Are Fantasy and fantastical ads fantastic? We look at the genre

Advertising has, unsurprisingly, often struggled to portray 'real life', and been criticised as such. After all, the ennui of most of our daily lives doesn't often provide rich fodder for storytelling.

Equally, given the commercial imperative to insert a brand message front and centre (and end frame), the regulations ads must adhere to, and the prevailing societal mores and orthodoxies of the time, it's little wonder that many ads don't present a reality that many of us can relate to.

It's much easier then to create a fantasy world for brands that bears no resemblance to the humdrum of daily life. In fantasyland disbelief can be willingly suspended far easier than it can with the pouring of a jar of pasta sauce or doing the weekly 'big wash'.

Although that's not to say that brands don't try. This brilliant (and dated) ad for Shake 'n' Vac is the undoubted classic of an attempt to make the everyday and banal more exciting than it actually is:

Such ads look a little dated these days; it's unimaginable to see a 'housewife' doing a song and dance routine around the house while doing her cleaning chores in an ad.

Enter the world of fantasy, where such improbable scenarios can take on altogether different meaning, and somehow seem more rational and less comedic.

This dated spot leans into this for a similarly mundane and everyday product - Golden Wonder crisps.

Given that advertising has now moved away from depictions of the always-unrealistic nuclear family with their defined gender roles to one that represents a greater cohort, the creation of fantasy world for brands seem a neat solution. It's perhaps why we're seeing more of them.

Hannah Slapper, strategy director at BBH, agrees that fantasy ads are growing in popularity. She says: "Adverts that stray from reality are becoming more common - but there's a fine line between fantasy and fantastical. Many modern adverts play in the latter, using magical realism to blend the impossible with the everyday. Like the Samsung example, immersing some classic (albeit slightly stereotypical) elements of boys fantasy - dinosaurs, aliens, explosions - into the act of watching telly."

In this instance, fantastical realism is a usual metaphor for the capabilities of the technology in the television - and TV itself is a world in which we can all escape, so its use is fitting.

But fantasy can also be used in other more mundane categories, as the ridiculous was used with Shake 'n' Vac.

This tongue-in-cheek spot taps into the popularity of the fantasy entertainment genre (for example Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings), while also exploring the "magic" that goes into the creation of a Kingsmill loaf.

In it, Kingsmill employees are dressed as wizards, knights, elves and unicorns that would be familiar to fans of J.R.R. Tolkien or George R. R. Martin.

Slapper says that the fantasy trope provides a few very useful tools for creatives. "First, it appeals to the whole family - where children and adults alike can enjoy an advert at face value. Second, the entertaining world-building allows you to hide rational messages like propositions or product benefits in a more emotional setting - much like hiding blended veg in a pasta sauce. And third, the escapism that fantasy brings is a more palatable alternative to more realistic aspirational advertising when times get tough."

The allegories provided by fantasy and fantastical worlds would be as familiar to Tolkien and Martin as they are to the contemporary advertising creative. Slapper continues: "All advertising asks you to imagine 'what if...?' - but painting a stark picture of a perfect, real life often feels unattainable in tough economic climates. Fantastical stories can provide allegories that answer the 'what if...?' with the power of imagination."

This 2019 Super Bowl spot for Bud Light couldn't be clearer on where it found its inspiration:

Or this ad for Vanquis, which was released at a similar time:

Of course, fantasy worlds are as old as time itself - and the famously repressed Victorians were particular masters of the genre. However, the emergence of Gen AI has allowed it to become a more accessible visual world to create, rather than relying on the magic of words alone.

AI in commercial production in ads, films and gaming has made creating and entering realistic fantasy worlds far easier - and cheaper - too. So while anecdotally there seems to be more fantasy-style films, is this also bleeding into the ads we watch?

Slapper isn't so sure. She says: "Despite the prevalence of AI fantasy content on social media, it feels unlikely that it would threaten an effective and timeless creative strategy like using fantasy tropes."

In fact, she counsels that its use could damage the established trope altogether. "AI could threaten the success of the execution. As magic is something you feel, and freshness and originality are what help comms feel fantastical, the very specific and inherently derivative output of AI negates its ability to create new spins on how to break the rules of our world."

There's something quite reassuring in that - by its inherent predictability of training, AI can never produce a fantasy as magical as that, which comes from the human brain. And this applies to ads, as much as it does to any other fictional content.

Slapper adds: "My favourite example, which I'd argue could never have been created from AI, has to be a very old Sony camcorder ad from the 90s. As a child, I found the subtle suggestion of magic mesmerising. As an adult, I can see it's a clever way to elicit wonder and joy, while also demonstrating the very real benefits of capturing video - those precious moments you'll never get back again."

While AI might be able to easily create fantasy worlds, its ability to engender genuine human emotion is mercifully still blunted. And it's probably why it would never hjave been able to come up with the genius of the original Shake 'n' Vac ad too.