Moron-Fodder

The incessant witless repetition of advertisers' moron-fodder has become some much of a part of life that, if we are not careful, we forget not to be insulted by it.


Does that sentence strike a chord with anyone out there who thinks it might neatly summarise the state of advertising in 2014?

Whether it does or doesn't, you might be surprised to learn that it was a quotation taken from The London Times back in 1886.

Some things may have changed dramatically over the last 128 years but it's kind of frightening to think that our lives are still being polluted on a daily basis by the incessant witless repetition of advertisers' moron-fodder.

One of the most frustrating things about the advertising industry today is the widespread and tacit acceptance that creativity is some kind of hygiene factor that any agency can produce equally well.

All agencies may talk a very good game about putting the creative work first but the harsh reality behind this veneer is that there is often many other agendas getting in the way and stopping this from happening.

A quick snapshot of the soundbite-led media world doesn't really reveal that there are deep and significant problems within the advertising business.

It's easier to portray that the garden is rosy and that we live in an exciting age where there has never been more opportunities.

From the many soundings I've taken, creatives have never been more disenfranchised and frustrated. And many clients harbour feelings of mistrust and dissatisfaction about the way agencies operate and the quality/effectiveness of their end product.

Tenure rates are at an all-time low. And there's a big elephant in the room right now that the business is refusing to face up to.

For all the noise and chatter parroting it's all about the relationship, it's all about the relationship, nobody really seems to joining the dots and working out that poor quality, poor performing creative work is often really at the heart of the problem as to why things go wrong.

Sure, we can all fatalistically accept the status quo, blame each other and not bother to try to take responsibility to change things but, when it comes down to it, wouldn't any self-respecting person want to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem?

If you go into every project believing that moron-fodder is likely to be the inevitable outcome, then that is exactly what will happen and so the self-perpetuating cycle of shitness indefinitely continues.

If you go into every project full of passion, energy and resilience believing that you can really make a difference then maybe, just maybe, something other than moron-fodder will emerge.