They know marketing, not morality—don’t confuse the two.

Scott Galloway. Rory Sutherland. Masters of marketing. Sharp, engaging, often brilliant when they speak about business, persuasion, and human behaviour. I’ve learned a lot from them—and maybe you have too.

But after digging into a lot of their work, here’s the thing: that’s where it should stop.

When they speak about anything outside of their field—politics, religion, conflict—they start to sound painfully naive, and worse, morally bankrupt.

Let’s take Galloway, a man who champions the power of branding, technology, and consumer behaviour to decode the strategies of successful companies. He combines sharp business analysis with cultural commentary to reveal how market forces shape our world and influence personal and corporate success. Then watch him speak about Gaza or Palestine—and find he sides with Israel (He’s even nick-named Professor Genocide). He sees the same data we all see. He sees the same images. He knows of all the claims of Human Rights organisations. The same death tolls. The same mass displacement. And yet, he chooses to defend a state that is committing atrocities in real time.

Same with Rory Sutherland. Charming, witty, full of left-field wisdom when it comes to behavioural economics. I’ve learned and used so much of what he teaches. But scratch the surface on global issues, and suddenly he’s parroting lazy tropes, casually dismissing an entire people and faith. It’s islamophobia, plain and simple, cloaked in the confidence of a man used to being right.

This is what happens when we treat specialists like generalists.

They might be brilliant in their domain. But outside of it, many of them are just winging it. Often carelessly. Sometimes dangerously.

And it’s not just Galloway or Sutherland.

• Richard Dawkins: One of the most important evolutionary biologists of our time. But his takes on religion are shallow, mean-spirited, and drenched in Western chauvinism.
• Sam Harris: Sharp on neuroscience, disastrous on foreign policy and Islam.
• Steven Pinker: Smart on cognitive science, but shockingly out of touch when talking about global inequality or systemic violence.

Just because someone’s good at one thing doesn’t mean they should be taken seriously on everything. And when they use their platform to justify or excuse injustice, it’s not just disappointing. It’s infuriating.

There’s a hadith from Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him):
“Knowledge is the lost property of the believer—wherever they find it, they are more worthy of it.”
Or as one of the lessons gleaned from this hadith: Take what is good and leave what is bad.

You can learn from a man’s marketing genius without swallowing his politics.

You can quote a Rory Sutherland insight on pricing without accepting his worldview on faith and culture.

You don’t need to cancel them. But you also don’t need to hold them up as moral or intellectual guides or put them up on any pedestals.

They’re marketers. That’s it.

When they speak about branding and business strategy, listen.
When they speak start siding with genocidal states, maybe don’t.