Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s impossible not to notice the rise of AI across nearly every field – from medicine to the creative industries.
The latest updates from tools like ChatGPT – especially its image-generation capabilities – have sent shockwaves through the marketing and branding sector.
Some people are saying that AI is leveling the playing field, forcing even the elite creatives to compete with smaller and smaller budgets. Others go further, warning that AI could completely replace human creativity.
The truth is… we don’t know. We cannot anticipate how this will evolve. Humanity has never faced anything quite like this before.
In thousands of years of evolution, the last 100, especially the last 50 or even 10 – have been technologically wild. Our brains are still wired like they were 2000 years ago, yet our tools, our culture, and our pace of change are leaving us behind.
And it’s only accelerating.
So where do we find ourselves in this chaotic, uncertain, gloom landscape – marked by economic instability, war, climate change, and growing social tensions?
Personally, I like to look back…to stories.
Because stories have always helped us make sense of our world – and they still do (or at least I hope so).
With the Easter holidays approaching, I’ve been thinking about just that: stories. And how stories shape our collective imagination, our beliefs, and our culture today… and tomorrow.
Spoiler – historical text and narrative coming up – bear with me:
The name of Easter – was debated among scholars and linguists, and there are two theories that both are related to ancient goddesses associated with spring, fertility and life renewal.
One of the stores is the one of Ishtar – the Babylonian Goddess of Fertility, War and Love.She was associated with the cycles of the sun and with renewal. The argument is based on phonetic similarity and the symbolic connections of fertility (like eggs and reproduction), though there is no concrete etymological link between Ishtar and Easter.
“Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name… was Ishtar.”
(Alexander Hislop in “The Two Babylons” 1853 – but modern scholars don’t quite agree. He was a Scottish minister of the Free Church of Scotland and a strong critic of the Roman Catholic Church, but deeply interested in history).
The second story is the one of – Ostara or Ēostre – goddess of Spring.
This has a more linguistically supported theory that traces Easter to the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ēostre, or the Germanic Ostara. According to the 8th-century Christian monk Bede the Venerable, the name of the Christian festival in English derived from the pagan festival held in Ēostre’s honor during the month of “Ēosturmōnaþ” (April), which celebrated the renewal of spring. (Bede, “The Reckoning of Time” (De Temporum Ratione), c. 725 AD.)
Linguistic and historical studies confirm that in most European languages – such as Pasqua (Italian), Paște (Romanian), and Paskha (Greek) – the word for Easter is derived from the Hebrew Pesach, meaning Passover – early Christianity arose from Jewish tradition and the resurrection of Christ was said to occur around Passover. (Oxford English Dictionary; Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909; Pelikan, 1971).
What about the Easter Bunny?
In 19th-century Germany, a story appeared that said the goddess Ēostre turned a bird into a hare, and the hare laid colorful eggs.
This story is likely a modern invention, not an old myth. The Easter Bunny tradition actually began earlier, in 17th-century Germany, where a rabbit called the “Osterhase” was said to lay eggs for children.
German immigrants later brought this tradition to America.
And just like chocolate took on heart shapes for Valentine’s Day (see: heart-shaped chocolates in Brands, Holidays and Collective Human Behaviour – link), chocolate eggs and greeting cards became a big part of Easter.
Together, these symbols helped shape a new wave of commercial traditions layered on top of older ones.
It’s clear now that Easter is not just one story- it’s a tapestry woven from many cultural threads.
Pagan roots, Christian theology, modern customs, and commercial trends are all mixed together. And that’s what makes it human.
We’ve added layers to this story over time. Because we’re social creatures. Because we need meaning. Because we love to share traditions, symbols, and emotions.
And this is why I believe AI will not break our need for connection (another grim theory that is circulating).
No matter how advanced it becomes, no matter how fast it evolves, AI cannot replace the one thing that has kept us going for millennia – our stories and our human need to share and celebrate them.
PS:
I can’t help but think of Horus, the ancient Egyptian sun god – a reminder that, across time and cultures, humanity has told similar stories in different forms.
As the son of Isis and Osiris, Horus symbolized light, rebirth, healing, and cosmic order. Born after his father’s death, he represented the return of light after darkness (the winter solstice) – light – a theme also present in the celebration of Easter.
Many have noted the symbolic echoes between Horus and Jesus: miraculous birth, struggle against darkness, triumph over death.
It’s not about direct comparison – it’s about shared archetypes and the deeply human need to understand life through cyclical stories that bring hope, direction, and meaning.
PPS:
And no matter how it evolves, AI won’t manage to create authentic stories because it lacks authentic human feelings.
Brands are in the end just complex stories…a collective fiction on which we all agree upon (after Yuval Noah Harari).
Author: Ana Armeanu, April 2025
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