Facebook, bringing people together since 2004Posted on 02/03/2020 7:24:13 AM PST by NOBO2012
If you watched the Super Bowl for the commercials you wasted 4 hours of your life. Unless you’re a Millennial as that’s who they were made for and - I’d speculate – by. Since advertising, like bond trading, is notorious for being a young man’s (generic usage, no complaints please) game I think it’s safe to assume that most of yesterday’s ads were conceptualized and written by members of the millennial demographic. And if they are our future, gird your loins for a tedious ride. The $5.6 million for a 30 second spots were mediocre at best and dreadful at worst.
We were presented with a panoply of post-modern themes: technology idolatry, pop culture idolatry, gender neutrality/bending, diversity and, of course, climate concern.
Thus we got Google’s maudlin portrayal of a man remembering his dead wife with all his Google assisted memories, the magic of technology assisted self-parking cars (Hyundai) and Ellen DeGeneres and her partner - the other wife in the couple - Portia de Rossi, imagining what life was like before Alexa. Oh, and Facebook showing us how they can bring us all together with their Groups feature. Brought to you by the people who invented “unfriending.” Facebook is more than instrumental in assisting people in tearing the thin fabric of civility apart via internet “conversations” than Donald Trump.
Facebook, bringing people together since 2004
Nearly every ad included either some pop culture reference and/or persona. From Boomers Sam Elliot (Doritos) and Martin Scorsese (Coke) to Gen Xers Naomi Rider (Sqarespace),
Jimmy Fallon (Michelob Ultra) and Molly Ringwald - for some reason hawking Avocados from Mexico on a surreal Shopping Channel.
The rest featured Millennials who I gratefully don’t know.
There was T-Mobile showcasing Anthony Anderson (?) and his mama demonstrating how well their 5G network works – even when mama goes clubbing!
Rocket Mortgage revealing that superhero Jason Moama(?) aka Aquaman is in reality more like Jethro Tull’s Aqualung.
Disturbing.
The Millennial half of the Doritos commercial was Lil Nas X who challenged Sam Eliott to some sort of old west dance-off.
Probably would have been funnier if I had even a fleeting hint of who Lil Nas is or his song Old Town Road. Even though they threw in the old Cowboy for good measure I’m clearly not their target audience.
Then there was the save-the-planet-by buying-an-electric-car theme: Audi used some star from Game of Thrones singing music from Frozen to promote theirs, Toyota Highlander showcased Cobie Smulders (?) rescuing people in trouble from a variety of stereotypical movie disaster scenarios. My favorite though had to be GM’s gutsy push for reintroducing a nameplate I thought had been deep-sixed forever: Hummer. Because nothing says “saving the planet” like a big-assed all-terrain vehicle turned electric.
In the “diversity” category Budweiser takes first prize, presenting themselves as the “Stereotype Smasher.” How brave of them.
And back to the gender-bending: Sabra entertains us with a couple of drag queens - Kim Chi and Miz Cracker- hawking their hummus dip. Makes me go hmmmmm but sure doesn’t make me hungry.
Lord, what a mess. I give the prize to Michaelob’s Ultra Pure Gold commercial “6 for 6-pack” ad. By promising “to help” transform 6 feet of farmland into “organic” for every 6-pack they sell they’ve managed to cram more BS and double-talk about caring for the planet and giving back - without you actually having to do anything other than buy their product - than anyone else in a minute spot.
There were plenty of other un-smart ads as well, including Snickers fixing the world by dropping a giant snickers into a giant hole – it could have worked, but it didn’t, Mr. Peanut’s funeral, Walmart’s delivery program…groaners all.
I did sort of enjoy the Bill Murray Jeep ad but it wasn’t great either.
Miss by an inch, miss by a mile.
So here’s to you liberalism: you’ve managed to replace comedy with farce and slap-stick, satire with ridicule, irony with cynicism and creativity with sequels and spin-offs. I fear I’m not woke enough to appreciate your ongoing contributions to culture.
If you still want to waste your time you can watch most of the SB commercials here.
Posted from: MOTUS A.D.
Well said
“We were presented with a panoply of post-modern themes: technology idolatry, pop culture idolatry, gender neutrality/bending, diversity and, of course, climate concern.”
And one more post-modern theme: stupidity
Long for the days of Budweiser frogs, Master Lock, and Apple “1984”.
Dreadful, but I'm sure the writers are in Schiff denial and thought they were great.
That about sums up the current state of the US. When we decided that diversity and multiculturalism were the highest ideals & that egalitarianism about the only thing worth projecting and protecting we were destined to be where we are. Nothing about an old white Western morality or history that is worth a damn. Morality has become old fashion and passe and our past apparently not worth emulating or protecting.
You know it’s bad when there’s not even a funny beer commercial in the bunch.
They had the Tide ad on up here (Canadian law blocks US ads on telecasts up here). Found the reverse sexism in one of them repulsive.
The dancing horse in the Doritos ad was pretty funny. Trump’s ad was the best one of the night.
I know exactly when this author went to the kitchen for another beer:
Budweiser Typical American 2020 Super Bowl Commercial
Game was great, commercials plus half-time show, not so much. I had to watch to know what all the fuss was about. Learned really quick.
I didn’t see the whole game, but I thought every one of the commercials that I saw was stupid. And the stupidest of all was one in which someone at a party threw a pot of soup into a ceiling fan which splattered it all over the guests and everything in the room. And it didn’t even say in the ad what was being advertised!
Superbowl ads are not cheap. Who would have paid beaucoup bucks for that piece of garbage?
I looked at the ads and said “This is the effect of rampant drug abuse.”
I noticed that 50 % of the ads had 100% actors of color in them. The other 50% had actors of color, mostly dominating the ads.
Where’s the diversity?
I like that. Thanks for posting.
I saw nothing of the Super Bowl or the commercials so have no idea how many commercials were good but that is a good one.
i also didn’t know what products or companies were being advertised in some of the ads.
Hope their marketing people consider the expensive ad space worth it, if people can’t even understand what the product is, and/or what political statement you are trying to make.
I really wonder about a sport that generates as much or more talk about the commercials than about the game.
The ads and half-time pole dancing represent what they think American popular culture is, and what they want it to be.
I liked some of the ads, but thought they paid way too much money for stupid stuff.
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