Banning words, in 2025?
The Banning of books attempted to silence freedom of expression and knowledge. There is a quote from the book Fahrenheit 451 -“They didn't want to know about it. They were happy. They said they liked to have the fireman run around and knock down the books. They were not interested in books. No, they didn't want books. Not in the old days. They didn't want to have to think about the way the world was and the way the world was going."
The quote above is relevant today, Fahrenheit 451 was released on October 19,1953. Take that in, 11 years before the civil rights movement and the understanding of knowledge suppression was louder then that it is now. That’s what it’s appeared to be over the years. People have fought to understand and have open access to information. When the internet was created January 1, 1983, 42 years ago people anticipated the possibilities, driving the explosion of information without boundaries. Now in 2025 more knowledge is trying to be pushed into a closet and forgotten about. Between the banning books, takedowns of historical events ( I.e black history ) and discrediting scholar’s knowledge is flipping exploration to ignorance.
Over the last 20 years banning of intellectual expression went from words that hurt, to words that inform.
Take just a moment to let that soak in; informing words, phrases and statements are the “enemy” of knowledge. What is the opposite of knowledge; ignorance.
Plato, Aristotle, Sun Tzu, Malcom X,Martin Luther King jr, Langston Hughes, Angela Davis, Maya Angelou, and so many others are examples of knowledge is power. Banning takes the power away from society. It reminds me of what my mother use tell me “out of sight, out of mind” this is what I personally think is the premise of banning of words and other forms of speech.
Speech and freedom to speak it is a human right, it’s not human when that speech is used to belittle,demean, insult or disrespect anyone. Each expression, regardless of use can be interpreted differently especially when it’s from cultural standards. Unless the migration of language takes place: perfect example the word for black is universal and carries the same negative and positive effects on the people of African descent around the globe. Words are hard to ban due to this migration and unconscious collective agreement humans created by using it in their subcultures. Words reaching popular status only happen when individuals with authority speak it. What happens when the authority speaking is using words in a divisive manner, collectively people will feel enraged, motivated and relentless in their pursuit to undermine that authority.
How does banning impact brand marketing and advertising ?
The impact is not black and white, due to each individual perspective and current cultural context. The context of the target audience appears to be the first step when dealing with banned words. Brands can use this to their advantage; using word/s that people are told to considerer “offensive” but collectively preferred. The audience will feel more comfortable, connected and confident about whom they are purchasing from. Now,brands will be like tight rope walker doing this, there are certain words and phrases that are only acceptable within that culture that the cultural community gatekeeps. The reason being the collective turn the negative word into words of endearment ( hip-hop is a great example of this). Same thing applies to more conservative subgroups, the problem with in more conservative language is the language associated with seclusion of other groups which the brand wants to reach.
When the brand understands what words are no longer used because of suppression they will be able to connect and play on those words to further the feeling and loyalty;“that’s my Brand” and the audience will be proud to say it.
The brands mission should shine every time when dealing with banned or sensitive words. Audible books- can use reinforce freedom of reading with banned books. Libraries are making a comeback because they used this same method. Reinforcement of their mission to preserve the freedom of reading and knowledge. It’s gotten so much momentum they have announced reboot of Reading Rainbow 🌈.
Humor and sarcasm has been another route brands have taken; unfortunately, in 2025 this has changed. Brands are silent like South Park- they took down their episodes and went quiet for a while when one individual was turned into a martyr. Jimmy Kemble and Steven Colbert are other examples of how humor is now being censored.
My theory: impact is dependent on the product, service and audience.
The brands mission should move towards the most authentic expression it wants to reflect. If that means using words that are considered “offensive” ( knowing the banned was to suppress not empower) to convey who and what they stand for, then so be it.
