Commonly known as tone-deafness, amusia is an inability to distinguish differences in musical pitch. Tone-deafness is also a term that applies to those who can’t “read the room”. They are oblivious to speech or behavior that’s out of touch within the context of their social surroundings. Think of it as social amusia.
At best, a company’s social tone-deafness might just result in a harmless social slip-up. At worst it can end up as a public relations nightmare.
Take for example when “woke” social movements came to the forefront of America’s cultural landscape. A good number of companies jumped on the woke bandwagon. Thing is, many of those companies created campaigns around sensitive topics that they didn’t really understand. Unfortunately, many of the attempts at woke washing led to blunders that ranged from merely embarrassing to downright mortifying.
More Than a Little Off Key
For instance, Hyundai wanted to be associated with being environmental conscious and ran a commercial introducing its fuel cell car, the Hyundai ix35. The ad called “Pipe Job” was about a failed attempt at suicide by man trying to die from carbon monoxide poisoning with help from a Hyundai ix35. He fails because Hyundai is so environmentally conscious that the ix35’s tailpipe exhaust consists only of water vapor. Hard to imagine the backlash could have gotten any worse. But came next downshifted Hyundai’s boo-boo into overdrive. It was a blogpost written by a woman whose father committed suicide in the same way with a Hyundai car. What’s more, she included her father’s suicide note. By the time Hyundai pulled the ad, the blogpost had gone viral. To this day, even though Hyundai’s ad is long withdrawn, it still exists on the internet and continues to rack up the clicks.
Name That Tune
Similarly, some companies realized too late that they had stepped on a cultural landmine. For example, DiGiornos hijacked a trending hashtag and used it to sell their frozen pizzas. They seized #WhyIStayed based on a high volume of the hashtag’s appearances on the internet. Unfortunately, the hashtag had to do with the suspension of NFL player Ray Rice for beating his wife. #WhyIStayed was a collection of domestic violence survivor stories. As you can imagine, there was an avalanche of blowback. How long did DiGiornos apologize? A very, very long time.
Listen Before You Leap
Burger King launched its #FeelYourWay campaign to mark Mental Awareness month. As part of the campaign, they sold products such as a “Blue Meal” and the “Pissed Meal”. Unsurprisingly, their effort to be in sync with mental health ended up fueling a public uproar along with a slew of angry tweets.
But the cringe-worthy award goes to Spirit Airline for the email it sent to customers during the COVID pandemic. The subject line read, “Never a better time to fly”.
The thing about tone deafness is that people who are tone deaf often don’t know they are tone deaf. While the human brain is able to perceive differences in tone, there’s a dissonance between registering a wrong note and the person’s awareness of the wrong note. The only way to be aware of tone deafness is if someone else listens that person sing and tells them. The same is true for brand messaging.
Train Your Ear
Clinical amusia can’t be cured. But fortunately, the majority of people who sound tone-deaf don’t have a disorder, and they can do exercises to improve pitch perception and matching. In the same way, we can apply these exercises within the context of social tone-deafness. Pitch matching is frequently used in a singing exercise that requires listening carefully to a single note and singing it back in the same pitch. In the case of messaging, one can get feedback from friends, colleagues, or informal/formal focus groups to ensure the messaging is “on pitch”.
Ultimately the best way to be in tune with your brand’s audience is to listen closely to your customers. Join the conversation and match the tune. Not only will you be in tune with each other, but it may very well lead to an alchemy that creates a unique new song.