When creating characters, let’s ban the mirror.
It’s really tempting. You’ve cracked an idea, written a compelling script for a tight target audience and all that’s left is to write some casting notes. Your first response is to dig around in the persona slide in the strategy deck. “Meet Jane or François or Hemant.”
It’s a creative decision driven by a flawed assumption – let’s show the audience themselves. The hope is, when they see the work, their response is, “Hey, that ad is aimed at me.” Clearly, there’s a problem.
Advertising is not a mirror.
Much as our strategy friends will protest, our audiences don’t immediately relate to someone who vaguely looks like they do.
Don’t believe me?
When Cadbury cast a gorilla playing the drums, does anyone really believe there a conversation about that reflecting their buyers? No. But every viewer could relate to the gorilla’s deep, calm breathing. Enjoying the moment. Then exploding with energy. Could it have been a rhino? Yep. An eagle? Sure. A bunny? Maybe. It’s the situation and the action we connect with, not the casting.
How about iconic Australian ads? When Not happy Jan launched for Yellow Pages the protagonist was a small business owner who was (shock, horror) a woman. You can guarantee neither “Jan” or her boss did not appear as personas in a strategy deck. Small business owners in the ’90s were always depicted as men.
What about influencers? Well, the rules still apply. Does anyone really look at Beyonce and think, yeah that’s me? Or Christiano Ronaldo? Or Zoe Sugg? No, we don’t relate to the way they look but we do relate to their situations – like heartbreak, food choices, career changes.
Sadly the “casting conundrum” is getting worse.
With the valid push for inclusion and diversity we’re casting based on a list of tick boxes. We need a range of genders. A potpourri of skin colours. A blancmange of ages. Even a toolbox of heights. It’s not just exhausting, it’s not working.
What audiences relate to are personalities and situations. Both are immune to casting clichés.
So, next time, cast a female tradie. Cast a school teacher in a wheelchair. Cast a tall, thin opera singer. Go against type and you’ll find you’re being inclusive without the tick boxes.
And let’s ban the mirror.
Rob Morrison is a rarity in advertising – a grey-haired creative. Rob’s experience includes time as a Creative Director at Ogilvy, BWM (now Dentsu Creative), George Patts (now VML), Campaign Palace and Wunderman. He now runs his own consultancy – morrison.collective.
Here are two more opinion pieces from Rob Morrison: