The Greatest Day in America

In the Visa commercials leading up to the Superbowl, they called it "the greatest day in America", which is in a way true. Our culture is so consumed by advertisements that a great number of people watch the Superbowl for the sole reason of seeing the commercials. Companies plan their game day commercials all year long, and pay millions of dollars for their 30 second slot. I watched the Superbowl, and tried to pay attention to all of the commercials.
Two years ago, there was a very noticeable theme in the Superbowl commercials that played on gender roles and women. I wrote a paper about it for a Gender and Society class at my previous college. A lot of the commercials used the idea of women needing to stay home, be a good wife, be sexy, and all the other aspects of being the perfect woman. The commercial that stuck out the most to me and most people that I talked to about it was a tire commercial. A married couple were driving in the husband's shiny sports car when they were stopped on the road and threatened. The husband had the choice of keeping his car and tires or keeping his life, but he misheard and thought the choice was between his car/tires and his wife. He immediately shoved his wife to the ground and drove off in his car, because his car was worth so much more.
This year, many people that I know said that they were underwhelmed with the commercials played during the Superbowl. The greatest difference that I noticed in commercials was the focus and theme of them. After talking to people and watching Facebook status updates, the most influential commercial of the 2012 Superbowl was the commercial with Clint Eastwood, promoting Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram vehicles. This commercial used Detroit as an example of what hard work and determination can bring, and that our entire country must use Detroit as a role model and follow their lead. Detroit came back from the brink of complete loss and rebuilt their economy.
I was impressed with this drastic shift in what people liked from commercials, especially on a day when commercials are in the spotlight. The Superbowl is a great day, filled with our favorite examples of athleticism and sexuality, but the day that we care more about progress and building our country up, creating jobs, and restoring stability, is really the greatest day in America.