Thinking "outside box" or as it is sometimes called, "coloring outside lines" is a popular idea in business world today. People and organizations are told to think outside box or color outside lines as a way to stimulate creativity when they need to solve problems like streamlining production, establishing a new product, or developing a new process. And it's true that creativity and innovation often arise from unexpected and unconventional thinking.

But there is a serious problem with trying to apply such thinking too broadly.

For instance, creativity is valued in art and advertising, but not in banking and accounting. An accounting firm recently ran an ad suggesting that it could think "outside box." Do you really want your business to be associated with creative accounting? Aren't accountants supposed to put numbers in right box? Wasn't creative accounting a serious problem for Enron?

In reality, clear thinking and creativity that it produces are rarely a matter of thinking outside box. And coloring outside lines is for most part just sloppy workmanship. The art of clear thinking is a matter of putting thoughts in to right boxes or categories. Clear thinking is a matter of mental organization. Conversely, sloppy thinking involves confusion of categories, of putting ideas into wrong boxes or not putting them in order at all. Is a child who will not straighten his or her room creative or just sloppy? There is a significant difference. While creativity sometimes looks sloppy to an outside observer, it does not issue from sloppiness.

Picasso was a creative artist.

But his creativity was not a matter of art he produced. In reality his abstract work is technically sloppy. It looks like work of a child. Picasso could sell his abstract art only because he had previously established himself as an artist who could color inside lines very well. Had he not first proven his artistic talent in traditional way, his abstract art would have been worth much less. He used his reputation as a traditional artist to establish a new direction in art. He didn't so much color outside box, as he expanded boundaries and definition of box. But point is that his abstract creations were valuable only because of his proven abilities in traditional arts.

Popularity and Responsibility Just about everyone knows that something is very wrong with world in which we live. Problems are compounding everywhere. While we may be tempted to look for someone to blame, that effort, at best, will do nothing to alleviate problems and, more likely, will only contribute anger and frustration to mix. Blaming is not constructive. A better approach is to take personal responsibility for situation, and look for opportunities to make a positive contribution to solution.

Certain industries already occupy positions that have more opportunities than others. Advertising, marketing, public relations, and other associated promotional industries enjoy privilege of having many such opportunities. This industry focuses on both capturing and shaping opinion, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. The work of this industry is not value neutral. While it appeals to commonly held values, morals and attitudes, it also works to shape them.

“In traditional economy, products were manufactured and sold for profit to meet demand of consumers who made their needs known through market. In new postmodern capitalist economy, needs are manufactured to meet supply of producers who market products through promotion, spin, packaging, advertising, and cultural persuasion. From Democracy At Risk: American Culture In A Global Culture, by Benjamin R. Barber.

Responsibility While it is true that companies and manufactures are legally responsible for products they make and sell, that does not mean that those who advise them about things like packaging, marketing and advertising are without any associated responsibility. Manufacturers are legally responsible for their advertising, and those who assist in advertising effort are also responsible for their recommendations. However, concern here is not with imposed legal responsibilities, but with voluntary moral responsibilities.

The issue is not whether those who shape messages and place them before public in someone else’s name have a moral responsibility, but only how that responsibility is exercised. That responsibility can be accepted, or it can be rejected. It can be done intentionally, or it can be done accidentally. We can take high road, or we can take low road—or some winding road through middle. But bottom line is that moral responsibility belongs to those who shape public messages. And advertising industry works to influence both public opinion and behavior.

We don’t want to get sidetracked in a discussion about products themselves, or various ways, technologies or techniques of advertising and marketing. Rather, our concern is character of appeal that underlies advertising, marketing, public relations, or promotional effort. To what values does campaign appeal? How is it shaped? What are its implications, associations and suggestions? What is moral currency of campaign?

Overt & Covert The art of communication, which is at heart of advertising industry, is a many faceted endeavor. As we know—and know very well, communication has elements that are both overt and covert, both conscious and subconscious. There is a linguistic component, which simply conveys information about product or company. In addition, there is an emotional component that often appeals to sensuality or sexuality in one way or another. And there is a social or moral component, that appeals to cultural mores, often understood as social acceptability or popularity.