We know that when people are not sure of what they should do they will tend to follow the advice of a recognised AUTHORITY or someone who has superior knowledge or wisdom in a particular area.
In 1949 Camel ran the following advertisement highlighting that More Doctors Smoke Camel than any other cigarette.
As persuaders we know the reason why Camel used the idea of Doctors to promote their product:
if it is good enough for my doctor, it is good enough for me!
The advertisement would have also had an impact on other doctors because “doctors in all branches of medicine in all parts of the country” stated they smoked Camel. From a CONSENSUS perspective therefore any doctor not sure whether they should smoke or what brand would be influenced in Camel’s direction because people just like them (other doctors) are smoking Camel cigarettes.
The key thing to remember when using an AUTHORITY to convince others (whether you are the Authority or you are leveraging someone else) is the AUTHORITY needs to be seen as AN AUTHORITY (someone with extra knowledge or wisdom) not someone who is IN AUTHORITY (i.e. the boss).
In the Camel example doctors smoking their brand is leveraging the AUTHORITY position of the doctor to tell others to smoke this brand of cigarette over others (even though none of them ever came out and said this).
We have seen the dramatic impact of AUTHORITY in past blog posts such as Compliance which outlined the situation where a hoax caller to a McDonald’s restaurant in the US caused a manager to strip search a staff member because the caller stated they were a police officer and insisted the strip search be conducted.
Likewise I shared the story of Brett Cohen and the impact of being a Fake Celebrity and what can happen when you have the right trappings or cues of AUTHORITY.
The question for you is how are you presenting your AUTHORITY to others? Are you presenting the right cues to influence your target of influence in the desired direction.
Now I am not suggesting any of the examples above are good uses of AUTHORITY. Instead I think it is interesting to look at the impact the principles have had and continue to have in our lives.
Imagine if you will if the Camel campaign was run today!! The uproar over the suggestion of a medical connection to the promotion of smoking would be deafening and rightfully so. This is why the impartiality of professionals such as doctors and dentists is critical to society – I am not so sure Bruce the dentist is actually a dentist in the Oral B campaign!
Examples such as Cohen’s demonstrates the ease at which AUTHORITY can be faked and while the short-term gain may be incredible the longer term impact to reputation if credibility eroded will last far longer.
Do your due diligence. Tell the truth. Remember – only a true AUTHORITY will admit they don’t know something or have done something wrong because they know expertise is only one part of the equation – the other is trustworthiness!
Have you ever been duped by a fake Authority?
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