The Olympics are currently taking place in Paris. Athletes have waited four years and have trained a lifetime to make a bid to be the best in the world at their sport. The Olympics are one of the few times that an event takes the world stage. With that large of an audience, marketing opportunities abound. It provides a world stage for corporations to showcase their brands tied to a feel-good event.

That is why it is head-scratchingly perplexing why those in charge of the Paris Olympics allowed a controversial social statement, clearly designed to be provocative, to be made in their opening ceremonies. You can make a case for inclusion and artistic expression. But the Olympics may have been the wrong venue if you were expecting everyone to fully embrace such an incendiary idea with corporations throwing big marketing dollars at it.Predictably, many people were offended, took to social media to complain and, in turn, corporations pulled their ads from the venue.

Should you take a stand on a social issue with your brand marketing? It certainly depends upon how you want the brand to be perceived and the reaction of your target market to the cause you are promoting. Brands such as Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby have championed causes tied to traditional faith-based issues. Starbucks has led the charge on green issues. In those examples, their stand on social issues does not run counter to their target market’s beliefs, in fact, it is in step with them. But if you are going to run counter to your customers’ values, even if you alienate only a percentage of them by taking a stand, why would you run that risk? Marketing is about attracting new customers and keeping the ones you have. Crossing the line with your customer base on a social issue is marketing suicide.

Many marketers forget the main point of marketing, especially those on the creative side of it. Marketing is not the art of self-expression, but offering the customer what they want in a creative way. If you forget that point, you will find people will leave your brand. And, for those who have a cause they are pushing upon the world, remember this: corporations are not charities to support your social agenda. They want a return on their marketing dollars – and they are right for thinking that way. Their main point is their bottom line. If being associated with your cause helps their financial statement, it might be a good match. But if your cause harms their bottom line, you cannot expect them to support you.

Be careful what social causes you support with your marketing. Make sure they line up with your corporate values, but more importantly, those of your target market. Make sure your social associations are helping you make money, not losing it. Crossing the social line in marketing can be death to a brand. It is the marketing’s job to protect the brand.