Feb 2, 2017 Philadelphia PA
Friends,
We live in exciting times. For we are on the cusp of a new and golden age for our industry.
I make this pronouncement will full acknowledgement that ours is a trade overly fond of hyperbole and spectacle, ever too keen to announce a glittering new chapter in the history of consumerism – The Age of Whatever – which will, we promise, be the Best Age Ever, and annoint it with an abundance of superlatives. But in this case, friends, I do not exaggerate, nor do I over-praise.
For we are on the cusp of a new and golden age. No more must we abide by outdated rules and archaic traditions; the shackles and chains that have constrained us for so long can now be cast aside. For we are free, at last, to tell the stories we wish to tell as only we can tell them: thrillingly, passionately, persuasively. And – yes – completely fictionally.
Because, my friends, we are now officially in the Post-Truth era. The Oxford English Dictionary has made it official, and our nation’s leaders have endorsed – nay, enshrined – the principle. Inconvenient truths are out; alternative facts are in. I should not have to spell out what this means to our industry, but given the appallingly poor level of cognitive thinking abilities among many of our junior ranks, I will.
Simply put, friends: Truth in Advertising is sooooo last year.
This day has been a long time coming. Indeed, it does in many ways bring us full circle, back to the liberating lack of standards and glorious unaccountability that flourished in our industry’s early years, those halcyon days when pioneering ad men could ply their trade free from over-mighty regulators and interfering watchdogs.
Hard to say when the changes began but as with so many industries, once the government got involved, it all went to hell. Some customer complained that there wasn’t a real tiger in their tank, or that things didn’t go better with Coke, or whatever and all of a sudden the edict is handed down that we in the advertising business actually base our claims on facts. How ludicrous a notion was that?
And I don’t need to tell you where that has led us. Ads that are 90 per cent disclosure and 10 per cent apology. Agencies that look more like legal firms than creative powerhouses. It has led us, my friends, to an industry on its knees. Enfeebled, defensive, and rule-bound.
Well, I am here to tell you: that all ends now.
So what has changed? In a word, everything. But as with so many movements, real change began at the top. Political power in this great country has finally been passed to people who understand what we in the ignoble profession have known for decades. We’ve proven it again and again, in campaign after campaign and test after test: People make decisions based on what they feel, not what they know. Facts are unimportant; what matters is what one believes.
And when it comes to making people value feeling over fact, we have long been the undisputed masters of the craft. Not to brag, but consider some of the wool we’ve pulled over the world’s eyes in the past. Take tobacco. We kept the people puffing for years after its health hazards were known. Why? Because we made it cool. No amount of fact-based fear-mongering could compete with that bit of persuasion. Junk food? Awful stuff, and awful for you. Everyone knows it. But pass it off as an opportunity for quality family time, salted with a bit of parental guilt remediation, and bingo – of course we’ll have fries with that.
I could cite any number of other examples but I would be, as they say, preaching to the choir. But whilst on the topic I would be remiss if I did not shout out our esteemed colleagues at (redacted) for their progressive work in this arena. They have been named, as you may know, AOR for the EPA and have been tasked with a particularly challenging assignment, over-turning decades of propaganda to promote a new public mind-set. Their new campaign – Greenhouse gases: Good for You, Good for the Planet – rolls out nationwide next week. I was privileged to preview the creative last week and it is a masterpiece of misdirection. Kudos to all involved.
In short, my friends: we are now free to do what we do best, and do it with Washington’s blessing. Perhaps the best news of all: this is not a narrow, provincial development. Like our industry, post-truth looks to be going global. Britain – as usual, ahead of the industry curve – signed on in July, a few months ahead of us. Early indicators are that several EU countries will fall into line later this year. Of course, Russia and China have been in the program for years, so they’ll be glad to see the rest of the world finally seeing the light. Or what they think is the light.
In summary: I think someone once likened advertising to America’s religion. If so, the comparison has never been more apt. For now, at last, we are free to operate entirely in the realm of faith. We don’t need to prove anything, we just need to persuade.
So go forth, I beseech you, to dissemble and distract. Do your jobs. Push your products. Build your brands. And do so with the liberating breeze of our new reality filling your sails and pushing you to ever great heights of invention and ingenuity.
Because in advertising, as in politics, it doesn’t have to be true; it just has to sell.