How honest is your brand?
A lot of organizations in 2025 are asking themselves this question. They are offering huge amounts of data on how they operate and perform, but what is driving this new trend?
Like most trends, this one is driven by consumers. They want to know that companies they buy from and support are honest, so they feel confident they are contributing to organizations that are acting in a way that reflects their personal values.
This article defines the authenticity imperative, examples of brands that went unfiltered and won, how honesty can backfire, and the role enterprise AI can play in supporting radical honesty.
The Authenticity Imperative
In the fifties, advertising sought to present brands as squeaky clean, wholesome, and associated with values everyone identified with. Now things are very different: There is a wider variety of values held by consumers, so it makes more sense for companies to be transparent about their practices to assure consumers they hold the identity their claim.
This shift shows curated, overly polished messaging is out, and trust and reliability are now only expected but demanded by some consumers.
TikTok and Reddit are some of the best examples of this trend, as Logitech and Duolingo use these platforms to admit flaws, mock themselves, and engage users honestly. These practices build trust through transparency, humor, and unfiltered conversations that reflect real user experiences. Such practices force other companies to be as honest.
Brands That Went Unfiltered And Won
Many brands have crafted their own messaging, which doesn’t just include honesty but makes it the blunt and overt focus to dramatic success.
A few notable examples of this approach are Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign and Liquid Death’s direct marketing style.
Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign
Dove showed real people with different body shapes, skin colors, and ages instead of models. They wanted to be honest about what beauty looks like and help people feel more confident.
Liquid Death’s blunt marketing
Liquid Death sells water in cans that look like energy drinks. They use loud, silly, and extreme messages to joke about being different, and part of their messaging is that they’re honest and clear about what they sell.
These campaigns show that hiding behind shiny messaging no longer works. Consumers prefer direct, honest marketing copy. The evidence is in the outcomes: Brutally honest marketing boosts loyalty, raises engagement, and dramatically increases viral potential that gets people talking about a brand and buying their products.
When Brutal Honesty Backfires
Of course, honesty is not easy to do in a way that looks genuine. Trying to be honest can backfire, which has happened to many companies.
Bumble’s Tone-Deaf Celibacy Billboard (2024)
Dating app Bumble published edgy billboards like “You know full well celibacy is not the answer.” Rather than relatable honesty, the public felt these messages were insensitive, prompting public apologies as part of a PR nightmare.
Peppermayo’s Influencer-Fueled Apology (2025)
The Australian fashion brand faced criticism for poor order fulfillment. After influencers flaunted trips, Peppermayo issued a detailed apology, but users felt the honesty came too late and was scripted.
Duolingo’s AI Job Cut Reveal (2025)
Duolingo publicly announced it would replace contractors with AI agents—and would only approve new hires if automation couldn’t handle tasks. Users lashed out, and the brand removed its TikTok entirely after the backlash, showing how dramatic the effects of misfiring messaging can be.
These examples show that there is an important difference between transparency and oversharing or shock tactics. It’s essential to understand the intelligence of an audience and anticipate their response accurately before launching marketing campaigns using correct timing, tone, and context.
Enterprise AI and the New Voice of Brand Truth
It’s important to get the honesty angle right and this is easier to do using AI. But here’s the crucial bit: As long as AI is only used for early drafting stages to generate ideas and humans oversee the final result.
AI is also useful for taking human-written copy and assessing it for tone, transparency levels and using audience sentiment data to decide if it will hit the intended goals.
Some of the best AI agent examples, which can automatically scan and suggest on the above aspects of marketing copy include Writer, Jasper, OpenAI agents and Persado. These agents also allow feedback loops and A/B honest testing at scale too, to ensure copy engages with audiences in the right way to convey honesty and transparency.
Conclusion
Remember: A radically honest strategy works. But only when it’s intentional, strategic and aligned with real values that a company genuinely holds. You can’t fake honesty and that’s especially true for massive companies.
When you hit the mark, honest marketing pays off and can launch new companies like Liquid Death, which was consistent with its no-nonsense marketing straight from the start and somehow gave water a trendy image.
The final point to take away is that authenticity is not optional; but, it will only work if the delivery is done correctly.
