On hearing a radio ad this morning with the disclaimer ‘Symptoms dramatised for effect’ at its close, I thought to myself “Has advertising reached the thin edge of the wedge?” Has the ASA put aside all sense that the audience has intelligence? Does content have to have reality warnings for it deemed to be valid advertising?

It is natural to me, that in an ad for a hay fever remedy, the sneeze is unlikely to be well, natural! That a hairdryer might not have the actual force to blow your hair at right angles. That in an ad for washing-up liquid the food left on plates is unlikely to be the result of a real meal. That the oil cascading so smoothly around a car engine is unlikely to be what happens when the car is driven. That the bubbles from a can of Coke might not be as plentiful as visualised in the ad. That the cork pulled out of a bottle of champagne may not always ‘pop’ as in the ad and as you would wish. And so on.

The probability is that any kinetic display in an ad is often the result of a great sound engineer, adept CGI skills, patiently produced stop-frame animation, great editing or even accomplished set design that flatteringly frames the product in action to enhance it. So do we really need the caveats to ensure we’re so fully informed of all the dots above i’s and all the crosses on t’s?

For me, it destroys the magic of advertising and disregards the consumer’s ability to discern. It likely started with legitimate health warning on medicines, wealth warnings on financial products and services, or maybe the “Here’s one I made earlier” from Blue Peter. Whatever its roots, it now it seems we can’t escape the speeded-up last few seconds of a radio ad, so the advertiser gets-in all that is required into the 30 seconds of airtime they’ve purchased, or has a caveat writ so large on screen, that these fight with the branding or destroy the creativity of a great end-shot and so makes a mockery of the good creative work that has gone before.

I’m just waiting for the warning of ‘filmed before social distancing’ to be seen on screens for ads too, as has been voiced before some programmes already. If this or similar happens, then I think we will have all but suspended our common sense, rather than suspended reality for just a few seconds.

I would contend that where there are real benefits to be communicated, symptoms can be dramatised for effect, creativity can be enhanced for impact and reality can be suspended momentarily for the sake of eulogising a product’s features where that brand does deliver.

But maybe I’m just blowing in the wind. Dramatised for effect of course!

#advertising #content #creativity #brandbuilding #brands2market