The tricky art of advertising during a pandemic
Eight months in and we're becoming fatigued.
As the pandemic rages on, one thing that I’ve been paying attention to is how companies are using the coronavirus as part of an advertising messaging strategy—whether that’s as an ancillary character, narrative driver, or not at all.
I was watching TV last night and saw this Ikea commercial that says, “Let’s not kid ourselves; this holiday is going to feel different. But after the year we just had, what if less gives us more.”
And that more can be: more time with family, a chance ‘to recharge, relax and refill.’ But it also quite clearly means: more products to buy as you sit from home.
The ad sets up the lives we lead, but dances around the anxiety that swirls around us. And as the national debate heats up over whether we should gather for the holidays, we should pause and remember that we’re also being marketed to.
Though according to experts, there’s a delineation between how a brand’s pandemic message is intended: is it gratuitous or is it clearly positioned as part of ‘the new normal.’
“Marketers have to walk a tightrope,” David Lieberman, associate professor in the School of Media Studies and Graduate Media Management program at The New School, told me in an email. “Depending on the product or service, they can seem irrelevant if they disappear or ignore the pandemic. At the same time, they can't focus too much on themselves—so it looks like it's all about them, not us.”
This was the problem several brands like McDonald’s, Audi, VW and Coca-Cola faced in March when each ran ads that separated the letters in their logos or iconic fonts.
(Image via The HIll)
Coke added the tagline "Staying apart is the best way to stay united" and ran it as a billboard in Times Square.
In May, the company pivoted its messaging, at least in Africa and Asia, to focus on the front-line workers.
“This new creative salutes the generosity and courage of the everyday heroes of this crisis – from healthcare workers on the front lines, to those of us doing our part to stop the spread of the virus by staying home – and sends an optimistic message that things will get better,” Manolo Arroyo, chief marketing officer and president, Asia Pacific group, said at the time. “We hope these timely stories of resiliency, inclusion and hope will resonate during these challenging times.”
In a phone interview, Brain Sheehan, an associate professor of advertising at the SI Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, told me advertising messages have twisted and turned throughout the last eight months.
At the beginning of the pandemic, messages were about inspiration. We can deal with this together; it was about inspiring us. But when people realized the pandemic was going to last longer, he said, the messaging pivoted to first responders.
“Now that it’s the new normal, until there’s a vaccine everyone can take, brands are responding as the everyday thing we all need to deal with,” he said. “Companies are avoiding the bigger issues, which become political. So the messaging direction has been: inspiration to first responders to normal everyday life.”
And according to Sheehan, viewers, particularly his students, call bullshit on brands that use the pandemic “gratuitously.”
“The backlash has already started to happen,” he said. “My students are reacting negatively to when brands use it gratuitously. Students are tired of companies reminding us of the pandemic to show they’re sensitive.”
Where does using the pandemic as a narrative tool work well? When the product is clearly positioned as the ‘new normal.’ Sheehan uses the Ikea ad and a Snickers ad among a couple others as effectively using the backdrop of the pandemic to establish a change in consumer behavior, but also arguably the companies’ own behaviors as marketing during a pandemic.
The Snickers ad highlights the Zoom fatigue, and Sheehan said his students love this because it shows us where we are right now.
Sheehan also points to the Kraft Mac and Cheese spot that says it’s ok to have mac and cheese for breakfast. Ad Age writes:
Kraft Mac & Cheese is declaring itself a breakfast food in a move that might appeal to parents of picky eaters or, for that matter, to anyone who has abandoned traditional meal-time planning during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re in this new normal, and Ikea does have a place,” Sheehan said. “I don’t think people are tired when showing this is the new normal and the product fits into the new normal seamlessly.”
Lieberman agrees, noting the change in tone for many companies has evolved with the changing understanding we have of the disease, but also our changed realities due to the disease.
“The difference between then and now is that in March this was an emergency, and now it's a fact of life,” Lieberman said. “I imagine consumers are OK with marketing that talks about new ways of doing business (e.g. home delivery) -- not so much about being campaigns that simply remind them how wearying this year has been.”
Though I am curious as to whether brands have a broader responsibility when using the pandemic as a narrative vehicle. Sheehan points to general commercials about people gathering for the holidays with their family, and how folks are willing to suspend their disbelief if the ad doesn’t reference the pandemic: we choose to ignore the fact that the large family passing the mashed potatoes and stuffing is not wearing a mask, or people not socially distancing outside.
“However, if the ad introduces ‘in pandemic times,’ that would be a huge issue in representation,” Sheehan said.
And of course, we should be thinking about how we are on the doorstep of the holiday season, the time when companies spend enormous amounts of money to grab our attention; to sell us. Sheehan and Lieberman both point out that brands have to separate the pandemic and life during the pandemic.
“Once you talk about the pandemic you’re in serious territory: life, death, red/blue states, masks. If you talk about life during the pandemic, that’s what products are—inserting themselves in your life. Even something as simple as serving Mac & Cheese for breakfast, that’s fine. That’s what advertising does.”
But what happens when advertising can’t help sell products? According to MediaPost today:
GroupM is reporting an “unprecedented drop in consumer confidence” due to financial worries related to the pandemic in a new report on changing consumer attitudes, behavior and media usage.
The global research underlying the report found that a majority of people (52%) feel “tense” or “distressed” as a result of pandemic-induced pressures. Less than one-third feel “secure.”
As cases continue to hit record highs across the nation during peak spending time, companies will continue to search for that right balance of marketing its product AND marketing its product at a time when people are losing their jobs, homes, and lives.
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The Grateful Dead, “Greatest Story Ever Told”
Some interesting links:
For buyers:
14 ad buyers that control billions in spending named the media companies and platforms that are winning as advertising comes back (Business Insider)
For newsrooms:
L.A. Times reporter blasts company for discrimination (Patricia Escárcega)
For the latest on Trump-after-office:
Trump Allies Explored Buyout of Newsmax TV as Fox News Alternative (WSJ)
For geopolitical media:
The President vs. the American Media (NYT)
For platforms:
The Battle Over Facebook’s Top 10 List (OneZero)
YouTube defends choice to leave up videos with false election claims (The Verge)
For media criticism:
MSNBC’s Jon Meacham problem (Washington Post)