I have to admit that I am NOT a football fan. I never have been and am pretty sure I never will be. Unfortunately, quite a few of my fiends are fanatics about it. So, naturally I agreed to watch the Super Bowl with them because it meant a lot to them. In reality, I was excited to watch the commercials because I wanted to analyze them. It makes me unbelievable sad to think about how much money our culture spends on advertising when we could be putting that money into things that really need attention like feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and many other things. However, since I can't do anything to change that fact that we do spend all this money on advertising, I decided I could at least learn from them in a way. I wanted to see what our society deems worthy of spend millions of dollars on to make us think we need it or want it. I figured if I pay attention and analyze what we put so much value in, then I would be better prepared to influence or change things in the future.
So, as i was watching the commercials, I noticed how all of them were for insignificant things. Almost all of them that I saw were for different types of cars. In my opinion, if there is one thing in this country we need to depend on less its the car industries. So naturally, I was very upset by this. Others included commercials for Taco Johns and other food places. I even saw a trailer for a new movie. This amazed me! Some people spent millions of dollars to have a trailer for their movie played and it hasn't even been released yet so they don't even know if they will get their money back! That is a huge investment and risk. The thing that makes me angry is that we spend that kind of money on entertainment that no body even know if they like yet. What happens if the movie does horribly and makes no money?
Despite all the horrible, petty commercials, there was one that I really appreciated. It almost brought a tear to my eye when I saw it. Here is a web address for it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/06/super-bowl-commercials-2012-clint-eastwood-chrysler_n_1255352.html
This commercial impressed me. I like it so much because even though it is a car commercial, it is being used to relay a message instead of force the product on you. In fact, until the end they only hint at what the commercial is selling. It uses to great analogues. the first one is between the football game and America. How our economy right now is just like the halftime of the game and how we need to make a comeback. The second is relating America with the car industry in Detroit. How Detroit's car industry is making a comeback and how America is strong and will also make a comeback.
I honestly can't describe how much I love this commercial and how it gives me hope. Even though it is for a car industry, which is the biggest problem in this country in my opinion, you can't really tell it is for a car industry until the end. Even then, it still is an awesome commercial in my opinion because it voices that we ARE in trouble in our society and we need to change and make a comeback. The reason this commercial gave me hope is because MILLIONS of people saw it! So millions of people were sitting in their comfy homes with their big TVs and their snakes and when this commercial came on, got a big wake-up call that we really are in trouble and not in a perfect world and economy.
I wanted to pick out my favorite lines from the commercial and quote them here. However, there are far too many. So, I decided to just write two and hope that they inspire you to watch the commercial using the link I provided if I haven't inspired you with my words already.
Quotes:
"People are out at work and they're hurting. And they're all wondering what they're gonna do to make a comeback. And we're all scared because this isn't a game."
"It seems we've lost our heart at times. The fog of division, discord and blame makes it hard to see what lies ahead. But after those trials we all rallied around what was right and acted as one."
