Why are brands still so afraid to show reality?
With a growing lack of trust in big consumer brands, a lack of reality in advertising sows the seeds of distrust amongst consumers.
'Real-life' - as it's shown in most advertising - is totally fake.
Bars are never as clean as they are in Savanna ads, the kids using Clearasil in those ads that everybody hates don't have any zits, and what woman has a blue-period other than the Queen?
In contrast to the practise of large companies treating consumers as children, a couple of years ago, DTC razor brand Billie shockingly showed women with real body hair in their promotional campaigns (to the outrage of many).
Famously, an ad for Frida Mom - who make and sell products that help women prepare for postpartum recovery - was banned by ABC and The Oscars, because the reality of life after having given birth was a little 'too graphic' for them to be deemed acceptable content for prime time viewing.
But with a growing lack of trust in big consumer brands, and the companies that own them, a lack of reality in advertising sows the seeds of distrust amongst consumers.
It's also opening up a nice new opportunity for DTC brands - that are not run by bloody accountants - to step into the reality gap and communicate with people on their level.
Ironically, perhaps because people are calling them out on their inauthentic stance - Gillette Venus have caved into pressure and are now showing images of real people...shaving real hair.
It's 2020 - a stranger coughing in your general direction can equal a death sentence; nobody has bandwidth for bullshit.