I didn’t think they were more real and commercials were always this way, but there’s something about an ad with specific people that maybe they use the service. Like there is still the benefit of the doubt that they like the company. I certainly don’t do ads for companies I don’t use or like, and I imagine many/most celebrities or whatever wouldn’t do an ad for a company they absolutely HATED. So there’s still this low level of trust that can still be inferred from it even though you know it’s fake.

But to have someone that doesn’t even exist, speak bluntly about something that is explicitly and obviously a lie, just feels different to me. It’s not about the previous ads being genuine, they certainly aren’t. It’s about this being even another level worse than those.