The State of Marketing: A Call for Reflection in 2026
As we turn our gaze toward 2026, it is imperative to evaluate the evolution of marketing and its troubling trajectory.
Authenticity has become a commodified concept, peddled back to consumers as a brand attribute. So extensive has been its exploitation that it risks aligning with its antithesis.
Community, once a vibrant collective experience, has devolved into a mere KPI, treated as an asset to be exploited for profit.
Even the visceral human response of anger has been repackaged through anger-inducing content, engineered to transform raw emotion into clicks, impressions, and fleeting victories.
Oxford University Press, in a poignant commentary, designated “rage bait” as the word of the year for 2025, encapsulating the era’s fixation on sensationalism.
This year has epitomized the relentless pursuit of attention, irrespective of the means.
The concepts that were once deeply human, relational, and earned have now been molded into marketable entities, neatly fit into quarterly agendas.
In this transformation, we have neglected the ramifications of detaching these elements from their intrinsic roots, subsequently repurposing them for mere performance metrics.
In our pursuit, we have ceased to question whether our strategies remain respectful to the communities we profess to support. We have exchanged trust for fleeting attention and intention for immediacy.
Teams have been incentivized to achieve virality, often for the wrong reasons, prioritizing reach over authentic connection. We have witnessed brands courting controversy simply because it garners more engagement than genuine sincerity.
The repercussions are significant. When everything is rendered a commodity, sincerity evaporates. When emotions are artificially crafted, customers cultivate a learned skepticism toward their genuine feelings.
Consequently, when values morph into mere transactional tools, relationships degrade into sterile exchanges. Customer trust has plummeted to a historical low, as consumers embark on boycotts against major brands, perceiving no other avenue to compel leadership to acknowledge their interests.
This year marked a turning point, characterized by campaigns deliberately seeking controversy for the sake of attention, with notable offenders like American Eagle leading the charge.
The Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) period was particularly egregious, spotlighting a CAN-SPAM violation from Beis, whose deceptive email alert ominously declared: “Action required: Fraud alert.”
This serves as a clarion call for change.
- Cease converting meaningful human experiences into extractable resources.
- Avoid invoking community terminology without substantive investment in the community.
- Refrain from treating the connection as a mere product to manipulate rather than a responsibility to uphold.
- Discard the misguided notion that virality signifies relevance.
Consumers have become discerning—an outcome of our own making. Their trust has thinned, given our propensity to dilute the very principles that once represented honesty and empathy.
They can easily discern when outrage is orchestrated, when vulnerability is scripted, and when a sense of belonging is conjured solely to drive metrics.
The manipulative strategies are losing their efficacy. Today’s consumers feel more like pawns than participants.
We must aspire to elevate our practices.
- Embrace transparency over performance.
- Foster relationships rather than merely pursue reach.
- Champion values that endure beyond trends.
- Create work that retains its significance even when it lacks digital exposure.
If we commit to these principles, the corresponding metrics will follow, and those relationships will prove enduring.
This is not a demand for perfection; rather, it is a plea for the industry to reconnect with the elements that once underpinned its greatness. Our creativity, our imperfections, and the raw beauty of our most human expressions are what render our work unforgettable.
The ideas we have commodified were never intended to be packaged but to illustrate how brands engage with people, not how they exploit them.
If the desire is for customers to believe in our brands, it is essential to act in accordance with that belief. Collaboration should replace provocation; connection ought to precede exploitation.
In 2025, numerous brands sought to ignite controversy for clicks, deliberately ensnaring their audience in manufactured outrage to boost their visibility. We possess greater potential than this.
The era of Machiavellian marketing has reached its zenith. It is time to conclude this year with purposeful resolution and to reconstruct a foundation of trust in branding and marketing.
Source link: Campaignlive.com.
