Psychology
Pratfall effect
Admitting a flaw or a mistake makes a brand seem more honest and more likeable, as long as it is otherwise good at what it does.
All ads
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2025Act Like You Know
Walton Goggins admits that small-business owner is his hardest role, and that candour makes the help Airo gave his real eyewear line easier to believe.
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2020Moldy Whopper
Shows its own flagship burger furred with mould by Day 35, and that unflattering honesty makes the no-artificial-preservatives claim easy to trust.
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2018FCK ("We're Sorry")
Owns the chicken shortage with a contrite, funny apology instead of a lawyered statement, and customers warmed to a brand willing to laugh at its own failure.
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2014Inglorious Fruits & Vegetables
Proudly calls its produce ugly, then lets shoppers taste the soup and juice, and owning the flaw made the claim that it is just as good easy to trust.
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Curators of Sweden (@sweden)VisitSweden and the Swedish Institute2011
Curators of Sweden (@sweden)
Let curators post things no tourism board would approve and left them uncensored, and the bad headlines made Sweden's claim to openness easier to believe.
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Don't buy this jacket.Patagonia2011
Don't Buy This Jacket
Confesses that a best-selling fleece uses enough water for 45 people's daily needs, and that candour about its own harm makes the brand's values believable.
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2007No Money, but Love (Yubari Fusai)
Jokes openly about the city's huge debt instead of hiding it, and that cheerful honesty makes the promise of love far easier to warm to.
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2005Big Ad
Has its armies sing that this is a big, expensive ad that had better sell some beer, and owning up to the sales pitch disarms viewers who are wary of grand ads.
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2004Grrr ("Hate Something, Change Something")
Opens by agreeing that diesels deserve hating, and owning the worst of its own category made Honda's claim to a better engine far easier to believe.
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1999Surfer
Owns up to the one irritating thing about Guinness, the long wait for a pint to settle, and turning that flaw into a virtue makes the brand more believable.
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1997Priceless
A card company concedes that the best things in life can't be bought, and that candour makes its claim on everything else feel honest and easy to trust.
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1989Bo Knows
Ends with Bo mangling a guitar riff and Bo Diddley telling him he doesn't know Diddley, a flaw that makes the rest of the boasting easier to enjoy and believe.
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Reassuringly expensive.Stella Artois1982
Reassuringly Expensive
Owns up to the high price most brands would hide, and that candour makes the claim of quality behind it easier to believe.
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1966The Disadvantages
Cheerfully owns up to all the ways an extra-long cigarette gets in the way, and the mock confession makes the extra length stick in the mind.
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Avis is only No. 2 in rent a cars. So we try harder.Avis1963
We Try Harder ("Avis is only No. 2")
Admitting it is not the biggest, which no company ever says, made promises of shorter lines, cleaner ashtrays and fuller tanks easier to believe.
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1959Think Small
Admits the car is small and odd, even calls one a lemon, which makes everything else Volkswagen says easier to believe.
Pratfall effect: where it comes from
Elliot Aronson and his colleagues found that a highly able quiz contestant became more likeable after he clumsily spilled a cup of coffee over himself, while the same mistake made an average contestant less likeable (Aronson, Willerman and Floyd, 1966).
In ads it shows up as brands that admit a flaw, laugh at themselves or own up to a mistake, which makes their other claims easier to believe.