Less is more

Whenever I was younger I used to spend a significant amount of time on YouTube, specifically ‘beauty guru’ YouTube. MyLifeAsEva, Alisha Marie, Bethany Mota… Although they may have influenced me to purchase products from Bath & Body Works and Forever 21, what they really inspired me to do was start making my own 'beauty guru' videos.

As I was creating these videos, I so vividly remember my finishing touch was always the saturation. An unacceptable amount of saturation. I mean, my videos looked neon. Don't get me wrong, this was considered exquisite taste for the time, however, it is clear a 180 has taken place, and we can see this within the marketing and advertising industry.

Views on commercials gone through meticulous writing, filming, and editing are down, while product reviews by micro-influencers are up. Instead of overexposure and aggressive saturation, we see subtle presets and natural filters. And instead of advertisements solely showing off a product, we see the value and experience that comes in result of the product. There has been a clear shift in marketing and advertising, ditching the overly edited content and replacing it for photo and video that shares a real story. A vulnerable, genuine, and authentic story. And this is what customers seem to fall in love with. Why? Well I almost see this new, less edited, form of advertising as a hand reaching out to consumers, saying, “Hey, you can trust me.” And in a society where there are 50 different body wash brands on one single grocery store shelf… trust is important.

The less edited, the more real. And after such a long period of time where over-editing was the wave to hope on, our society craves real.