Marketing lessons from 'The Jetsons'
What can a 58-year-old TV show teach us about modern sales?
In 2020, there’s no way to deny that technology is taking over — it’s cleaning your floors, monitoring your home for burglars, paying for your groceries, allowing you to eavesdrop on live-in guests, and controlling your television and computer viewing. Mostly it’s convenient and fun to use. Other times it can be creepy.
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But fans of the ’60s (or ’80s) “The Jetsons” managed to make their tech-savvy businesses and home life more cool than it is invasive. There were no Echo users who had recorded conversations sent to someone’s employer. Hackers weren’t breaking into Amazon Ring to harass small children. Alexa and Google Home weren’t targeting users for phishing out unauthorized password changes.
But if you look closely enough, the Jetsons had to do their fair share of marketing cleanup in a tech-crazed world too. Here’s how I saw them do it.
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As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its DEI removal. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I want to continue promoting cool products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and (specifically) Black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon. As of the first date of Black History Month 2025, each new post will ALWAYS include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a Black-owned business. (I have visited the seller’s official site to verify that Amazon Black-owned logo.) I am (slowly) doing this with older, popular posts too. If you still choose to boycott, I 100% respect that decision.
Be transparent about the downsides
In Season 1, Episode 1, of “The Jetsons,” a program called Student Homing Device would take a child directly from school and transport him (or her) home. Why bother with school buses when this device can just bring your kids home? The only problem was that Jane Jetson noticed the wrong kid showed up to her door. In real life, imagine a bus driver showing up to your home with the wrong child.