ethical. marketing.

so i was recently interviewing a guy. not an interview really, more like a chill chat for the services we provide @ inagiffy.

i told him, bro, you’ll have to come up with 3–4 post ideas daily. you know, the usual stuff. he said yea bro, very much interested and all that. 30 mins later i get an audio from him saying,

“bro this is not ethical work.” lol.

now you tell me.

i gave him full context, who our client is, what they do, what’s happening on social. the real picture. no fluff.

it was about orm, online reputation management. basically helping brands clean up their image online. replying to people, fixing search results, building a better story. it’s not manipulation. it’s just… showing the other side that doesn’t trend. people always see the hate, not the effort. so yea, we balance that out.

so here’s the question, is marketing ethical or not? skip small brands for a second. look at the big ones. are they not faking half the time? seriously?

i was frustrated. then i thought maybe it’s about the pay — 10k/month (his number). but the deliverables were literally 2–3 linkedin-level posts. i even said 5 hours a day max. finish your posts, call it a day.

so like… what’s happening with these 22-year-olds? they don’t want to work? don’t want to experiment? are they unaware of how social works now? what marketing actually is? or are they just too lazy to find out how deep it goes?

it made me question myself too, am i even doing ethical work? but then i thought, maybe “ethical” isn’t black or white. maybe it’s just about intent. i’m not scamming anyone. i’m helping clients tell better stories. if the work brings results, money flows in, clients are happy, and consumers actually see value, what’s the harm?

end of the day, perception is shifting. people notice. so maybe that’s still ethical in its own way.

honestly, i’m just happy to have a small team of interns. yea, they copy-paste sometimes. yea, they mess up. but at least they try.

maybe that’s the thing, marketing isn’t unethical, people just lose curiosity. and maybe leadership is also just another kind of marketing, you sell people on belief.

after that guy’s audio, i got a new intern, let’s call her “d.” she was super excited for the role. didn’t even ask her much in the call. just said “cool, let’s start monday.”

coming back to the main thing, i told that guy, bro, we’re the same age. you’re 22, i’m 21.

we’ll kill it on reddit.

but i could already sense the vibe in the call.

still gave it a shot.

then that audio happened.

triggered as hell. skipped him.

arnav said skip. done.

he wasn’t going to change the system anyway.

now i’m just training the current interns, trying to make them better.

main goal @ inagiffy?

simple:

• they learn.
• they grow.
• they get a reality check of how things actually work.

if they leave, cool, at least they know how to make money or get hired somewhere else. that’s enough.

so yea, small rant. random thoughts. maybe marketing’s not about ethics or faking, maybe it’s just about figuring your line and staying honest about it.

bye. happy chhath puja.