Over-commercialism has been a hallmark of many previous movements. Some started out with a distinct commercial aim, and leaders of movements (or innovators) clearly had this in mind. Other movements become more commercialised and commodified over time, led by followers (or popularisers). Several signs and symptoms of over-commercialism have emerged, especially in the last half century or so, but even more so in recent years with the advent of social media. Those that may be relevant to New Safety Movements (NSMs) include the following. (See this post for an introduction to the series.)
Perpetual marketing and advertising
It is normal for movements of all kinds to want to understand the market for their purpose, and seek to communicate with and influence those who may find the movement of benefit. But methods used in other movements – even (or especially) related to seemingly noble aims such as mental health and spiritual growth – have often been less than honest and transparent. Previous movements have employed carefully designed methods to manipulate people, concealing pertinent information that the target person or organisation would want to know. It is often only some time into the influencing process, perhaps at the end of talks, training sessions, reading material, tests, and so on, that the hidden commercial intent becomes more evident. Organisations have even scraped social media, or otherwise obtained lists, to contact conference attendees in order to sell services and products. The problem of excessive marketing and advertising has, of course, been strengthened with the support of algorithms, and this will continue with AI.
Implications for NSMs: This is a creeping problem in NSMs. It has become evident on LinkedIn, where some NSM posts are essentially infomercials, and in highly commercialised conferences, where talks include hidden or excessive ‘service placement’. (As Drew Rae put it at EHS Congress 2024, “A lot of presentations at a conference like this are thinly described marketing exercises.”) While some advertising is normal and necessary, advertising that feels misplaced or (especially) manipulative should be challenged by followers and others targeted, while service providers should take care to ensure ethical commercial practice.
Unusually high fees
Fees for services and products should reflect quality. Previous movements that became highly commercialised (such as personal development) realised that events could be a cash cow as speakers could demand high fees while reusing or recycling speeches, and also sometimes recruiting new adherents and buyers of products and services. Motivational speaking events prioritised entertainment and emotional impact over substantial, theory-based content. While it is normal for fees to reflect expertise, celebritism distorted payments such that there was no rational relationship between fees and quality or benefit.
Implications for NSMs: There are already signs that this has become a problem for NSMs, with several organisations pointing out inordinately high fees and expenses – even tens of thousands of dollars – from some ‘keynote speakers’. NSM practitioners operating in this way risk generating cynicism via a combination of crass commercialism and celebritism. Conference fees are an ethical problem also where evidence emerges of cronyism and undisclosed and unfair discrepancies between speaker fees. Conferences should disclose who has been paid for talks and workshops, or whether other benefits in kind have been provided. Invited speakers and other delegates could ask explicitly about this. Conferences by professional societies usually demonstrate good practice in this area, but should also be sensitive to the need for transparency and fairness. Organisations seeking services, meanwhile, should choose competency over celebrity; choosing a suitably qualified and experienced person for the work.
Frivolous trademarking and opportunistic domain name acquisition
Trademarking and domain name acquisition can be an important means to protect genuine intellectual property. But these practices have also been abused. Some movements have employed opportunistic registration of words and phrases that are already in use. This is done to try to stifle competition, and attempt to prevent terms or concepts from being used without reference to the ‘owner’, who may not have been the originator of the word, term or phrase.
Implications for NSMs: There have been cases of trademark disputes in NSMs, and this is likely to continue along with frivolous trademarking, trademark trolling, and other bad faith practices. There needs to be vigilance about all aspects of trademark misuse and abuse on all sides. The use of preexisting or common terms as trademarks, URLs, business names, etc, should be discouraged and opposed by safety practitioners and organisations, as potential misuse of common intellectual resources, or even a form of conceptual theft against a community.
Low-value training and certification programmes
Training programmes and learning materials are a part of all previous movements, and a necessary one. For some movements, however, such as the personal development genre, such courses have often been self-certified, low-value reading packages, typically with no face-to-face interaction or hosting (a convenient form of passive revenue). Such movements have also developed their own certification programmes, offering a perceived prestige to buyers via certificates, grades, etc. The rapid expansion of the life coaching industry, for instance, led to a proliferation of coaches with varying levels of training and expertise.
Implications for NSMs: Learning programmes should involve good practice in development, from training design to competency testing. Those looking to develop competency or otherwise seeking services might consider their need for face-to-face contact, materials, professional society accreditation, and suitably qualified and experienced facilitators and educators who have expertise beyond the standard materials beyond taught. Free or open source reading materials, such as can be found on Wikipedia SKYbrary, may also be considered by NSM communities as a possibility where reading materials are required.
New Safety Movements are inherently commercial. This in itself is not a problem. The problem is over-commercialisation and commodification which erodes trust and engenders cynicism. A detachment from disciplines often occurs when the emphasis shifts away from rigorous, evidence-based approaches that are rooted in theory, used by people with appropriate expertise. This detachment is more evident in some NSMs than others – especially those amenable to simplism and populism. To avoid some of the traps of previous movements, NSM practitioners must prioritise transparency and ethical practice, while those seeking services must be discerning, asking critical questions about competence, fees, sponsorships, and accreditation (including codes of ethical conduct of professional associations). Those seeking services should also understand that practitioners differ significantly in expertise, and most titles used by NSM practitioners are not legally protected or regulated, and may not be particularly meaningful.
Postscript
This series outlines seven possible threats to New Safety Movements, based on my observation, listening, reading, and reflection over many years, concerning a wide variety of other movements: religious, social, health, and business. Not all threats apply to all New Safety Movements, but most of the threats seem to apply to most of the movements, to varying degrees. The seven threats below will each feature in subsequent posts (this post will be updated with summaries and links to each threat).
- Over-commercialism
- Egotism and leaderism
- Simplism and populism
- Dogmatism
- Ethnocentrism and neocolonialism (coming soon)
- Unprofessionalism (coming soon)
- Cynicism (coming soon)
My hope is that we can be mindful of each of these threats, and reduce – as far as possible – the destructive potential of each. This way, the positive potential that may exist in some of the various New Safety Movements can be realised without too many unintended consequences or otherwise unwanted effects.
Humanistic Systems 