Integrity and the Marketplace

Posted by Andrew L. on 07.03.2009

What can a loud, bearded direct response ad pitchman teach us about the economy? Plenty.

This past Sunday, amidst all the media frenzy about Michael Jackson, a different sort of American Icon passed away quietly in his sleep. His name was Billy Mays and anyone who has had a bout of insomnia, or trying desperately to metabolize an entire night of drinking at 3am has heard his voice and seen his frantic sales pitches. He exhorted viewers loudly and forcefully to buy his products and call now for a fabulous deal.

What does all this have to do with politics? Not much, other than Billy Mays, I believe, encompassed a quality that has been lost in the American marketplace: integrity. While America hasn't ever had a fully capitalist economy, and the closest we got was in the 1800s, there is without a doubt one factor that is missing in the overall national scale economy: integrity. Integrity and reputation are the hidden hands and enforcers in the capitalist system. While no one will ever stop the crook, thief, liar, trickster or fraud from making a buck, it is almost impossible to ultimately fashion a long term business model around deception. Ultimately misdeeds get published, wronged consumers tell others how crappy the person or business was, and everyone goes elsewhere with their money.

Love him, or hate him, Billy Mays believed in his products. He stated in many interviews if he couldn't believe in a product's ability to solve a problem or make life a little easier, he wouldn't pitch it. He's also claimed to have used most every product he's promoted. To him, his business was his reputation and his image. He guarded both carefully because he knew that any crack would ultimately spell doom for his ability to make a living.

This is the quality that a lot of Corporate America lacks, and has lost sight of. While small businesses still, for the most part, strive to serve their customers admirably and faithfully, corporations on the other hand seem only obsessed with the ability to make a short term profit. Corporate America seems perfectly happy to get in bed with government to force markets to accept their products, give them unfair advantages over other, smaller competitors, and otherwise act without thought to morality or simple precepts of capitalism.

Absent government force, reputation is the supreme arbiter of the marketplace. If consumers lose faith in a company to provide good products at a fair price, then that company ultimately will go out of business. Businesses have an incentive to produce good products at fair prices. If their reputation ends up being one of a company willing to cut costs and do anything for the bottom line at the expense of the quality of their product, ultimately people will take their hard earned dollars elsewhere.

For a practical, real world example, even in the face of our managed economy, one needs look no further than Underwriter's Laboratories. This is a company that no one is forced to do business with, but many companies will not buy products that do not carry the UL label. Underwriters Laboratories has made it their reputation to be the first and foremost authority on testing products efficiency and safety. They understand reputation and its force within the marketplace.

Billy Mays also knew the value of a reputation and of integrity. It is what made him into a multimillionaire and earned him a spot in pop culture history. Through the recent Discovery Channel series Pitchmen, and several other media spots, people were also able to gain a glimpse into the man behind the beard. One who, to this writer, appeared to be the genuine article. Billy Mays truly believed in helping other people; inventors, other pitchmen, or the average consumer. Billy Mays probably understood economics more than the entire Federal Reserve Board put together.

He was a man of big heart, and while his heart ultimately failed him, we should learn by his example of what matters most in a capitalist economy. Integrity.