Corporations Self Interest Used as Form of Propaganda

Photo provided from Simply Psychology

These needs or levels of self-interest can be directly applied to the world of business. In business, the number one objective is to maximize profits. Making a profit allows for the business to fulfill the bottom level or the base level of any business. Next, the business needs to fulfill the safety of their employees as well as their entity from the law. Thirdly, the company would like to find ways to make sure they belong in the industry for years to come and that their customer base can continue to count on them. Next, they need to make sure the public views them as good and someone they can trust when choosing their product or service. Lastly, the company hits the highest level when they are able to dish out money to people or social issues, start non-profits, and give back to the community in a variety of ways.

As can be seen, the hierarchy of needs does not just fulfill a chain for individuals, but it can be applied to a business or group as well. An article from Indeed.com titled 13 Important Business Objectives To Consider (Plus The 4 Main Types) helps to reiterate how a psychological theory from the 1940’s can be applied in today’s business world or in industry (Indeed Editorial Team, 2021).

Some of the top few objectives the article identifies are economic, human/individual, organic/stability/growth, and the brand perception and social objectives of the firm. These coincide with the levels a human needs to be able to function and also need to act on for the benefit of themselves (self-interest). So, what does this all mean?

Truthfully, it means that as humans and as the creations we help to make, it always starts with personal interest first. A person is born so they must eat. A company is created, so they must make money to continue being a business. It all starts with self-interest, but does self-interest ever get lost in the shuffle when its thousands of people being spoken for as a member of a corporation?

The answer is no. The answer is no because as more needs get met and at a firmer level, the more money employees should be seeing. The more opportunities an employee will have to move up, make more money, have time off, and other important things in the work force. So, when a company decides that they are going to fund LGBTQA+ groups, they are not just doing it because it is always the right thing to do. They are doing it because it firmly helps cement another level of need for the business.

If a company takes a stance on funding one of these groups, they obviously did a cost-benefit analysis to understand their customer base which could help firmly fulfill lower levels of self-interest like making money while also interacting with the community and doing what they feel is good for the public; something that can fill their highest level of needs.

To break it down further, these moves are made for self-interest. They pick a side of an issue because they believe it will help them to fulfill more needs as a business while fulfilling the most basic of requirements which is making money. Along the way, the dollars spent to support these groups or issues publicly put pressure on the general public to think about where they may stand as well. It helps to create propaganda and persuade people to think about if they want to get on the bandwagon and stand for what that company does or if they feel their opinions and values align elsewhere.

One example is Dick’s Sporting Goods felt it would be a good move for their business to stop selling guns because they felt it would be a good business move and would help to fulfill their community involvement and social obligation levels. They also helped to convince some people that guns were not a good thing for people to have in some cases. However, this was a time where they tried to fulfill one of the top levels without thinking about how the business move would affect the basic level of maximizing profits. This can be proven because in March of 2019, the company said they lost over 150 million dollars in sales because of not selling guns anymore (Gearty, 2019).

So, while the company may have gained some supporters, they did not understand a move like this would not help to fulfill the self-interest of profits and help to divide their customer base. It goes to show that just like in the Hierarchy of Needs, the Hierarchy of Successful Business Needs also cannot have levels skipped as well.

To conclude, business must act in self-interest. They are doing their best to be profitable and continue to take care of employees, the future of the company, the public perception of them, and the general public and future of the worlds well-being as well. It is impossible for these companies not to create propaganda as putting a picture of a Little League team a business sponsored could be classified as a form of propaganda. It is important to have self-interest in mind in business, but along the way, owners and executives must understand that the propaganda they make purposefully or not on purpose can affect not just internal operations, but the external world as well.

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