I remember the Mainstay advert from the 90s: this very slick-looking guy with a jaw that could crush ice “changed to Mainstay” and then was able to hobnob with beautiful, puffy-haired women while windsurfing. Mainstay’s slogan, “You can stay as you are for the rest of your life, or you can change to Mainstay”. This gives you, the pyjama wearing couch-slob in front of the TV, an irresistible choice: stay the slob or become an attractive windsurfer that has no small success with airbrushed women. All you have to do is drink Mainstay.

Ethics

Steven Covey, in the cult classic of self-help books, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, defines two ethics that characterise the way people perceive the world, and thus, the trends in advertising: the personality ethic and the character ethic.

The personality ethic focuses on the easiest and quickest ways to get what you want. It concentrates on image; supplying techniques, slogans and products to manipulate your way to success.

This kind of quick-fix superficiality characterised not only the 80s and 90s advertising trends but also the general ethic of the time. The image was enough. You needed to look and be the part, if you were in a fix Oprah had the answers, or if you wanted to change you could always just quaff a shot of Mainstay.

The character ethic is rooted in genuine identity and character. Covey uses a farm as an example of the character ethic. You can’t short-cut a farm. You plant at a certain time and reap at another and there’s no other way to do it.

Now I’m not saying we have somehow become a more enlightened and sophisticated bunch (just look at the “Johnny from Expert” ad. A pudgy, sweaty-palmed business man walks on to screen with open arms and a maniacal grin and says, “Hi! I’m Johnny from Expert” and then goes on to explain why we should trust him), but I do think there is evidence that there is a move away from the super superficial to the, well, less superficial.

People are tired of the lies. They drank Mainstay and stayed the same. Now, we want something genuine, or if not, then at least something of value. The Nando’s ads are a good example of this. They provide entertainment in exchange for our attention. We laugh and appreciate the risky humour. But more than that, we appreciate not being sold rubbish — like a product that can gain us a dream life, or that Johnny will keep his word — that underestimates our intelligence and entirely misses the changing zeitgeist.

People, across cultures, have begun to care about the environment. This is, I think, an indication of the change of attitude and perception that is being reflected in how we react to adverts. Caring about the environment is the opposite of the 80s and 90s glitz and glam, it’s cult of immediacy and image. Rather, it is not even for us. We care about it for other generations of people.

Bizarre.

And yet, it seems to me that we are sick of the superficial, that we crave substance and thus, advertising that tries to WOW us, or hoodwink us, or sell us will no longer work; it will fall into the same happy abyss as side-ponies and Gloria Estefan.

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