Adland’s authenticity crisis
So is there something about advertising culture that creates an instinct to behave in an inherently inauthentic way?
The latest example comes to us courtesy of Panasonic.
As you may have read on Mumbrella, the brand is purporting to be carrying out a series of pranks on an unsuspecting “member of the public”. Via Facebook, the public is being invited to come up with ideas for future pranks to play on him.
Only we soon discovered, he’s not unsuspecting. He’s agreed to have the pranks played on him.
But, The Campaign Palace insisted, Rommy Gulla wasn’t an actor. Until, they conceded four days later, that he was in fact the actor Rom Gulla.
But, they insist, the pranks are genuine. He doesn’t know what they are until they occur.
Which looks odd to me.
Take the stunt on day one.
http://youtu.be/Gw2JztaSTnU
I’m not, you may be surprised to learn, medically qualified, but all the information I can find online suggests that if you filled a room full of helium, they would suffocate as a result of the oxygen having been forced out of the room.
Which leaves two choices. Either, a) the prankee might have died on day one, which would have been awkward; or b) he got the squeaky voice by inhaling helium from a balloon, and the claim that he’s being surprised by the pranks is a total lie.
The agency declines to directly answer our question, refusing to say any more than that it did not endanger Mr Gulla’s life.
Depressingly, it looks like the whole prank was bogus. I presume they made his voice squeaky through the magic of garage band, or possibly he simply used some helium from a balloon.
The thing is, if it had been presented merely as engtertaining online content, it might have worked. Obviously there would have been less interaction than the brand is seeking in asking the public to suggest pranks, but it would also have been more respectful to that audience.
Yet this inauthenticity currently seems to be the norm – at least from Australian ad agencies playing in social media.
Last month it was Mortein.
You may recall that the brand announced it was going to kill off Louie The Fly from the TV ads. From the off, it smacked of a stunt.
http://youtu.be/VZ6UyQ0GTPY
(Frankly, I suspect there’s astroturfing going on too. We’ve been getting an awful lot of messages purporting to come from the public – who aren’t usually big readers of Mumbrella. Stylistically they’re similar, with many messages carrying a few words in capital letters in the middle of the message for emphasis. In every case an email address has been provided. In every case it’s a free email address and include a name and a numeral. Every one comes from a different, unregistered IP address.)
But instead of treating the public like seals ready to bark on cue, Mortein could have simply gone straight to a public vote without pretending to kill off Louie first. The outcome might still have been a foregone conclusion, but at least it would have been vaguely authentic.
Even McDonald’s hasn’t been immune.
Remember Playland which was shot documentary style? The original press release from DDB made no mention that the adults being surprised and delighted by the arrival of the giant playground at Sydney’s Customs House were also actors. Indeed, when I rang to ask about it at the time, the first response from the PR was that she thought they were real people, until she checked and called back to say they were actors.
http://youtu.be/wi7Z3HhPCVk
Imagine the PR opportunities if they had been real people though.
I do understand that sometimes it’s about practicalities. Health and safety, for instance. And an agency will be so in love with its idea, it’s willing to water it down just to get it on screen. Even if it also means compromising on authenticity.
Indeed, it says a lot about the advertising industry’s culture that it’s still okay to vaguely mislead the public. Even if it goes against the spirit of social media, which is supposedly all about authenticity.
And it’s not without consequences. Remember Toyota’s social media disaster?
Arguably, where it all went wrong for Toyota was when Saatchi & Saatchi gave up on it being a public film competition and encouraged their mates to enter. That was what led to a winner so convincingly like a real Toyota ad that it created global headlines.
It feels to me that there are many who grew up within ad agencies when the conversation with consumers was one way. So many of those social media mis-steps miss the vital element of treating their audience with respect. And that should mean not lying to them – even about little things that don’t seem to matter.
In the long term, being authentic will count. Right now, that seems a depressingly long time away though.
Tim Burrowes
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Lets add to the list the “real” women in the Kmart ad.
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Obe could argue that any ad that tricks viewers is misleading and deceptive and thus a breach of the law.
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Well said mate.
I’m not against a lack of authenticity in principle, as long as it appears authentic to the punters. Think Blair Witch.
Getting busted is really just immensely poor execution of a potentially OK idea, that’s all. Fake authenticity takes a lot of talent and a bit of risk.
Film school stuff really and heads should roll.
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Day 1!!!!
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Could it be a case of…
“All I need to make it in advertising is sincerity… and if I can fake that I’ve got it made”
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As Ogilvy said, at least I think it was Ogilvy, the consumer isn’t an idiot – she’s your wife.
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Why is the industry producing so much dribble?
Is it that the current crop of young up and coming creatives and account service people don’t know how to sell?
Everything is about humiliating people or stunts that attract 50 people on a street whilst the consumer walks past saying who are these wankers?
Or worse still, tell your whole audience that the only way you can access the campaign is to go to a Facebook page whilst the product such Panasonic’s Blu ray player get lost in the self indulgent piffle whilst 20 something creatives roll on the floor laughing at the agency believing their own bull s__t!!
It is just so boring and why are clients letting agencies talk them into approving this crud.
I wonder how many Blu ray players Pansonic has sold as a result of this rubbish.
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I’m not sure lack of authenticity is the issue here….sure the clumsy set-ups and execution are exposing the lie which is a problem in itself as seen here the last couple of days. Also see Louie the Lie debacle of late.
In my opinion the bigger issue is that professional marketers are playing in this space, and so badly at that. Why they think punters want to interact with them over a whole month in order to be convinced of some product feature is beyond me. Seriously, who ran the meeting where it was decided this was a good idea?!
The tried and true model still works……there’s still a heap of people watching TV, going to the cinema, reading newspapers etc etc. Make a good ad and flog it hard to get it in front of as many relevant people as possible as many times as you can afford. Spend a bit more time on this old school but effective stuff and a lot less time on all this engagement crap, it’s overdone and under-performing.
If you have to, run a complementary promotion for the die-hard fans of your brand if you want to “engage”, but stop kidding yourself the broader population cares about you enough to participate in these rubbish campaigns.
These ludicrous stunts must be costing a fortune in production, and with no media budget or viral spark (because of the poor execution) they end up being a waste of money.
I was hoping marketers were seeing through this stuff but clearly not. And Panasonic should have learnt their lesson earlier in the year after their shite “viral” videos went nowhere as reported previously on Mumbrella.
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Well said, could not agree more.
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Rob, the reason marketers are not seeing through this stuff is today’s consumer is so hard-bitten, cynical, value conscious and interest rate over-burdened client marketers today are desperately trying anything any dick head from any agency comes up with to get a result. Even if it backfires and destoys inherent brand value. They’re deranged.
What happened to strategic thinking? Supporting the brand intelligently, creatively, innovatively through the tough times? Research shows this has worked in every depressed consumer market globally for 60 years.
Marketers should wake up to themselves.
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begs the question – is marketing getting worse?
there’s all this false engagement, advocacy and outreach and innovation, technology etc … but does any of it add incremental value? read an “integrated” campaign post analysis with its huge billions of impressions, youtube finished views, tarps etc etc and it’s hard to work out whether it’s a desperate attempt to justify a spend/investment or a real collection of data that evaluates the strength of otherwise of a campaign.
this panasonic thing is basically sad. irrelevant agency trying to be topical partnered with equally eager client who desperately wants a ‘cool campaign’ ticket to a better job somewhere else. problem is – this is happening EVERYWHERE
i honestly believe people in agencies want to be inspired by their clients. and vice versa. right now seems both side of the fence are stuck in this cowardly groupthink which compels them to do this sort of horrendously bad stuff.
if this keeps up, who is going to want to join the ad/media industry?
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Great article Tim. Also, spot on @Logic
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Why do people think we have any choice in this? Advertising, to be relevant, has to reflect the market. For younger people, this is the era of making content at home and sharing it.
Problem is, it’s a very uncomfortable fit. Corporations don’t belong in this “space” because the whole movement is based on giving the finger to corporations. Today, you can publish your heartfelt opinion without having to go through a Murdoch editor. You can make a music video with your band and post it on You Tube – who needs ‘Rage’. Publish a book online–without a publisher.
But It’s not surprising that some agencies are getting it so wrong – we’re so skilled in the art of emotional manipulation using scripts, actors and music.
But some brands do get it. WHYBIN got it so right with their NRMA campaign – where anyone could hail their car and drive it, to prove everyone’s insured driving your car. And they cleverly integrated it into mainstream by videoing the “engagement” and making it into TV ads. It can be done, because it has to be done.
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It doesn’t matter if these are real or not. Obviously these are entertainment for a product.
What’s Mumbrella’s issue? And while I am at it, what the hell is Mumbrella all about, you act like some crappy trash mag tabloid.
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