Cambridge Analytica boss went from 'aromatics' to psyops to Trump's campaign
While Alexander Nix draws headlines for his role in the Trump 2016 digital operation, his colorful business partner Nigel Oakes may be an equally important figure.
By JOSH MEYER 03/22/2018 05:01 AM EDT
Long before the political data firm he oversees, Cambridge Analytica, helped Donald Trump become president, Nigel Oakes tried a very different form of influencing human behavior. It was called “marketing aromatics,” or the use of smells to make consumers spend more money.
In the decades since, the Eton-educated British businessman has styled himself as an expert on a wide variety of “mind-bending” techniques — from scents to psychological warfare to campaign politics. But some 25 years after his foray into aromatics, a bad odor has arisen around his use of data to influence voter behavior. Oakes and his partners, who include Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix, are under intense scrutiny over their methods in the 2016 campaign, including the alleged improper use of Facebook data. Some news reports have also found links to Russia that the company has downplayed.
Oakes and the company he co-founded in 2005 along with Nix, SCL Group, have now drawn the interest of congressional officials. Three Republican senators wrote Oakes a letter this week requesting information and a briefing related to Facebook’s sudden suspension last Friday of Cambridge Analytica, which is a closely affiliated subsidiary of SCL.
The request — from Senate Commerce Committee members John Thune (R-S.D.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jerry Moran, (R-Kan.) — came after recent allegations that Cambridge Analytica used inappropriately harvested private Facebook data on nearly 50 million users and exploited the information to assist President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/22/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign-479351