Bloom Thinks
We’ve Reached Peak Subversion
We’re living in the era of sensory overload. Today’s consumers are overstimulated and increasingly jaded.
The digital landscape especially, is multifarious and chaotic, overrun with brands looking for their fifteen seconds of fame.
It makes for sceptical consumers, well attuned to marketing practices and tired of being pedalled more stuff.
Amid the overwhelming volume of content and consumers' pessimistic outlook, it’s hard for brands to compete.
So, many choose to adopt an alternative strategy. Being subversive has become the answer to cutting through the noise and getting people on side.
Conventional persuasive techniques are dropped for irony, messiness, and absurdity.
Such strategies are fuelled by digital culture's hunger for humour and novelty. But as these marketing approaches proliferate and become evermore extreme, it begins to raise a question:
When defying the norm becomes the norm, does the power of subversion start to wane?
Messiness
Irony
Absurdity
Messiness feels relatable in a culture that appreciates ‘authenticity’ over perfection. Rawness, spontaneity, no filter characteristics are felt to be more compelling, more real.
But today, messiness doesn’t just mean a little imperfect or human made. It often looks like a celebration of chaos and carelessness or embrace of ugliness.
A presidential campaign that embraced ‘Brat’ summer
Kamala Harris’ presidential election campaign was one of many to jump on the traction of Charli XCX’s ‘brat’ summer, co-opting the identity of a cultural moment that celebrates being unapologetically chaotic and transgressive.
Courtesy of @KamalaHQ on X (Photograph: X/KamalaHQ/Screenshot)
Ryanair’s brutal no-filter social media comments
Ryanair’s social media comments employ savage humour, self-deprecating wit, and sarcastic replies, often trolling complaints to entertain audiences. It reflects a wider trend of many brand accounts adopting an unexpectedly, perhaps overly, personal and informal tone on TikTok.
Courtesy of @Ryanair on TikTok
Marc Jacobs’ varied, weird and wonderful TikTok feed
Luxury designer Marc Jacobs has embraced the chaos of the online space, with a social media posts that spotlight random small-scale creator content.
Courtesy of @Marcjacobs on TikTok
Irony enables brands to acknowledge their own commercial intentions while also poking fun at it, creating a “wink-wink” relationship with consumers.
Irony isn’t new, but it is increasingly sophisticated and prevalent, often inherent to a brand’s visual identity and sometimes directed at niche groups in an if-you-know-you-know kind of way.
Vacation Sunscreen’s nostalgic 80s throwback
A parody of 80s advertising era is the premise upon which Vacation Sunscreen succeeds, with humorous exaggeration of dated escapist aesthetics and tropes.
Courtesy of Vacation Sunscreen by Poolside FM
Liquid Death’s irreverent counter-category identity
Canned water brand Liquid Death caused a splash with hardcore, death-metal a esthetics and rebellious slogans, amongst a world built on naturality, health and hydration.
Courtesy of Liquid Death by Supplying Demand Inc.
SSENSE’ playfully self-awaread campaign
A new extreme for the ironic self-referential advert strategy, with this low effort aesthetic that draws attention to the underlying commercial agenda.
Courtesy of Ssense, Atallah Group Limited.
Absurdity leverages the bizarre and ridiculous to stand out, grab attention and create intrigue. It disarms consumer scepticism and disinterest by rejecting sense and persuasion – the things we assume branding and advertising should reinforce.
Absurdity feels at home in the postironic meme culture of the current internet, where silliness seems more honest and comforting.
‘Hot Girl Pickles’ quirky product staging
Successful newcomer brand Good Girl Snacks centres their imagery around ‘hot girl’ motifs, from those viral vintage cakes to ‘girl dinner’. But they reinterpret these symbols with inventive absurdity. The brand launched in 2024 and now has amassed 68K Instagram followers.
Images Courtesy of @GoodGirlFoods on Instagram
Chopova Lowena and Hellmann’s odd pairing
The Chopova Lowena x Hellmann collaboration is a seemingly random and unexpected pairing, and the product serves a ridiculous function. It feels novel and surreal, and perhaps a commentary on consumerism, but its virality provoked conversation.
Image Courtesy of Dezeen.
Bag by Copena Lowena x Hellman's
Duolingo’s ‘Buttception’ campaign
Duolingo’s iconic green owl mascot was treated to humorous backside exaggeration which featured on a Superbowl ad break. The activation’s short, silly and surprising nature feels like an echo of internet meme culture.
Video Courtesy of @Duolingo on Youtube
The culture is becoming saturated. Does there come a tipping point on subversion’s effectiveness for brands? Or will we just continue to push the boundaries in more extreme and outlandish ways?
Arguably, subversion will always be impactful because it’s designed to disrupt the status quo. And a sense of tension or friction is exciting.
But can such a strategy sustain brand resonance and loyalty in the long term, particularly in the context of a frenzied digital environment already dripping in irony and controversy?
It’s possible that people will grow tired of this relentless messiness, irony and absurdity. When it feels like the whole world has gone mad, perhaps consumers will gravitate to more earnest, sincere qualities.
More thoughtful, longer-form storytelling
Like We Are Ayenda, a film by WhatsApp and Anonymous Content, telling the true story of Afghanistan’s U-15 girls’ soccer team escaping the Taliban. It showcases resilience, teamwork, and hope while highlighting how WhatsApp’s secure communication enabled their daring journey to safety.
Courtesy of @whatsapp on Youtube
More fitting and seamless brand partnerships
We might see more partnerships that feel like a natural extension of each other’s world and story, rather than an interesting cultural surprise. For example, season 3 of chef drama The Bear was sponsored by Stella Artois, with the brand ‘authentically’ integrated into plotlines.
Image Courtesy of Anheuser-Busch
More IRL (in real life) experiences
Celebrity lookalike events trended at the end of 2024 reflecting a craving for simpler joys and in person experiences. Sure, the premise is slightly wacky, but the tone has been one of wholesome positivity and connection – a way to “disconnect from everything” and “meet new people”.
Timothee Chalamet Lookalike Contest.
Image courtesy of The Guardian
No strategy to capture attention should come at the expense of brand meaning and identity. Success lies in building brand value first, and virality second.
We partner with brands to develop culturally resonant identities and offerings, that are rooted in core values and built for on-going impact.
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