It’s September…that month that gets so packed with so many things to do it can be hard to find a moment to read! So rather than jumping right in with some big think pieces, we thought we would pull together some shorter reads for this issue. The golden thread that links them all is around how we engage with consumers and customers and some of the ethics around it

Embracing your own counter-culture

Customers often don’t do what we’d like them to and Ikea has historically been a bit sensitive (*cease and desist levels of sensitivity) about other people hacking their furniture…. but in a turnaround which began with the ‘we hacked ourselves’ collection, they are now celebrating the creations submitted by their fans, and of course it is social media gold without costing Ikea a penny.

We should all be kicking robots: an ethical test

With more and more security robots helping keep neighbourhoods ‘safe’, this slightly tongue in cheek but very well argued article argues if robots are on our streets to gather data without our consent, maybe it’s time to get rough. Definitely worth a read and see if you agree.

The inconvenient consequences of online shopping

Whether you are a “bracketer” or just a common-or-garden online shopper, the expectation that you will be able to return goods for free comes with a serious environmental cost. Elizabeth Segran outlines how consumers might have to act if brands & retailers aren’t willing to change the behaviours that feed this problem.

After Gen X, Y and Zee, Alphas are in the marketing crosshairs

The next Holy Grail for marketers may well be Millennial parents, and entrepreneurial brands are already betting that the way to their pockets is via their (young) children. Generation Alpha has been coined to describe kids born between 2011 and 2015, and although there is heated debate on whether it is legitimate to describe them as a generation yet, it is not stopping kid-focussed YouTube channels turning big profits on toy reviews amongst other things. This has the consequence that, without care, we could create a generation who are either, consumerist zombies or citizen crusaders hell bent on rejecting all online advertising. Not sure which would be worse.

Read about it here>

Sharon McCutcheon/Unsplash; Glenn Carstens-Peters/Unsplash

Taking care we are not being too careful

It is certainly not easy being a brand in these days of weaponised offence being taken. The wrong association when placing advertising can be detrimental to a brands safety but can extreme caution be having unforeseen consequences? The following article discusses what can happen when keyword blocking is applied without context and how one community seems to be particularly, and unfairly impacted.

Read how here>

and finally, a tool to help designing products with data so you can navigate to the right side of history

Our friends at Ideo have been wrestling with the challenge of responsible and humanistic approaches to the use of data in the design of goods and services, and to help them and us, they have made available a set of cards to prompt and stimulate ‘good’ AI/data design thinking. Which is very welcome after all the stories above! Bravo guys

Download the cards here>

Issue 18: kicking robots, hacking brands, watching what we're blocking and more. It's an ethics feast for fall