This anti-negative brand of marketing that companies have been using lately is very interesting. The technique seems to be employed by companies that offer pseudo-wrong products but it is also employed by "normal" companies as well.
When I say "pseudo-wrong", I'm referring to companies that sell alcohol, cigarettes, vapes and stuff like that. They're technology not selling anything "bad" in the legal sense but we all know these things are bad for the health.
"Normal" companies that sell "good* things like cars and whatnot have also been known to employ the negative anti-marketing marketing technique.
I have had to listen to the radio a fair bit more than usual because that's all that plays in the warehouse. When you listen to those adverts you'll find most of the adverts no longer outrightly tell you to buy what the company is selling.
In fact, what happens is surprisingly the exact opposite. Companies run these psyop type of adverts where they tell potential customers not to spend money.
It is a really fascinating approach to marketing that I reckon will only work for first world countries where the average person has reasonable purchasing power. In somewhere like Nigeria, that would never work because actually don't want to spend money.
A fine example of this technique in full flow is one Honda advert where they're shilling their all-electric SUV to the public. The advert doesn't tell you to buy it; nope, it instead attempts to give customers the impression that buying this car is in fact the best way to "save" money.
At the end of the day, the idea is for the selling company to create an underlying narrative that is embedded in every negative anti-marketing reverse marketing scheme. For Honda, it tells the customers that we(Honda) love(s) you and don't want you to spend but if you must spend, make sure you buy this very expensive car that we've financed to seem cheaper.
Gambling companies run adverts where they simply talk about their different measures put in place to prevent people from gambling. So, the adverts sounds like "stop gambling but if you must gamble, come and do it here".
Pretty much every advert on the radio follows the same theme. Companies can't outrightly sell anymore. Instead, they create these subtle pandering commercials where instead of telling you what you'll get, they tell you that you don't need to buy what they're selling but you should buy it anyway because you'll be "saving" money, in the process.
There are subtle political undertones to the way companies advertise in the UK. My guess is that there are regulations and whatnot that prevent outright selling. In any case, I imagine it will be be very annoying for right leaning political ideologues that live in the country but that's a story for another day.
I currently live in the UK but I still have a 3rd world country brain and I totally see through all the adverts. However, it is important to note that I am not the target market anyway.
From a business point of view, I like the fact that I can see through it though. Knowing how adverts are run in the country could come in handy for me, if I decide to venture into business at some point.