Did The Ordinary Just Give Influencer Marketing a Reality Check?

Glossy is out. Real is in. And audiences are officially over being sold to.

Be honest. When’s the last time you rolled your eyes at an ad? 

You’re not alone. Scroll through social media or walk into a store, and the signs are everywhere. Even on our device, it’s hard to go ten seconds without a sponsored post interrupting the scroll. Marketing fatigue is real.

The formula we once applauded—celebrity endorsement, curated perfection, influencer rollouts—is wearing thin. Desensitization is at an all-time high, and brands relying on the same old tactics are losing cultural currency fast.

But some brands are adapting.

Take ‘The Ordinary’. Their recent NYC stunt didn’t feature an A-lister or a flashy new product. Instead, it was a raw, almost rebellious statement about the inflated costs behind celebrity-backed skincare. The message? Cut the fluff, keep the quality. Crowds lined up not for hype, but for realness. 

Or consider Justin Bieber, who just quietly dropped a fashion brand, SKYLAR, with zero fanfare. No campaign, no influencer army, no over-produced content. Just a soft launch that seemed to say: we’re not playing that game anymore.

This shift isn’t anti-marketing. It’s a reset. When ads seem to show up at every point in our lives, sometimes with little to no added value – consumers, especially Gen Z, are demanding more. They’re craving transparency, value, and originality over perfection and noise. What moves them now? Brands that feel self-aware, that respect their intelligence, and that prioritize substance over spectacle.

It’s not about abandoning marketing. It’s about evolving it. The brands that get this right aren’t the loudest. They’re the ones speaking the most truth.