The last four Super Bowls have been the four most watched TV programs in U.S. history. And some reports predicted the 2014 edition of the big game would break all previous records to become the most-watched ever.
With this many people gathered around their television sets watching the exact same programming, marketers will invest significant time and money getting their products on screen: 30-second advertisement spots sold for $4 million. They willingly make the investment knowing the most popular ads will be talked about in offices on Monday and watched over-and-over again on YouTube.
Watching and rating the commercials has become as important to the game as the events on the field. And only minutes after the final whistle, countless media sources rank the best and the worst advertisements declaring their own winners and losers.
Just to be fair, I do appreciate clever advertisements as much as the next guy. But as a whole, I have begun to watch them with a different focus. As somebody who has developed a great frustration over our consumer-driven culture, I often watch the marketing of products to determine their underlying promise. To uncover what else, other than the product itself, marketers are trying to sell me. And I am rarely impressed with what I find.
Often times, I discover the underlying message promoted by marketers represents misconceptions and inaccuracies about life. They push forward faulty rationale. And we would be wise to recognize and reject each of them. Consider just a few of the inaccuracies on display in last night’s football game:
7 Life Inaccuracies Portrayed in the Super Bowl Ads
1. To accomplish good in this world, buy more stuff. There has been much conversation about the softer, nicer tone of this Super Bowl’s advertisements: less sexism, less sleaze, and less coarse humor. I welcome the change. Instead, we received ads designed to evoke fuzzy feelings and emotional responses. Some companies (Axe, Chevy, U2) even took the next step and offered social change through the purchase of their products. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for world peace, beating AIDS, and celebrating cancer survival. And I appreciate companies that are investing money into social good. I just don’t think buying more stuff is the best way to accomplish it.
2. The best food is found in fast service and slick packages. In Notes from a Blue Bike, Tsh Oxenreider speaks about the joy and pleasure of eating “slow food.” She reminds us of the simple pleasure and benefit of purchasing quality food in season, including family in preparation, slowing down while we eat, and finding opportunity to linger at the table afterwards. Perhaps that is why the foolishness of some food commercials stick out to me. At one point, Subway referred to their new Frito Chicken Enchilada as food that “could not be resisted” and Sodastream promoted a new soda that was both “better for you and better for us.” There is wonderful food out in the world to enjoy—it’s just not on sale in your local fast food establishment or candy aisle.
3. We don’t need less TV, we need better TV. I have learned one of the great subtleties of television is its ability to further its own cause—in other words, those who watch television are the most drawn to watch more of it. This is most often accomplished through television’s promotion of its own programming by highlighting “the most watched new show,” “the funniest new series,” “must-see tv,” or “the next great sporting event.” Television promotes more and more of itself to present viewers and boldly calls for even more of their attention. During the football game, I noticed countless advertisements for new shows and new television networks to improve our television-watching experience. But in a country where people spend 34 hours a week watching TV, better, more personalized television is not the answer. Turning off the television is the answer.
4. If you can buy a luxury car, you should. Harvey Mackay once said, “If you can afford a fancy car, you can make more of an impact driving an ordinary one.” Car marketers would try to convince you otherwise. Their advertisements during the Super Bowl seem to presume that buying expensive new cars should be the goal of every American. Jaguar, Audi, and Kia all made claims to be the most luxurious vehicle on the market—as if luxury and reputation are the two most important goals anyone could achieve in their next car purchase. But as a nation that owes $11.28 trillion in consumer debt, we don’t need to buy more luxury cars, we need to change our spending habits entirely. And even if we do have the money to buy a new luxury car, is that really the best possible use of it?
5. Buy a website and you’ll become a successful entrepreneur. Websites are great. They provide opportunity to find your voice, interact with the world, and help bring about the change you desire. I am continually grateful for the opportunity this one provides for me. But I get a little nervous when I see companies make it sound too easy. Building a successful website takes time, money, energy, dedication, and passion. Both GoDaddy and SquareSpace seem to indicate it may be as simple as buying a new web address. And while purchasing a web site address is certainly your first step towards successful entrepreneurship, it is only the very first of many.
6. America is defined by football, soda, beer, and cars. American pride was an important theme for advertisers during this year’s Super Bowl. Coca-Cola, Budweiser, and Chrysler were among those who intentionally used the theming to help promote their product (Chrysler even went so far as to use this line: Detroit made cars. And cars made America). Also, for some reason, Super Bowl Sunday was deliberately referred to as “America’s holiday” over and over again this year. But it seems to me this country is about higher ideals than entertainment and consumerism—or at least, it could be.
7. Happiness is for sale. Advertisers often seek to convince us their products will increase our happiness and fulfillment in life—that the answer is found in spending more. From soda to alcohol and fashion, happiness is offered to us in our very next purchase. But the truth of life is that happiness cannot be purchased no matter how hard we search for it in material possessions. And advertisers do a great disservice to their audience by promising it in temporal packages. We would be wise to look for it elsewhere.
Image: Photo Credit: Heinz
I see you chose not to put on your list the insidious use of veterans in several of the commercials. Only one commenter mentioned the “parade,” but missed the larger point. Perhaps you did not notice it, or perhaps you’re unaware of the general plight of military veterans in the US today. Or perhaps it’s too hot a topic for you to touch. Words can’t express to you the pain Vietnam Veterans feel when they see these feel-good commercials about returning vets, or indeed see any ceremony honoring vets. Between suicide rates among vets old and young, the backlog of benefits cases at the DoD, the deteriorating conditions at VA hospitals, and continuing cases of undiagnosed and untreated PTSD, the manner in which this country is portraying veterans in commercials is unconscionable. This issue should be #1 on your list. Next to this, the rest is fluff. Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
This post really spoke to what I was feeling watching the Super Bowl commercials. I don’t have cable so rarely see commercials anymore. The AFC championship commercials and the Super Bowl commercials were sensory overload for me. I get very stressed out at messages saying that I need material things for a good life. The USA is so much more that what advertisers try to sell us.
Thanks for a great and thought provoking post!
Laura
I didn’t watch the Super Bowl or the commercials. I caught a couple of them on YouTube the next day simply for their entertainment value. Most commercials or other advertising is aimed at convincing us we need things. It was discovered long ago that advertising would be more successful if they attack us from an emotional standpoint rather than a logical one. They have to make us think we want and even need these things.
That’s one of the reasons I gave up on reading magazines, to many ads, and even the articles made me feel like I need more than I have.
The sad thing is, the majority of people fall for the false needs that are pushed on them.
I think about the same thing (what are they really trying to sell me, how are they trying to sell this to me?) when I watch advertisements. I’ve actually become quite cynical. I have recently seen a commercial by Domino’s pizza and had to give them credit: in the commerical, they show people getting overly excited about having pizza for dinner, then they stop it and say that getting pizza on a Tuesday won’t magically make your night special, but it’s what you do with the pizza. Then they show a family eating pizza and watching a movie together. I liked that.
It’s really sad that we are being bombarded by all these companies to buy unnecessary stuffs just to make huge profit, but as they say, business is a business and we,the consumer should not be enticed by these marketing strategies.
I appreciate the knowledge on your website. Thnx!
During the broadcast I followed along the twitter hashtag #notbuyingit. They also called out life inaccuracies and vicious stereotypes.
It’s amazing how advertisements promise us happiness in false and material objects. Enlighten me, how does eating and drinking unhealthy crap, buying expensive cars and watching more television even contribute to happiness. I don’t even consider myself a minimalist and I am offended at the very nerve of these ads that blatantly
suggest these are the things were perusing. I’ve made a pact with myself this year, rather than focus on typical minimalism, to create and learn where I can as opposed to consume and watch.
Cut up the credit cards, let go of all the un necessary purchases and explore other avenues of happiness like love, friendship, interests. Thanks for your site it has helped me in many areas of my life. Over the past few months, I have begun my university studies, sold around 75 percent of my items and saved every dollar I could in order to see how I could go without spending, the result: I’m healthier, happier, less stressed and feel free to do whatever I want. And I’m only 21, looking forward to the future.
Cheers
As I don’t live in the US, I happily missed all the advertising associated with the Superbowl. Amazingly enough, we were still subjected to score updates on local radio!
Did Oxfam manage to effectively highlight the land grab issue in Brazil / Cambodia during the Pepsi commercials?
Having visited the US before, I will just say that from an outsiders point of view, your advertising is absolutely overwhelming and in some ways quite funny. As Joshua points out, so many life inaccuracies are continually portrayed and the advertising seemed so much more invasive than what we have here (don’t get me wrong, we still have plenty of it). Having had a brief exposure to the levels of advertising in the US, many of the social and excess consumption based problems seem to be almost inevitable to me. Good work Joshua on highlighting this issue:)
I agree with just about everything, but you totally missed the point of the U2 ad. Their song was available FREE yesterday. For every download, Bank of America would pay $1 to the RED cause. There was no product sale involved.
It was still a Bank of America ad trying to sell you something.
There are a couple points to be made about this.
First, BoA was, on the simplest level, inserting their name into the subconsciousness of consumers who may soon be shopping for a bank. Those young people who are looking for their first bank, or those people who get fed up with their bank. “I hate my bank, but I remember BoA gave money to RED, so I will give them my business!”
The other level of consumer they were trying to hit were those consumers who hate them. Those consumers who are aware that BoA was one of the perpetrators of our economy’s crash in 2008. One of those who helped in the popping of the housing bubble. One of those who harassed (and still does harass) mortgage holders. To them, the commercial was hoping to instill: “BoA sucks, but maybe they are cleaning up their act and want to become good citizens of the earth by fighting AIDS.”
Anyway you cut it, Bank of America was selling a product. Clearly you missed it.
Thanks for the comment Tracy. I debated a bit including the Bank of America ad. But, as @C pointed out, there are clear self-serving motivations behind the offer. After all, why couldn’t Bank of America have just donated the $2million to fight AIDS in the first place? They don’t need me to download a song from iTunes to accomplish that.
Joshua, I appreciate your taking the time to reply. I have no use for BofA either, actually. But the thing is, setting it up that way draws attention to the (RED) cause. It at least guarantees that all the U2 fans who download the song are aware of it. The band has long used their influence to get people involved in the ONE campaign and Amnesty International. I do not think that they are doing this out of some cynical motive. And of course, they could have chosen to offer the song for a buck and raked in a mint.
No, I didn’t miss it. The “company” that Joshua went after in his post was U2, not BofA.
He wrote: “Some companies (Axe, Chevy, U2) even took the next step and offered social change through the purchase of their products. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for world peace, beating AIDS, and celebrating cancer survival. And I appreciate companies that are investing money into social good. I just don’t think buying more stuff is the best way to accomplish it.”
The ad was about the new song, not about “buying more stuff”.