No theory forbids me to say "Ah!" or "Ugh!", but it forbids me the bogus theorization of my "Ah!" and "Ugh!" - the value judgments. - Theodor Julius Geiger (1960)

Safety as a Sales Pitch

Safety as a sales pitch - The marketing of safety concepts
I recently reread Lars Clausen’s classic sociological analysis of advertising (Clausen, 1964). The parallels with the safety industry and its concepts and practices are obvious.

The safety industry as a market of ideas and practices
Clausen argues that advertising is not only an economic instrument, but also a social phenomenon that reflects structures and power relations. Jean-Christophe Le Coze has described how academics, consultants and companies sell safety concepts and practices as valuable products (Le Coze, 2019). Advertising convinces consumers of the need for a product. And safety gurus and institutes convince companies of the need for Safety Culture, HRO and Just Culture. Below I integrate the relevant insights of Clausen and Le Coze.

Safety practices, like advertising strategies, are disseminated through books, conferences and consultancy, often with a certain marketing logic. A concept like Vision Zero started as a government initiative in Sweden but later became a global brand in safety.
Just like in the advertising industry, a self-sufficient system is created in which new models and methods are constantly promoted. This creates a safety market, in which companies feel obliged to follow the latest trends, similar to how advertisers constantly respond to new consumer trends.

Clausen criticized the economic definition of advertising as “voluntary” influence and emphasized that structural forces play a role. This also applies to safety concepts: companies and employees often have little choice in the adoption of safety practices, because they are imposed by regulation, social pressure and internal corporate strategies.
According to Clausen, advertising is not a neutral means, but an instrument of power relations. Safety practices can be seen in a similar way as instruments that not only promote safety, but also exercise organizational control. For example, Crew Resource Management and Just Culture are often presented as tools for better cooperation, but at the same time they also determine how responsibility and blame are distributed within an organization. As in advertising in general, there is a directed narrative in safety. Concepts such as the Safety Culture Ladder or HOP are promoted as the standard, while alternative approaches are less visible. Clausen would see this as a form of social power exercise within the industry.

Clausen argued that advertising has certain educational characteristics, but always remains economically driven. This idea fits perfectly with how safety is taught and implemented. Just as companies package advertising as educational content (e.g. health education by pharmaceutical companies), safety training is often presented as purely educational, while in reality it contributes to broader institutional interests. CRM training in aviation, for example, is presented as neutral improvements in teamwork and communication, but it also serves to maintain specific norms and structures within the industry.
Just as advertising often selectively presents information to influence consumers, safety concepts can be presented as universally useful, without always being transparent about the underlying interests (e.g. who benefits financially or institutionally from a new safety standard?).

Clausen described how the advertising industry sustains itself by continuously developing new techniques and justifications. This pattern is also visible in the safety world. As in advertising, there is a constant need for new models and methods. Safety concepts such as Safety II, Resilience Engineering and Vision Zero are presented as revolutionary innovations, but they build on existing ideas and create a constant demand for new training, certifications and consultancy.

Clausen pointed out the role of advertising agencies and experts in shaping the perception of advertising. In the safety industry, gurus such as James Reason and Sidney Dekker play a similar role: their theories are widely accepted and disseminated, not only because of their scientific merits, but also through active promotion and commercial interests.

Applying Clausen’s perspective, we can see safety not only as a neutral, technical discipline, but also as a socially constructed system with economic and power dynamics. Safety concepts function not only as practical tools, but also as products that are advertised, sold and regulated within a broader market mechanism. This insight helps to take a critical look at which safety practices are promoted, who benefits from them, and how this industry reproduces itself—just as Clausen did with advertising.

References
- Clausen, L. (1964), Elemente einer Soziologie der Wirtschaftswerbung, Köln/Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.
- Le Coze, J.C. (2019), “How safety culture can make us think”, Safety Science, Vol. 118, pp. 221–229.