Simon Sinek’s post today covers a couple of faux products he purchased recently by mistake.  His mistake.  The companies that he purchased these products from had full intent of stealing his money by selling fake products and, ironically, destroying their own integrity for the sake of a few bucks.

What he bumped into isn’t marketing and it irritates me to no end when people blame marketers for this kind of thievery. Marketing is a respectable profession and science.  A real marketer doesn’t:

• Use typography to hide the truth
• Study regulations to find loopholes
• Not own up to their products

Dairyfood USA isn’t a marketer.  Neither is Oleificio Zucchi.  They might say their distributors developed the brands Simon referenced in his post and they’re not responsible.  Bull.  They don’t have to sell to the distributors.  But all they care about is making money, even if it costs them their integrity.

Marketing should be about integrity.