To Tell the Truth or to Lie in Business Marketing
To tell the Truth or to Lie in Business Marketing
As children we were always asked to tell the truth no matter the situation but the reality is truth telling can be a very complex. Imagine this example of a four year old who is not old enough to grasp the importance of her school timetable in her first week of school, she showed up for class 20 minutes late having been diverted by a rather splendid game of marbles. Four black jack chews and a sherbet dip were at stake. By the time she walked in the teacher was so fraught that lying seemed to be the best option. Five minutes later she was before the headmistress because her colourful story about helping a blind man find his way home after his old, crippled guide dog had dropped dead outside the playground gates was – surprisingly ‑ not believed. At the end of the day when her mother came to collect her she was hauled in to the head’s office where the child was forced to recount her rather elaborate story before being made to apologise to the grown-ups and promise always to tell the truth. Just as they were about to leave the headmistress reminded her mother that the school day actually finished at 3.30pm and noted that she had arrived five minutes after the bell. My mother was really annoyed; angry with me for telling lies and irritated by the head’s observation on the importance of time-keeping. On seeing the little girl the next day the headmistress asked her what her mother had to say about the previous day’s events. ”she responded brimming with determination to only tell the truth,”she thinks you are an interfering, old busybody.” As you can imagine that evening when the school bell sounded both her mum and her were back in the head’s office. To the child’s utter amazement her mother lied and when they got home that night she was punished for telling the truth!
So what is the truth anyways?
“Whatever satisfies the soul is the truth”.
-Walter Whitman (Whitman, No date)
The decision to tell the truth
As children we were always asked to tell the truth no matter the situation but the reality is truth telling can be a very complex. Imagine this example of a four year old who is not old enough to grasp the importance of her school timetable in her first week of school, she showed up for class 20 minutes late having been diverted by a rather splendid game of marbles. Four black jack chews and a sherbet dip were at stake. By the time she walked in the teacher was so fraught that lying seemed to be the best option. Five minutes later she was before the headmistress because her colourful story about helping a blind man find his way home after his old, crippled guide dog had dropped dead outside the playground gates was – surprisingly ‑ not believed. At the end of the day when her mother came to collect her she was hauled in to the head’s office where the child was forced to recount her rather elaborate story before being made to apologise to the grown-ups and promise always to tell the truth. Just as they were about to leave the headmistress reminded her mother that the school day actually finished at 3.30pm and noted that she had arrived five minutes after the bell. My mother was really annoyed; angry with me for telling lies and irritated by the head’s observation on the importance of time-keeping. On seeing the little girl the next day the headmistress asked her what her mother had to say about the previous day’s events. ”she responded brimming with determination to only tell the truth,”she thinks you are an interfering, old busybody.” As you can imagine that evening when the school bell sounded both her mum and her were back in the head’s office. To the child’s utter amazement her mother lied and when they got home that night she was punished for telling the truth!
So what is the truth anyways?
“Whatever satisfies the soul is the truth”.
-Walter Whitman (Whitman, No date)
The decision to tell the truth
Bibliography: 1. Yvonne Ridley, (6 January 2010), Telling the Truth; Global Research; Available on: http://www.globalresearch.ca/telling-the-truth/16772, (Accessed on: 6 January 2013) 2. Bizshifts-Trends, (2 July 2012),Truth telling: The Brutal Truth on Truth Telling, Available on: http://bizshifts-trends.com/2012/07/02/truth-telling-in-business-can-be-dangerous-but-when-in-doubt-tell-the-truth-brutal-truth-on-truth-telling-in-business/,(Accessed on: 6 January 2013) 3. Bizshifts-Trends. (2012, July 2). Consulté le January 6, 2013, sur bizshift-trends.com: http://bizshifts-trends.com/2012/07/02/truth-telling-in-business-can-be-dangerous-but-when-in-doubt-tell-the-truth-brutal-truth-on-truth-telling-in-business/ 4. Whitman, W. (No date). Quotes About the Truth. Consulté le January 6, 2013, sur Good reads.com: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/truth?page=2 5. Information Week, (11 April 2011), Evolving Technologies Raise Unusal Privacy & Ethical Issues, Available on: http://www.globalethics.org/newsline/2011/04/11/tech-ethics-10/, (Accessed on: 7 January 2013) 6. Wikipedia, (no date), Available on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_dilemma, (Accessed: on 7 January 2013)