Has Broadcast Media Advertising Got Dumber?
We were discussing in the studio earlier this week, fondly reminiscing about all the marvellous and memorable jingles we had while growing up. TV Ads like R Whites "Secret Lemonade Drinker”, our hero tiptoeing across the kitchen singing his ditty in his striped pyjamas celebrating his nocturnal addiction to chilled fizzy pop. Frank Muir's distinctive lisping tones telling us Brits proudly "Everyone's a Fruit and Nutcase" for Cadbury's, and the Germans reassuring us that Audi cars didn't just come with expensive servicing - lol- but came with "Vorsprung durch Technik" under the hood.
Our “Fruit & Nut Case” - style jingles feel legendary, partly because everyone heard them at the same time. Remember, in the early-mid-1980s commercial TV meant three channels - I still remember the excitement of the edgy Channel 4 being launched. Back then it was no channel hopping, and big media budgets, so a clever line or jingle could get stuck in 30 million brains overnight. Today the average British viewer can choose from hundreds of things to watch, linear and streaming channels plus TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, while ad-blocking or skipping channels is routine. The audience has not necessarily been dumbed down; it’s just vastly more fragmented and in control, so any single slogan has a smaller share-of-voice.
The trusty slogan has not entirely vanished, but punchy without clever concepts is how modern campaign adverts are built. The Advertising Standards Authority’s January 2025 poll of the public’s “most memorable lines” still lists Tesco’s “Every little helps”, L’Oréal’s “Because you’re worth it” and Compare the Market’s “Simples” in the top 10. Additionally, TV spot lengths really have shrunk. Thinkbox data shows that half of UK TV ads remain 30 seconds, but 10 and 20 second spots, make up a quarter of linear airtime now. Viewers actively prefer it: Mintel’s 2024 Future of TV & Video report found 18-34s rank “more 10-second ads” as the single most-desired improvement in advertising.
In digital video, 6 second bumpers and 15 second TikTok in-feeds dominate because the platform’s auction price system penalises longer edits. That creates the impression of punchier, simpler copy - but it’s a response to pure economics, not faith in lower intellect or that you still can't work the remote.
Long-form storytelling hasn’t disappeared; it moved online where time is cheaper. John Lewis’s 2 Minute Christmas epics rack up tens of millions of YouTube views each year, then it’s run on TV in 60-second form. In other words, brevity on TV subsidises longer media cuts elsewhere in their advertising spend.
The result is not outright dumbing-down as such, but a tilt toward low-risk, performance-tracked formats. Lions Advisory’s 2025 State of Creativity says only 13% of brand leaders would think of themselves as "risk-friendly" That skews visible creativity toward ultra-short rational messages - while longer, more emotional films still exist, but are encountered on personal demand rather than in a communal TV moment. Longer adverts for instance can spread virally on YouTube.
Entirely believably, social platforms now take just over half of UK ad spend, and TikTok alone grew UK revenue 50 % last year. Because attention is thumb-scroll-earned, copy must signal the idea instantly - think Aldi’s “Kevin the Carrot”. Complexity isn’t unwelcome; it just unfolds over a thread, stitched video or immersive experience rather than a 30-second jingle.
So are we honestly just a bit “dumber”? NO! Cognitive load hasn’t changed; the context has. People binge 10-hour drama box-sets but also swipe 6-second ads. Attention is simply selective, not shorter. The economic model rewards speed and targeting. Advertisers optimise for impressions-per-pound and brand safety KPIs, which favours bite-sized executions. Creativity still breaks through when the brief allows - e.g., Channel 4’s “We’re the Superhumans”, Cadbury’s 2019 “Donate Your Words”, or ITV’s 2024 “Britain Get Talking” campaigns won Cannes Lions with nuanced, layered storytelling on prime-time TV plus deep digital extensions.
So what can we say to a viewer or a marketeer? If you mainly watch linear TV consciously, you will notice more short, functional ads; the “clever” work is increasingly surfaced in digital extensions "hybrid campaigns" if you like, you may not see. The venerable taglines still resonating from childhood memories are not dead - but they live on through evolution in phrases that translate globally and can flex across thousands of ad variants.
Risk aversion, not audience intellect, is actually the bigger constraint. If you think about the backlash of the albeit brilliant 'Tango Taste Sensation' ads, which led to the casual assault of 'happy slapping' by kids, to kids, that was just the beginning. In today’s sensitive world, brands worried about instant backlash or efficiency targets, default to safe, single-minded claims for the collective. There is still room for playfulness - but it now competes with algorithmic delivery, compliance teams and media-planning spreadsheets. When the stars do occasionally align (John Lewis, Meerkat, Specsavers), Britain can still produce ads as catchy as any from 1985.
Our modern UK advertising isn’t necessarily “dumber”, but what it is, is shorter, data-driven and more cautious - a by-product of technological change rather than a company's cynical view of the general public’s wit.
We’re showing our age, but still remember Martin the Martian’s enthusiastic recommendation of Smash Mashed Potatoes “For Mash get Smash!” Enjoy the nostalgia!
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