In this episode, Nicola speaks to narrative strategist Ruth Taylor of the Common Cause Foundation about the ways in which adverts shape our priorities and attitudes to social and environmental issues through appealing to certain cultural values. Ruth offers her take on adverts from Pepsi, Volvo and Apple which seem to appeal to intrinsic values like social unity or caring for nature, but may actually end up undermining these values. Finally, Ruth shares her thoughts on how the advertising industry needs to change in order to genuinely play a positive role.

Show notes

• Thanks to Ruth for joining us on this episode. You can read more from Ruth by signing up to her Substack newsletter, Culture Soup: https://valuesnarrativesculture.substack.com/
• Here's that Pepsi advert and the criticism it received: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/pepsi-advert-pulled-kendall-jenner-protest-video-cancelled-removed-a7668986.html
• The Volvo SUV advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQX-QXxwGvA
• Here’s Apple giving their status report to Mother Nature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNv9PRDIhes 
• Read more about the work of Common Cause Foundation: https://commoncausefoundation.org/
• Read our blog about this episode: https://adfreecities.org.uk/2025/04/selling-love-how-ads-undermine-intrinsic-cultural-values/

Find out more about Adfree Cities at https:www.adfreecities.org.uk and on Bluesky and Instagram @adfreecities.

Credits:

Produced, edited and presented by Nicola Wilks and James Ward.

Title music by mishima.

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