Make me look less American: Brands are changing up their ads amid Trump's trade war
Source: Business Insider
Kraft Heinz in Canada is going all in on reminding Canadians where their ketchup and cream cheese are produced. YouTube Screenshot
May 10, 2025, 4:03 AM ET
Can you make my brand look less American when we advertise to Brits? That was the nature of a request recently fielded by Luke Jonas, cofounder of Nest, a UK-based ad agency that specializes in helping e-commerce brands launch in the US and American companies market internationally.
Jonas said Fresh Threads, a proudly American apparel brand that often features hot young things skating on boardwalks of San Diego in its marketing, is working with Nest to identify British creators it can photograph lounging in London parks and English gardens for its UK push.
This move by Fresh Threads is part of a broader trend sweeping the marketing world. Huge brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald's, and smaller companies alike, are leaning into local in their ads. Rather than playing up their American roots, many are making efforts to embrace local culture when they advertise abroad as geopolitical tensions between the US and its international counterparts simmer.
Jonas said Nest has also seen a big shift in the regions its clients are targeting. Over the past month, around two-thirds, or 67%, of Nest's customers who were targeting the US with their marketing have shifted to focus on other countries, with the agency assuming that skirting tariffs was a big motivator. The most common are countries in the European Union (60%), followed by the Middle East (20%). "In 20 years working in e-commerce, I've never seen such a dramatic shift in brand behaviour as the reaction to the Trump tariffs," Jonas said.
Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/brands-try-looking-less-american-global-ads-trump-trade-war-2025-5
We (as a nation) have always had a reputation as being "the ugly American" and now we have someone in the highest office who is the personification of that.
As a sidenote, I have seen "Fresh Threads" ads - but not the type the article describes. I've seen more generic-looking "business casual" and "leisure ware" for young adults.
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Make America Toxic Again 
Make trade deficits even worse because foreign countries don't want to buy American. 
