The 'vanilla imperative': Why American ads play it so safe

The US produces some of the most careful, literal commercials in the world. Is this 'vanilla' approach a creative failure? Or is it a structural necessity? Shann Biglione, author of 'The Vanilla Imperative: Why US Advertisers Are So Carefully Bland' joins WARC's Ann Marie Kerwin to discuss the nuances of US consumer psychology and why, in a nation as culturally loose yet ideologically polarized as the United States, playing it safe isn't a sign of creative cowardice but the only rational economic move to avoid alienating a fragmented market.