It’s time “normal” was retired.

By Eric Dunn, Co-Founder @ Here Be Dragons

“Things aren’t normal now.”

That theme has been an advertising constant over the airwaves and through the interwebs the past twelve months. Starting as a flitting buzz in the spring, it grew into a droning presence over the summer, and then rallied into a monotone roar as the final days of a rough year came into view.

After months of steady exposure the idea of “normal” itself comes into question. 

“Were things ever really ‘normal’ at a given moment in time?” 

“Is ‘normal’ just a lazy way of saying ‘comfortable’ or ‘easy’ or ‘expected?’” 

I’ve roped others into this conversation focusing on the idea that, at this particular moment, the word “normal” is a backward-looking shellac of history’s shortcomings; one that gives “Past” a distinctly saccharin taste in the “Now.” 

It didn’t take long before this musing turned to the craft of the advertising that originally inspired it. 

As a driver of culture, the role advertising has played in the use, misuse, and abuse of “normal” has gone off the rails. The overuse of the word has made it little more than a vanilla sentiment conveying a false sense of empathy. By tapping nostalgia, the word “normal” has become a crutch for brands that lack a real POV. People are suffering for it.

When things are as hard as they have been and advertising says, “things aren’t normal now,” a brand implies going back to the world as it existed in a whimsical yesteryear. If memory serves, our previous “normal” wasn’t as great as we are making it out to be. Politics aside, plenty of people were frustrated with the status quo nine not-so-long months ago. A return to that isn’t something many look forward to—particularly if your lived experience is one of being ignored, left behind, stepped on, or shut out.

The ongoing fascination advertising has with “getting back to normal” doesn’t fare much better. That return to the past leaves behind a sense that complacency about historical offerings is okay, but doesn’t push brands to inspire something better. That call to return to a mythologized “before” demotivates tapping one of humanity’s greatest strengths: our adaptability and ability to innovate when faced with “discomfort.” (Stated in both the literal and euphemistic sense.) 

Lastly, let’s not forget about the idea of a “new normal,” a construct that has been insidiously making its way into conversation. It’s a two-word set that encourages apathy about a state of chaotic affairs that shouldn’t be acceptable. It suggests freezing in place a world even more unfair and uninspired than the one that has been upended in the past year.

Big ideas inspire change, but small actions often are most successful in making it happen. 

Perhaps it’s time to give the word “normal” a break. Doing so will force us to be more thoughtful about what we really mean, making our communication more genuinely empathetic along the way. Now more than ever it is important to grok what an audience’s problem is while also striving to understand why they have it. “Normal” just papers over that gaping hole in people’s lives with a generic shared experience that doesn’t acknowledge real solutions or connections. 

By leaving “normal” behind, brands are encouraged to be specific about what they really think and intend to do at a moment of massive upheaval. This supplies companies (and their craftspeople) a meaning-focused toolkit to tell that story with an honest, human-first embrace. It also helps brands match genuine words with appropriate actions—providing both emotional and practical support at a time when people need it most.

Lastly, cutting “normal” out (as if “normal” was always a good thing) will stop a tailspin of platitudes that limit a brand’s ability to co-pilot a more hopeful cultural flight plan forward. Brands exist as mental constructs shared between businesses and the people they serve. This empowers brands to be changers of culture, not just artifacts reflecting it. 

As a brand’s most assertive communication vehicle, advertising drives the direction of pop culture and reinforces the national mood. By putting the use of “normal” on the back burner, brands can point the flow of culture away from recapturing an idealized, but ultimately unsatisfying, past. Without relying on outdated “normal” concepts, brands can have a hand in building a more optimistic future.

Dropping a word from our vocabulary may seem like a small thing to ask, but brands help create culture. As creators of brand stories, even the small steps we take add up and push our culture to do better for everyone.

And that is something we can (hopefully) all agree on.