Shared values are essential to success

I’m pretty sure that you have heard about the private video, belonging to a young woman, that was leaked and shared without consent recently.

It is unfortunate that it is this type of content that goes viral so quickly. The telecommunication tools that are at the disposal of almost everyone surely have their downfalls. Sadly, while some deemed this video as “entertaining”, the effects on the victim tell otherwise.

A group of football players in possession of this video decided to stream it at a restaurant, without the knowledge of the outlet owner. This same restaurant happened to be a sponsor of those players’ football team, but soon after the incident, the restaurant immediately revoked its sponsorship. This sent a clear message that the restaurant will not support a team of players portraying such inappropriate and disparaging behaviour. The head coach of the team also put forward his resignation shortly after.

Sponsorship deals go far beyond a financial cheque – they represent a partnership. Large companies get tons of sponsorship requests per year and have a dedicated budget for this; they must however, choose wisely.

With the right sponsorships, companies can attain a better reach of their target audiences and associate themselves with memorable events. On the other hand, the sponsored party will profit from the success of the brand, financial aid, and other benefits.

A well known research study by The Harvard Business Review found that customers aware of a company‘s sponsorship are between 25-50% more likely to define the brand as “trustworthy” and “inspiring”, while consideration of the sponsor’s products is about 50% higher.

However, as with every association, sponsorship deals can get messy. The event, team or even charity that the company sponsors should always be in line with the company’s values. Can you imagine if The Body Shop that is well known for its anti-animal testing stance, had to sponsor a fox hunting organisation? Whilst this might be an obvious no go, some other situations are more elusive. For example, if a company believes and preaches gender equality, then events sponsored by the company should be gender-balanced – ones where men and women are represented and treated equally. By way of another example, if a restaurant chooses to sponsor an animal-charity event, then that restaurant should also be dog friendly, and so on and so forth.

A bad sponsorship match is bound to bring negative repercussions on both parties. When Lance Armstrong’s substance abuse scandal came to light, the cyclist lost 75 million Dollars in sponsorships in one single day. Huge companies such as Nike and Skins argued that the damage of their sponsorship with Armstrong ran into millions.

The sharing of private videos causes extreme physiological harm to the victim. The victim is left embarrassed, angered, and emotionally tormented. To make matters worse, the internet is so powerful, that the extent of the sharing of the video cannot be quantified. One is never aware of the personal life of the victim or what such an incident can lead to. For victims at a tender age, this can have severe consequences on their development and self-consciousness.

Under Maltese law, “whoever, with an intent to cause distress, emotional harm or harm of any nature, discloses a private sexual photograph or film without the consent of the person/s displayed or depicted is liable to imprisonment of up to two years and/or a fine of up to €5,000.” But this goes beyond legislation. In the end, it boils down to moral principles. As digital technologies continue to evolve and with more people spending time online, the level of cybercrime has increased substantially. In Malta, the cybercrime unit deals with an average of 1,500 reported crimes per year.

With everyone being able to publish their thoughts and their activities with a push of a button, it has become even more imporatant for companies to choose wisely whom to affiliate with. Sponsorships and brand associations are as important as choosing one’s employees - qualifications and skills are important but if employees do not fit the company culture and values it is likely to lead to failure.

While I hope that the perpetrator who leaked the said video is punished according to law, I also hope that we can all learn a lesson from this – that individuals and companies alike need to be careful whom they associate with and that we need to stop being passive participants in cybercrimes, by reporting such issues immediately.