Not another dissertation...

... but a compelling industry report, exploring how we can use advertising to defuse polarization.

The year is 2021 and polarization is no

longer limited to the dread of inviting

your racist uncle to the family dinner,

but is now starting to affect society by

diminishing democratic institutions.

It’s an era of tribalism, fake news, culture

wars and post-truth, and it is becoming increasingly hard for brands and advertising agencies to navigate the minefield of cancel culture and brand purpose.

As the conversation around polarization mainly focuses on if we are as polarized as some claim -or not, and how this comes across on various online platforms - I noticed an opportunity to explore how we can use advertising as a means to defuse polarization.

To do so, I researched polarization in an academic context, including behavioral theory to understand human decision making, and also reviewed climate change awareness campaigns to see what the mass media conversation is.

Clearly lacking some thick data, in-depth interviews and image-led workshops provided necessary insights, which resulted in a prototype as a means to explore the topic further.

( within the conversation about climate change)

The insights discovered in the in-depth

interviews as well as by exploring the

prototype presented some significant

new findings.

Firstly, that the concepts of distrust and belonging are central when figuring out the motivations behind what makes a climate change denier.

Secondly, that betrayal and self-doubt are behind why people are driven towards polarized groups. Thirdly, the sense of belonging is considerably strong within polarized groups and there is little incentive to share truthful information or anything that might go against the views of the majority.

Thirdly, the sense of belonging is

considerably strong within polarized

groups and there is little incentive to

share truthful information or anything

that might go against the views of the

majority.

Finally, the findings also

showed that misinformation is more

easily spread because people within a

community do not interact with people

outside of the community.