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Why Flag Pins Do More Harm Than Good
By Tim Gross - Internet Business Blog | April 18, 2008
(Note: This is a business blog, and at the end this gets tied in to a very important sales point…)
During Wednesday night’s debate, Barack Obama again had to defend himself about why he didn’t wear a flag pin.
A flag pin is an empty symbol, and wearing it doesn’t accomplish anything.
However, I submit that it’s not just meaningless… that wearing one actually does more harm than good. Here’s why…
When something gets under our skin and compels us to want to take action, it’s crucial to the cause that we’re compelled to take the correct action, and that we not be allowed to let ourselves off the hook with a “cheat”.
Wearing a flag pin is a cheat.
If someone feels strongly about a political situation, whether it’s supporting our troops, their specific views on government leaders and what they should do, protecting certain rights, protecting our country from terrorism, etc., etc., they feel compelled to do something.
They need to do something so they can get rid of the nagging discomfort they’re experiencing due to their inaction.
Their choices include:
- Write letters to their elected leaders
- Donate money to a cause they support
- Actively protest or support their cause
- …Wear a flag pin
…Well guess what, as long as it’s socially accepted that wearing a flag pin is “doing something”, 99% of the population will do just that. Because it takes no real effort or money to do.
The problem is, it DOESN’T do anything, and it’s a cheat to let people (and yourself) off the hook by misleading them into thinking it does.
Taking real action of some type accomplishes something. Wearing a symbol is a cheat.
Same goes for celebrities walking down the red carpet wearing a pink ribbon to raise awareness about breast cancer.
I imagine someone backstage gave them the pink ribbons to wear, and the celebrities said, “Sure, it’s the least I can do.”
EXACTLY: It’s the least you can do. They probably told their friends the next day that they helped support breast cancer research. Their friends said, “Oh, did you donate money?” and the celebrities said, “No, even better… I wore a free ribbon!!!”
On some breast cancer awareness sites they actual say things like,
“October is national breast cancer awareness month. If you can’t donate money, then please, at least wear pink this month to show your support.”
Grrrr… If you don’t donate money or time to breast cancer research, you’re not supporting it. If you watch the Jerry Lewis telethon and don’t donate money, you’re not supporting MDA no matter how many hours you log with your butt on the couch during Labor Day.
It’s time that we called “bullsh*t” on the entire concept of “supporting” something by not really doing something. It lets people ease their conscience without actually doing any good… And that’s not good.
Have you ever heard the absurd urban legend that if you collect pull tabs from aluminum cans that they have a special redemption value for people with failing kidneys to get time on a dialysis machine? Good-hearted people save up thousands of tabs, take them to a recycling center, and learn that they’ve accomplished nothing.
Helping people and making real change has nothing to do with good intentions, it has everything to do with taking the correct real action. Pins and ribbons and flags and fairy dust are placebos.
Finally: How This Ties In To Business
This entire article has been about how to not let people get around taking real action. If you’ve got a sales letter that really motivates people to buy and gets under their skin, it may be hard for them to click away from your sales page without doing something. (Hopefully, buying!)
However, there is one way for them to “cheat” and let themselves off the hook and leave your page without buying: They can contact you through your customer support link with a question, no matter how unimportant the question is.
Their goal in contacting you is mostly to get rid of the compulsion they have to buy your product. They figure, “I’ll just email them a question, and when I get the answer, maybe I’ll buy then”.
You lose in two ways:
- You have to answer their customer support question, which has a real cost in time and money
- More importantly, you let them off the hook by allowing them to ask you a question to avoid their compulsion to buy.
The solution: Test removing your “contact us” link from your sales letter page. What’s required is a good Q&A page of frequently answered questions. Instead of “Buy, leave, or ask us a question”, test making their options, “Buy or leave”.
You may be surprised by your results.
Don’t let people off the hook when it comes to supporting political causes, charity donations… or sales.
…Oh, and just be be totally incongruent and to confuse you, here’s a picture of a flag pin 
P.S. -If someone donates time or money to a cause they feel is important and also wears a symbolic flag or ribbon, that’s fine (I’m certainly not knocking that!), but I believe the primary benefit to a pin or ribbon is to the wearer (they feel good about showing what’s important to them) versus what’s accomplished by wearing it (ie, believing they’re changing other people’s behavior through peripheral exposure to their pin). And again, feeling good shouldn’t be confused with constructive action.
Topics: Marketing, Rant | Trackback URL
April 19th, 2008 at 7:11 am
nice article
April 21st, 2008 at 4:03 am
Hi Tim. Found you through Twitter follow. As I read your article I realized that your right. Human nature is to take the easiest path, to avoid the difficult, to hesitate rather than go full out. The point you make about leaving off the contact information on a sales letter is one I hadn’t thought of, but sounds intriguing. It also makes sense. If there is no option for delaying a decision, then one must make a decision–whether yes or no. Thanks for the insight. Cindy
April 21st, 2008 at 4:44 am
I love this post, Tim! So true, when you give people an option to ask a question, they try to cheat their way around the action. Even with Ebay, I constantly have people ask questions that have been answered in the listing details, showing they have been too lazy to read!
Flag pins have always been a real puzzler for me. As a patriotic American, I’ve tried to model my citizenship by voting regularly, and knowing the history and current events of the US. When someone feels they can just wear a pin and that says it all, again a lazy way to be an American.
Will check in to see what your next topic covers!
Thanks ;~)
April 21st, 2008 at 10:44 pm
A really excellent article - i love your point of view - and you tie the Flag Pin concept to the sales process. Very nice!
May 1st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Tim,
The do-nothing Flag Pin wearer is the same as the guy with the little fish on his trunk who cuts you off and gives you the finger.
You’re spot on with the sales letter. Don’t give ‘em a bail out. And, ask them to buy. Now. Take Action. options. A good sales letter should strip away all the questions from the interested prospect and make ‘em red-hot to buy.
“…feeling good shouldn’t be confused with constructive action.”
So true,
Thanks for the treat of a read,
Walt