It pains me to see the concept being watered down like this. All too often, storytelling is used in the context of telling a story so well that it masks the lack of substance. That doesn’t even mean the content is reprehensible, but it is about embellishing things to convince others just how wonderful you, your service or your product is. Of course, this isn’t a new phenomenon; advertising is part of marketing. But it’s only been about fifteen years since the use of the term ‘storytelling’ has become commonplace in this world. And it’s now gone so far off the rails that I’m ashamed of it, even when a potential client calls me again because they also want to use a bit of storytelling to draw more attention to their product or service.

I just want to shout out loud: ‘Oh, you want a bit of bullshit?’ Because, really, that’s what it’s always about. Polishing things up through storytelling so they seem better than they are. Whereas, if your product or service is simply very good, you don’t need that at all. You can simply tell the real story, and I’m happy to help with that. 

But many communications managers seem unwilling to understand this and happily carry on creating a parallel universe where everything is perfect. I could give countless examples but let me limit myself to just one: PostNL. In their communications, they act as if they’re making the world a bit better by connecting people and making everything easier, because everything is delivered to your door. What’s more, they’re creating a more diverse and inclusive world by decorating their vans with the Pride flag. 

My reality: every time I see a web shop sending something via PostNL, I brace myself. In half the cases, things go wrong. Items that need to be delivered in person simply end up on neighbours’ doorsteps. Customer service is usually extremely unpleasant, and apparently nothing is done about complaints. Whether the delivery drivers are all queer-friendly, I haven’t tested….

All of this is glossed over by the art of storytelling, the field in which I too operate. At the same time, I want nothing to do with it. For me, storytelling isn’t about creating a perfect parallel universe. It’s about sharing in the here and now, the positive and the negative. Real stories. No bullshit.

I have sometimes considered saying goodbye to the term ‘storytelling’ because it is too tainted and contaminated. Instead, I wanted to use ‘story sharing’ as a human and honest alternative. But I’ve decided not to do that for the time being, because I don’t want to give in to the communications world, which has tried to hijack the concept by imposing one-sided narratives under that very same label. I won’t let that happen by demonstrating in all our work (and that of many highly regarded colleagues) that it’s not about bullshit.