US – The Glenlivet single malt scotch whisky turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to produce a commercial script for its June 2023 campaign celebrating Father's Day – but the generated result was filled with clichés. The spirit brand identified a marketing opportunity nonetheless and organised a social experience to challenge the stereotypes around how fathers are represented in ads. A panel of four fathers or father-figures and their adult son, daughter or godson star in a four-minute film where each participant reads the AI-generated script out loud and reacts to the stereotypical narrative the machine created.

For instance, AI suggested the commercial should be a conversation between a father and son about fond memories of camping in the wild. The panel laughed at the outdated version of the father and child relationship. 'This Father's Day, we are shining a light on all the fathers and father figures who are challenging conventions of what fatherhood is today, as part of our mission to redefine norms and break stereotypes in single malt scotch whisky and beyond,' said Johan Radojewski, vice president marketing - Scotch, Irish & Prestige Whisk(e)y, Pernod Ricard US.

In Civid Ads, we previously highlighted how brands turn to advertising as a force for good. According to Edelman, 53% of consumers agree that brands have a responsibility to get involved in at least one social issue that does not directly affect their business.

US – NYC-born brand DevaCurl has announced the launch of its first dry shampoo imagined for curly-haired individuals who don't have the time to shampoo their hair every day. Until now, mainstream dry shampoos were not designed with curly hair in mind, as the amount of benzene and talc powder in their formula isn't adapted to curls (especially for consumers with dark curly hair).

DevaCurl's alternative formula absorbs excess oil, impurities and sweat while providing the essential hydration and nourishment that curls require. The nozzle features two spraying options: one will refresh roots, absorb oil, and add volume, while the other is designed to revive the mid-lengths to ends of the curls and enhance their shape, texture and body.

'With Dry No-Poo, we've filled a white space that the curly community has been looking for since dry shampoos came onto the market,' said Siddeeqah Ra'oof, director of brand education at DevaCurl. The product officially launched in June 2023 and retails for £26.50 ($34, €31).

In our previous analysis of the Haircare Market, we hinted at opportunities for brands to invest in functional personal care. Haircare is the top category for US Black consumers, with approximately £1.78bn ($2.29bn, €2bn) in annual sales (source: NielsenIQ), this demand represents swathes of revenues for brands developing formulas designed for Black hair.

UK – A new report from the Office for National Statistics has found happiness levels in the UK are falling short of their pre-pandemic baseline, with young people hit the hardest.

In the last quarter of 2022, only 23% of Brits claimed to have ‘very high’ levels of life satisfaction, down from an average of 30% in 2019. For people in their 20s, this figure dropped even further to 19%, lagging way behind the 32% reported by those aged 60+. Those reporting high happiness levels also dipped from 35% in 2019 to below 30%.

Running on empty, people in the UK are too exhausted to adopt a healthy lifestyle, with 38% of UK adults claiming an absence of motivation and 35% claiming fatigue as the main reasons for forgoing changes to diet and physical activity.

In our Gen Z Digital Wellness market, we observed how a rising number of depressed and anxious young people are taking charge of their mental healthcare through the use of digital tools and spaces. Many of them rely on online communities to open up and find peers with similar experiences, so we must encourage and safeguard these sharing spaces through rigorous privacy and data protection laws.