An era where conformity reigns supreme and the pursuit of mediocre quick copies has eclipsed the quest for earnest excellence and uniqueness, we truly are living in the “Age of Average”, a well-put label by Alex Murrell. This article dissects this phenomenon of sameness, from interior design, makeup, books, kitchenware, and aesthetics in general.
This culture of average is seeped into the fabric of societal norms and expectations. From the relentless pursuit of social media validation to the relentless pressure to conform to preconceived notions of success, people find themselves in a web of conformity.
This article from March 2023, makes you question your biases and inspirations, what impresses you, and why it impresses you. The article talks about a project by a Russian artist duo, Vitaly Komar & Alexander Melamid, who hired a marketing research agency to understand what kind of artwork do people from different nationalities prefer. The result was a collection of paintings representing the preferences of each nationality and it all looked pretty similar. Murrell, in the conclusion, tries to further decipher the reason for this.
Perhaps when times are turbulent, people seek the safety of the familiar. Perhaps it’s our obsession with quantification and optimisation. Or maybe it’s the inevitable result of inspiration becoming globalised.
Regardless of the reasons, it seems that just as Komar and Melamid produced the “people’s choice” in art, contemporary companies produce the people’s choice in almost every category of creativity.
'Crowd-sourcing of inspiration' can be futile if the intent is to stand out or disrupt. In advertising too, the need more often than not has been to 'stand out', and with research and optimization using data, we can end up pigeon-holing ourselves into that ol' sameness all over again.
I believe that the age of average is the age of opportunity. When every supermarket aisle looks like a sea of sameness, when every category abides by the same conventions, when every industry has converged on its own singular style, bold brands and courageous companies have the chance to chart a different course. To be different, distinctive and disruptive.
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