Humans Want to Trust: illuminating the emergence of this theme across industries

The Facebook scandal was really the cherry on top of a brewing social shift in priorities. Perhaps we were more indifferent before we knew companies were making billions of dollars selling our personal information and hacking into our minds but as the truth started bubbling to the surface, people felt more and more unsettled. Now more than ever, humans want to trust each other and this paradigm shift appears across industries ranging from tech to beauty.

Wells Fargo billboard in San Francisco. Source: Imgflip

This Wells Fargo billboard depicts a young woman innocently and peacefully glancing in the direction of the observer. In Psychology, mirroring refers to the subconscious imitation of a feeling, gesture or attitude. This woman’s image embodies an attitude of innocence, youthfulness, and authenticity and aims to trigger emotional mirroring in the observer. This ad is trying to program the feelings depicted in her expression with the language “commitment,” which is typically used in more personal relationships, to seem more intimately connected to the viewer. Clearly, the text and image combination strives to generate a sense of trust and security.

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Did you know oat milk is selling more than regular milk in New York? There are so many nondairy alternatives… why oat milk? Let’s look at the branding.

Oatly Oat Milk branding. Source: https://www.packagingoftheworld.com/2014/09/oatly.html

𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 ✔ 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 ✔ 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 ✔ 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 good intentions ✔

The overall aesthetic of this branding generates feelings of trust, innocence and youthfulness. The simplicity of the bubble letters and doodle-like images says it all. This style of branding in the food industry is gaining traction and many products are advertising “gluten free!” “vegan!” etc. when these items are traditionally gluten free and vegan. Obviously this tactic is used to seem healthier when the product itself has not changed. The labels for food products are painted with glamorized images of the ingredients, even if they only represent a small fraction of the total constituents.

Source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bark-Thins-Snacking-Chocolate-Dark-Chocolate-Coconut-w-Almonds-17oz-Bag-/291895397003

Bark Thins, for example, display coconut and almonds on the packaging although there is significantly more sugar than either of those ingredients. Almonds are the second to last ingredient before sea salt, if that says anything. Next time you are at the grocery store, notice what you naturally gravitate towards. Does this food reel you in with beautiful images or labels?

Now on to blockchain and beauty.

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Source: https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/blockchain-trends-opportunities/

As seen above and depicted in the article referenced in the caption, funding for decentralized projects and the quantity of these projects is exponentially growing. The concept of decentralization has become a popular idea in tech and receives a lot of support despite existing scalability issues.

It’s interesting how readily individuals, companies, investors and our society jumped on the blockchain train. In conjunction with the crystallization of how tech companies are exploiting our data and using it to hack into our minds and habits, decentralization has become an even more popular concept.

Shopin, a decentralized database of purchase history enables the customer to be selective over which retailers can use their information. Empowering customers to have this choice results in increases in sales for the retailer. Will decentralization fuel even more consumerism? Will we spend money more readily if we feel like we have complete autonomy over the items we are being exposed to? Read more here: https://cryptovest.com/news/how-shopin-is-changing-big-data-in-online-retail--through-blockchain/

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Has anyone noticed a surge in women with long eyelashes and bigger lips?

Source: https://www.mamamia.com.au/tammy-hembrow-kylie-jenner/

These two women, Kylie Kardashian and Tammy Hembrow, are two iconic social media stars. They are prime examples of a new beauty trend: an innocent and softer look. Instead of eyeliner or heavy makeup, beauty now boasts this “natural” vibe that actually consists of fake eyelashes and lip injections. This softer appearance creates an appeal of seeming more real or authentic. Eyelash extensions and lip injections have increased exponentially in popularity with the general public. Enhancing features by increasing their size rather than highlighting them with makeup makes individuals appear more “naturally” beautiful. Women embodying this trend of seeming more genuine or trustworthy is clearly depicted in the social beauty standards. Read more about the eyelash addiction here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/western-springs/news/ct-dlg-eyelash-extensions-tl-0907-20170905-story.html

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Technology has shown us how we can be hyperconnected yet feel so detached. As we are flooded with images, advertisements, and external stimulus, we desire to feel like we can trust the sources of this bombardment. The way we look and how we spend money today clearly indicates that we desire innocence, authenticity and a trust-based system of interacting and doing business.