practicing it.
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(John Landsberg is the president of Bottom Line Communications, a Leawood-based marketing communications company he founded in 1996 (www.bottomlinecom.com).He is also an adjunct professor of marketing and journalism at three area colleges.)
FEEDBACK:
John, I love this piece. It will be very controversial and you will likely get a backlash but I think it needs to be considered. Many like to slam Wal-Mart because they are so big and successful. I bet if that scenario was happening to a local company of 100 employees there would be a completely different reaction. Thanks for being willing to take on a tough issue.
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