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Issue #27
How can a word with so much heft and purity become so hollowed out that it loses its greatest meaning?
Those exact details are somewhat sketchy; however, this word "authentic" has stopped being something people notice on their own and has become something you're told exists.
Let me explain. Skincare brands tell you to "be your true, authentic self,” in a wrinkle cream ad, as if you’re not authentic without it. Is every single ethnic restaurant authentic? Those knock-off Rolex watches on the corner of Canal Street, NYC definitely aren’t authentic.
Nobody used to need the word. You just were, or you weren't. Now authentic is printed on everything, labeled like an ingredient on a box of fruit snacks with, ahem, ‘natural flavors’.
The Insight
The tell for me, though, is that the more a word gets used to sell something, the less power it truly has to describe anything.
Authentic means unpolished, unrehearsed, the thing before the edit. Real. Now it's a category, not a description. Brands don't earn it anymore; they claim it and let the word up the ante on quality even when it’s possible to be subpar.
Once a word becomes a marketing checkbox, it stops doing the one job words are supposed to do: tell you something true.
It’s Everywhere
Take a look for yourself at how many places the word shows up, doing no actual work. Wellness brands sell "authentic self-care," as if self-care has a fake version competing for shelf space on the same shelf. Dating profiles use "authentic connection" as a search term, not a description. The word’s a way of signaling I promise I'm not like the others, which is exactly what everyone else's profile says too.
Where’s the lie? There isn’t one, necessarily. They're just using a word that used to mean something specific as a stand-in for effort.
Every Buzzword Gets Hollowed Out Eventually
"Authentic" isn't special. It's just the current one. "Disruptive" used to mean something before every app claimed it. Trust me, give it enough time and enough borrowed use, and any word that gets claimed by everyone stops identifying with anyone.
This is exactly why borrowed language is a bad foundation for a brand. If the word you're building your identity on is available to every competitor with a copy of the same swipe file, it was never yours to begin with.
It’s Time for a SPONSOR BREAK
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What The Best Brands Do Instead
The brands you actually remember didn't reach for the hollowed-out word. They made their own.
Chick-fil-A didn't train employees to say "you're welcome." They built "my pleasure" — three words nobody else owns, repeated so consistently it became the brand's fingerprint. Disney didn't call their creative team "designers." They coined "Imagineering," a word that exists nowhere else and points to exactly one company the second you hear it. Starbucks didn't sell "small, medium, large." They sell Tall, Grande, Venti — made-up words that do more brand-building than the coffee itself.
None of those words can get hollowed out by overuse, because nobody else is allowed to use them. That's not a marketing trick. That's the whole strategy: stop competing for a word everyone already has, and build one nobody can take.
The Line
Here's where I land, and it's the same rule that governs a decent movie: the character who keeps saying "trust me" is the one you stop trusting. The announcement is the tell. If the plan were actually solid, nobody would need to say the line out loud; it would just hold up on its own.
"Authentic" works the same way now. The real thing has never needed to announce itself. It just holds up under its own specificity, the same way the truth doesn't need a disclaimer to still be true. The words that actually carry weight for a brand — the ones customers repeat back for years — aren't the ones borrowed from everyone else's toolkit. They're the words invented, owned, and specific enough that nobody else can say them and mean the same thing.
So no, I'm not saying stop trying to be real, in your brand or otherwise. I'm saying stop reaching for the word everyone else already used up. Say the specific thing instead. That's the version that lasts.
Until Next Wednesday,
~Aliya
P.S. If that hit home for you, that’s exactly what I do. I’m a Brand Voice and Messaging Strategist who helps you find the words for your brand.
Strong brands aren't built on aesthetics. They're built on a voice that's distinct, honest, and impossible to confuse with anyone else's.
Book a discovery call with me and let’s find your words.