 |
 |
Hi All not a typical community psychology topic, but I wonder what you think about the latest opportunity for psychologists - branding. We've got used to psychologists working in the media, fronting PR research, or even becoming celebrities in their own right. But I recently heard from a colleague who's been told about how psychologists can get involved with brandnames (and presumably make money into the bargain). For example, you can sign up to be the resident psychologist for a phone company, supermarket or similar. I've attached a newsletter by one psychologist who is doing branding work (you'll need to scroll about half way down to see the examples of products/branding). I'm not including this newsletter as a dig at this particular psychologist, but wanted to use it as an example of what I'm talking about. (btw I was given this in confidence, it's okay to pass on, but perhaps better if kept within this discussion list). I guess my question for those of us working in community/critical psychology, is whether being associated with brands is okay or not? Many of us may be linked to charities, advice websites, or similar - which sometimes could be blurred with promoting a product (for example, when I give online advice for a magazine technically I could also be promoting that magazine as a product). But this feels different from deliberately working with companies as their 'resident' psychologist. I guess I'm concerned about the image this gives to psychology, the impact it could have on research/practice, and what ideas it gives the public? Given they rely on psychologists for advice or information, could that be eroded by appearing to be sponsored by a company or product? I'm not one for suggesting we go for objectivity in research, but surely working for brand names must involve some conflict of interest? Anyway, this is something that I've not really heard about until now, but thought it might be worthy of discussion. If nothing else it could inform a christmas debate where we could decide to argue for or against psychologists as brand ambassadors. bw Petra ___________________________________ COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML For any problems or queries, contact the list moderator at [log in to unmask]