If advertising is a mirror that reflects society, as Stephen Fox says in “The Mirror Makers”, what do the latest Super Bowl ads say about us? Looking in this giant convex mirror, objects appear closer than they really are: the babes, the celebs, even the animals, are self-deprecating in a way that makes them seem “more like us”. If you consider it’s mostly bright 20-something men (and I use that term loosely) writing the ads (and the demographic all marketers desire), you can understand why advertising as an art form has become more self-referential, ironic, fantastic and deconstructed. As advertising, what are we selling here? Super Bowl ads are less about the product benefits and more about our messy psyches and desires. Like Bud-light, they exist to generate buzz 🙂
Alexander de Toqueville, if he were to visit America today and become instantly acculturated, might observe:
Every American can (literally) have his 15 minutes of fame or at least an easy Creative Directorship.
Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” commercial (See earlier “Doritos” post) My favorite, “Checkout Girl” was the winner: the chubby cashier checks out and wins over the junk-food hunkie through her provocative recitation of Doritos spicy flavors. This is good advertising.
Chevy’snaked men tearing off their clothes in the street to go wax the chevy was the winner of a college competition (note to self: definitely not sending my kids away to college). Clients just love seeing the masses flocking to their product. No wonder GM is in trouble.
We live in desperate times. It seems we have come to accept humiliation as a norm. To wit:
Budweiser’s “Slapping”. Funny, yes, in a slapstick way. But “Dogs” was better: A downtrodden mutt, splattered with mud, finally rides in a parade with the Clydesdales (“Under Dog”, or “Dog Day Afternoon”, or “Every dog has its day” would have been better titles).
Into this cute animal category you could add GM’s “Robot Arm”, where a robotic arm gets fired for lack of performance (guess he didn’t pay his union dues). I bet you GM’s employees really relate to Career Builder’s campaign. No more monkeying around, the “Jungle” spot shows “best practices” gone awry when corporate team members break into a free-for-all armed with office equipment.
Every ghetto has its silver lining.
Coke’s “Vice”, turns a “Grand Theft Auto” character into a Good-Deed Doer. Nice attempt, except for the crashing cars, to turn a negative into a positive.
Finally, as much as I admire the Nationwide campaign for making annuities relevant, I’m sad to say that it reinforces the notion that no financial institution, including Nationwide, is “on your side”…
View my list of Super Bowl Ads
PS: My personal favorite is for Jack-in-the-Box that didn’t air in my market. I love the twist at the end where JB jr. mixes up “Vegetarian” with “Veterinarian”.