It was 1934 when Cole Porter wrote: “In olden days a glimpse of stockings was looked on as something shocking, now heaven knows – anything goes.”

Put it down to a permissive society, or blame the internet for rolling back the frontiers of absolutely everything – but nowadays it’s not so much “anything goes” as “anything has been and gone”. Eyebrows that might once have been raised in horror are now being raised in interest. A burgeoning public forum on the web has allowed consumers to speak out – and if brands are becoming a little daring or risqué, nobody really need pretend to be offended. Hence, and a term had to be coined for it sooner or later, the rise of Maturialism.

There have been some recent and very forthright examples of marketers pushing their brands way beyond the limits of what used to be called good taste. Parisian designer Nicole Locher launched a collection of women’s tops with embroidered scripts, of which “Little Slut” was the most decorous. Guess who Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavour “Hubby Hubby” is aimed at? And Chupa Chups lollipops are being sold in Russia with enhanced flavours like Blackberry BDSM, Strawberry Fetish and Cherry Toys.

And the public’s reaction? I like it, I like it, I like it. The consumer of 2011 and beyond seems able to handle more honest conversation, daring innovation, quirky flavours, unusual experiences – and they appreciate brands that don’t so much push their point of view as bulldoze boundaries.

Will Gordon, Synovate’s Senior Vice President for Brand and Communications, is forthright about his own personal take on Maturialism. “There’s an entire generation of hardened sceptics, children of the mind-numbingly vacuous television era who were so overexposed and over-stimulated during those impressionable years that today you have to practically smack them in the face to get them to pay attention,” he says.

“People now say ‘you have to tease and taunt us – in some cases terrify us – into doing something other than sit around complaining about economic malaise, political flakery and global chaos’.”

If that’s how Maturialism came about, how do you engage with it?

• Play it straight. That does not mean putting some superstar in your ads – it means real people who are believable in their roles and in the context of your product or service.
• Get real. Think Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty.
• Help the world while helping me. Make the car sexy and eco-friendly too.
• Engage consumers where they are. Increasingly that’s not in front of the television.

Gordon concludes: “For all their complaining, Maturialists still love children, puppy dogs, mom and apple pie, and probably have more self-doubt about their ultimate value to the world than any other generation of modern times – and no time or energy to change it. So, as a brand, be firm, but laugh a little too – especially at yourself.”

That’s Maturialism. Not so much a glimpse of stockings, but a glimpse of shocking.