This Jaguar ad is an accidental masterclass in what’s changing in the culture and where it’s going, right beneath our feet.
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What might have seemed provocative a year ago now feels utterly tone deaf.
What was intended to appear bold, futuristic, and enlightened instead seems flat, cowardly, and anti-human.
Consider for a moment. It has no human voices. No smiles. No emotions. No sense of place or time. No melodies. No cities. No food. No roads. No homes. No children. No messy humanity.
And, of course, no cars.
As if all the things that make people distinctive will have no worth—no existence—in this dreary, soulless, metallic, magenta future.
By contrast, this Volvo ad shows a couple preparing in joy and anxiety for a child. It’s an ad I didn’t expect to watch all the way through, but I did. It moved me. In every way, it marks a contrast with the Jaguar ad. Human emotion, the fear and hope of stepping into the unknown, into the vast new responsibility and heartache of caring for a child—and the imminent possibility of loss of those we love. As the understated slogan says, and the entire ad communicates, it represents a position that is for people, for commitment, for love: “For Life.”
Let’s take a few notes from this reflection. I’ve been musing more generally about the cultural shift taking place. (See below and here for my thoughts on lessons for the media.)
10 Do’s and Dont’s for This Cultural Moment
5 Dos
- Take a position and allow you might be wrong. Own a little humility. Admit mistakes. Allow you might be mistaken—and then commit to a position.
- Stake out ambitious new terrain. This is a time for explorers. New vistas. In whatever field you are, take a moment to predict what comes next. We’re on the verge of something new. People who paint a vision will gain a following.
- Be hopeful. Be positive. People who believe in an optimistic path forward will be magnetic.
- Be casual, heartwarming, real. The moment calls for stopping the artifice. Give people candor, and the respect of an honest statement.
- Assume people are basically good. Let go of the idea of dividing and conquering. Assume everyone is capable of decency—and more.
The lesson from church this morning put it beautifully.
As St. Paul commends in the letter to the Philippians. “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
5 Don’ts
- Don’t talk like everything’s a crisis. For years we’ve felt obligated to say “in a time of unprecedented chaos, upheaval…” Set that to rest. There will always be instability in life. But believing that we’re in a perpetual crisis for years has taken many down a bad, self-destructive path.
- Don’t use anti-human rhetoric. Don’t valorize a world where humans don’t have a bright part to play. People are tired of the negative. Embrace the natural and warm.
- Be hand-wringing, fretful, hysterical. No more pearl clutching. No more framing everything in terms of victim and oppressor. Less scolding. Eschew outrage.
- Don’t pretend to be what you aren’t. Allowing people to see you are flawed and ordinary is an asset today. It gains trust and allows your other strengths to shine.
- Don’t use elite endorsements. In case you haven’t been paying attention, the approvals of prominent VIPS who were respected over the last 10-20 years have become toxic. They are seen as too much a part of what Ted Gioa calls the Up People.
In brief, less Sleeper, more Campbells Soup.
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What I’m Working On
In addition to the advisory and strategy work, I recently made a list of my 2024 takeaways specifically for media this week. A little note to my former colleagues in the press.
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