Nothing but the truth

US – The New York Times’ first tv ad in seven years urges consumers and institutions alike to never give up the search for the truth.

• The Truth is Hard, which aired during the 2017 Oscars, takes a brandstanding approach to ‘post-truth’ culture
• The ad presents a series of written statements on ‘the truth’, which are accompanied by a cacophony of voices

The campaign is a response to President Trump’s attacks on the media – including describing the press as ‘the opposition party’ and an ‘enemy of the American people’ – and the rise of post-truth culture globally. It carries a simple but pertinent message about the need to not distort facts, and highlights President Trump’s use of unverified and sometimes wholly inaccurate ‘facts’.

The ad leads with the statement: ‘The truth is our nation is more divided than ever.’ This is followed by a mix of liberal and conservative statements such as ‘the truth is women’s rights are human rights’ and ‘the truth is a woman should dress like a woman’, which are accompanied by an increasingly blurred mix of voices.