Fake Podcast Ads and the Death of Credibility
- Wilde's Leatherwork
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Marketers, Can We Please Kill the Fake Podcast Ad Already?
I can’t scroll for more than a minute without seeing it.
Whether it be facebook, youtube, instagram...
Two people.
Two microphones. (or one if budget is tight)
Headphones on.
A table that screams “we rented this room for an hour.”
And then, surprise, it’s not a podcast.
It’s a sales pitch.
Not even a good one.
Apparently if you look like you’re having a thoughtful conversation, you don’t actually need to have one. Just slap a mic in front of someone, give them a script, and let them energetically recommend a product like they didn’t rehearse it twelve times.
And honestly? I'm tired of it.
Stop Pretending You’re Not Selling to Me
Here’s the thing: I don’t hate ads. I hate being lied to.
The fake podcast setup is manipulation dressed up as authenticity. It’s trying to bypass our initial defenses by faking trust. It wants us to think, “Oh, this is just two average people chatting” before it pivots into “Anyway, that’s why this protein powder changed my life, and you can get 40% off with this coupon code.”
Sometime they're even confident enough to skip the conversation framing and head straight to the big sales pitch. Why even bothering with the podcast framing then?
If you want to sell me something, then just own it. Don’t pretend we’re hanging out. Don’t pretend this is “real talk”. Don’t pretend you didn’t set this whole thing up specifically to sell me something. If it's a good product then surely i will WANT to buy it, i don't need to be tricked.
Microphones Don’t Make You Honest
Somewhere along the line, microphones became a symbol for expertise and professionalism.
Buying microphones, not for their specific technical purposes, but because that's the one Joe Rogan, and everyone else who has 'made it', uses. So what if it's upside down or pointing the wrong way? Who's going to actually notice? And don't get me started on people holding their mics and waving them in front of their faces. We have this thing called a 'mic stand'. And if you used the right mic you can even set it up out of the video frame. But you wouldn't do that if you didn't want to bring attention to it.
A podcast used to imply depth, curiosity, disagreement, and especially long-form thinking and conversation. Now they're copied, cut, edited and now faked. The setup is just a 'scene', the podcaster is a 'costume', and the microphone is just a 'prop'. Void of all substance.
Your not an authority, and it's not entertainment. It’s all just pretend.
It Feels Lazy Because It Is
What really annoys me is how low-effort it all feels.
No story.
No craft.
No risk.
Not a care for the customer.
Just some random employee staring dead-eyed past the camera, delivering lines as convincing as a primary school nativity play.
And marketers wonder why people are more cynical than ever.
Audiences aren’t stupid. We've all been burned before. We know when we’re being sold to, and we know when someone is pretending not to sell to us. It's the fastest way to lose trust you never actually earned.
Authenticity Isn’t an Aesthetic
You can’t fake authenticity by buying the right gear.
Real authenticity comes from:
Caring about what you make
Standing behind it without pretending
Letting the work do the talking
Being transparent in the marketing process
That’s harder than staging a fake podcast. It takes time. It takes conviction. It takes actually believing your product deserves attention without trickery.
And yes, that kind of honesty won’t get as many initial clicks. But it lasts longer. And means much more.
Why This Stuff Matters
Because when everything is pretending to be real, nothing feels real anymore.
And when trust disappears, all you’re left with is white noise.
I’d rather support brands that don’t need to fake conversation to feel legitimate. Brands that put their energy into making something well, not staging how well they can talk about it.
If you’re as fed up with fake authenticity as I am, and you’d rather support something real, whether that be craftsmanship, materials, or pride in the work, visit Wilde’s Leatherwork.
No fakery.
No dishonesty.
Just damn good leatherwork that doesn’t need to pretend it's anything else.
And yes, this is an advert ;)
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