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So last week Apple announced new products. Yawn. The Cult of Apple worshipped their God, and millions of words were written praising His Wisdom. However the most interesting comment I’ve read so far was about the political content of Steve Jobs’ presentation.
Alastair Rankine writes that the Macworld Keynote has moved from slick-but-reality-distorted marketing into the realms of straight-out entertainment, and then criticises Randy Newman’s performance. Not because it was crap (which, being Randy Newman, is inevitable), but because it was political.
Criticism of the Bush administration is something I obviously have a lot of time for. But is it suitable for a consumer product launch? …
Mix politics with business and you take a risk with a relatively small upside but a big downside. If your politics match mine, we are no more likely to do business together than before we knew each other’s positions. But if our politics disagree, this difference becomes a barrier that we each have to overcome in order to do business together.
I’m not arguing for censorship or anything. I’m just saying that the separation of politics and business is crucial for the success of both.
I disagree.
Business is about making money, yes, but sometimes I think it’s wrong to “leave politics at the door”. In fact, is it even possible?
Here’s how I responded on Alastair’s website:
Deciding to continue doing business with someone even though you disagree with their political aims is a political decision: a decision to wimp out and fail to pursue your own political goals. A decision to support your political enemy because money is more important to you than your principles.
Mind you, I fail to live up to my own high-sounding rhetoric.
I faced an ethical dilemma. I discovered that one of my clients is run by members of Hillsong Church — an organisation which worries me. Did I stop working for them? No. Or at least I haven’t yet. However I have turned down a project which would have been working directly with the Church’s own business interests.
On the other hand, can I be accused of religious discrimination? Perhaps. How would it have sounded if I said “I don’t work for Jews”?
It’s presumably OK to say “I don’t work for the baby-sacrificing Turnip Cult”, though, so where does one draw the line?
Was Apple wrong to include political commentary in a product launch? (Did that happen because Al Gore is an Apple board member?) Where does one draw the line between business and politics (and religion)?
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Tags: al-gore, alastair rankine, apple, ethics, hillsong, macworld, randy newman, steve jobs
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23 January 2008 at 9:38 am
Alastair
Ah, but that just proves my point…
(Sorry not sure where to reply, but biased towards my own blog for obvious reasons
23 January 2008 at 6:46 pm
Matty F
Work for everyone. Just do a shit job for the those you can’t abide.
24 January 2008 at 8:25 pm
Cassie ST
Where do you draw the line?
When the queazy feeling in the pit of your stomach, the nagging doubt hammering away in the back of your mind, the feeling that you need to scrub down when you bank the cheque, just won’t go away, and you wish you hadn’t said yes.
I mix business, politics and religion all the time. Like your header says Stil., “All publication is a political act. All communication is propaganda. All art is pornography. All business is personal.”
It’s not the political or religious persuasion per se, it’s the ethics behind it and behaviour displayed, yes?
Where is it written that people have to be fair and do business with people they’d rather not do business with?
Agree with Alistair, ignorance is bliss, but once you know, well, then it’s your choice isn’t it? And then a whole heap of other interesting computations and trade-offs come into play. (This from personal experience boycotting whole countries and trans nats over the years, in protest/solidarity for whatever)
If you feel uneasy about doing business with someone for ethical reasons; unless you’re in the employ of a dictator, it’s no-one else’s business but yours, should you choose to say “no, sorry, can’t do this job for you”.
(@Matt F: Nah, don’t do a poor job, that affects your reputation AND Karma. You just sic … err … “recommend” them onto your worst enemy/competitor in the field. They deserve each other, right?)
It seems to me, from personal observation and anecdotal evidence over the years; that the only people who wrestle with their conscience over this sort of dilemma, are the people whose gut feeling says “no”, even as they shake on the deal.
And you can be sure that the “client” is having no such tussle with their feelings over the contract, except perhaps regarding prompt payment, if at all, for services rendered, having transmorgified into the client from hell quicker than you can say - DOUW!
25 January 2008 at 6:28 am
Stilgherrian
@Alastair: As I said over at your place:
@Cassie ST: I think you explain the line-drawing very well. If the gut feeling says it’s wrong, it’s wrong. Even if we can’t consciously put it into words.
Isn’t there a song in The Simsons about “doing a half-arsed job” being “the American way”?