Just a short one, coming to you from my Mum’s front room. I visit her about once a week and it’s the only time I watch broadcast TV. The adverts can be excruciating, the political, social engineering in some is quite naked. This Seat ad is an egregious example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x8e0hyyHFE
The demographics of adland mirror those of central London, where the ad makers live, not the UK. There seems to be some unwritten law that any add showing more than five individuals must show at least one woman in a hijab. Men, straight white men at least, are usually shown as fools.
Tonight, I saw an ad that bucks the trend. Indeed, it may be part of a new trend. It’s an advert for Butcher’s dog food and it really struck me. The ad emphasises the Britishness of the product. The demographic is mixed, but realistically so, the Union Flag features not just in the product logo but in the ad itself. There’s a nice evocative shot of the White Cliffs of Dover. It even uses the word wholesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxOzvgrarmA
It put a smile on my face, and it flicked a switch. It suddenly struck me that I’ve seen the Union Flag used commercially more and more in the years since the Brexit vote, on ad posters, commercial vehicles and packaging. You see the Britishness of products used in the marketing. All quite low key, understated. Not tub thumping, not aggressive, just a quiet re-assertion of who and what we are. British, of many colours, faiths, lifestyles and opinions, but all British. I hope this trend continues, stays positive and helps us pull off of the road to becoming just another EU province, just a piece of land occupied by squabbling, competing tribes. It’s a road we’ve gone a very long way down, but amidst all the SJW shrieking and frustrating Brexit shenanigans this simple advert gave me hope.