Brands are not your therapist (so why are they trying to be?)

Why does every ad sound like your emotionally available ex? And what does that say about us?

There’s something uncanny I’ve noticed happening in marketing right now. Brands don’t just want to sell you something. They want to heal you. Support you. Validate your inner child. Hold space for your complex identity while offering 10% off your first order.

Have we entered an age of therapy marketing? Because why does this campaign for socks read like a journaling prompt? And why is every push notification made to feel like a hug?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad we’ve moved past loud, salesy and deeply unserious “Buy this, 2 for 1!” ads.

Then came the rise of empathy marketing. A corrective wave aimed at making brands less shouty obnoxious annoying more human. Great! We love to see progress. But now, we’re somewhere else entirely.

We’ve got oat milk brands talking about emotional resilience. Fast fashion companies posting about body neutrality. Banking apps asking how you’re really feeling today. It’s kind of giving “we broke up but we’re doing couples therapy now.”

So, why did marketing get so emotionally available?

A few reasons:

• The culture shifted. Audiences, especially Gen Z, value emotional fluency. They grew up online, surrounded by self-diagnosis, softness, and self-awareness. Brands responded in kind.

• Identity = currency. What you buy is no longer just what you like. It’s who you are. And if you're building identity, you'd better be fluent in its emotional layers.

• Trauma sells (unfortunately). We saw that “vulnerability drives engagement”... and brands ran with it. There’s a fine line between resonance and manipulation, and it’s often crossed in lowercase Helvetica.

The good, the bad, and the slightly cringe.

This shift isn’t all bad.

✅ It’s good that campaigns acknowledge real life challenges.

✅ It’s good that storytelling has moved beyond benefits into meaning.

✅ It’s good that brands want to be more thoughtful, inclusive, and values-driven.

But…

❌ It’s weird when soda ads start talking about your abandonment issues.

❌ It’s uncomfortable when brands use “healing” as a hook to sell skincare.

❌ It’s exhausting when everything becomes personal (can’t I just buy toothpaste?).

So, how do we show empathy without overstepping?

Here’s the trick: be emotionally intelligent, not emotionally invasive.

• Know when to speak, and when to hold space. Not every brand needs to have a take on mental health. Sometimes the best thing you can do is offer clarity, ease, or even joy.

• Stop mimicking therapy-speak if you can’t back it up. If your brand isn’t built around emotional wellness, don’t pretend to be. It reads hollow asf, and audiences can tell.

• Make the audience the centre of the story. Empathy doesn’t mean talking about yourself in a softer tone. It means understanding what people need and building from there.

• Be consistent. If you’re going to talk about care, inclusion, or identity, live it across your whole org. Don’t make your copy sound like Brené Brown while your user experience screams burnout.

Don’t be a therapist. Be a mirror.

One, you’re not qualified and two, it’s not your job to fix anyone. This is a branded content email, not a breakthrough session. However, you can reflect something real. You can hold up a mirror to people’s values, experiences, and aspirations and say:

“We see you. We get it. And this thing we made might actually help.” That’s not therapy. That’s just good marketing. Plain and simple, baby.

-Sophie Randell, Writer