Cheating on your Partner and Your Brand

Adultery. Infidelity. A fling. A Hanky-panky. Is in the end known as cheating. Most of us agree that it is wrong, some might say that it is immoral. In fact in 1985, it was illegal under Canadian 

Law:

172. (1) Every one who, in the home of a child, participates in adultery or sexual immorality or indulges in habitual drunkenness or

any other form of vice, and thereby endangers the morals of the child

or renders the home an unfit place for the child to be in, is guilty of an

indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding

two years.

Pretty crazy I know but that is one way to stop all the shinanigans. However, I do enjoy the odd movie that captures all the cheating into a twisted story. Moonstruck comes to mind, it was a twisted romantic comedy.

When it comes to cheating, you see most of us feel guilt and know we shouldn’t do it. However there are many degrees of cheating and in some cases some instances shouldn’t even be considered cheating. There is the case of the over protective inquisitive and curious partner which I hear over and over again which can be unbelievably annoying. In many cases I would say that when you have an over controlling partner that doesn’t allow you to even spend any time with other people you are curious to get to know that would make you feel entrapped and controlled. Spending time with other people besides your partner is fine, as long as it doesn’t go to far into something flirty on a consistant basis.

Adultery on the other hand is a bit more serious and I would argue that it is wrong. According to a recent Gallup Poll done in the U.S. 91% of the people in the survey responded that adultery was bad. That seems pretty obvious right but in another survey 74% of men would have an affair if they knew they wouldn’t get caught. Women polled were not far behind at 68%. So what does this tell us? It means we know what we are doing is wrong but if we can get away with it we are more likely to do it.

I believe that a bit of freedom of seeing other people besides your partner is fine even spending time alone with someone else is okay. You shouldn’t feel guilty about that in any way. You should be able to control yourself and realize that if you are seeing somebody that you should respect your relationship and not have a fling that went somewhere serious with someone else. It’s just a matter of control. In a weird way I think you become more attracted by other people when you are actually already in a relationship, funny how sly some of us are.

 I found it very amusing that some advertising even focuses on the merit of cheating in relationships and use that in their adverts. I find it simply funny that ads resort to say that you should cheat on your brand and try something new. Or cheat on something else and stay true to your brand. A brand is a product and products don’t have feelings, their not people or animals, if you want to go with another product that is completely your decision. It’s amusing that some ads focus more seriously as if there was a long lasting relationship with the consumer and one particular brand. Is it fair that adverts promote cheating in their ads? As long is it’s done in a light humorous way I don’t have a problem with it, such as going with newer, fresher product. But if it’s more direct and say to cheat on your girlfriend or cheat on you girlfriend rather than the product or other action then no that’s not giving a right message.

There is also the issue of subliminal advertising if people will constantly be bombarded with messages such as leaving an older product for a younger one that could be loosely translated as leaving your older girlfriend for a younger one. There is an ethical issue here that some folks may have a problem with. Personally I am not found of this type of advertising.

I don’t believe that cheating is simply human behavior and we have to fight against it. I just feel that if you’re with the right person you won’t have the urge to cheat on them. When I see brands that focus on cheating with the brand you have so far it’s just a simply way to promote another product, but if the benefits of moving to another product are there then it’s just a change. It’s not cheating because you wouldn’t want to go back to your original product. That being said advertisements promoting trying a new product are not promoting trying it once then going back, they are asking you to make a switch, so cheating is not the right way to look at it.