(I'm rather late posting this column about Super Bowl commercials, but the meaning holds.)
The Super Bowl is the biggest
night in the year for advertisers, and with many companies producing teasers
and releasing the commercials online before game day the commercials create a
buzz that is hard to ignore. Since
most Super Bowl commercials are not broadcast in Canada during the game, I
watched them ahead of time online.
Super Bowl has become an annual
cultural institution, particularly in the United States where it has a distinct
holiday feel. The commercials help to create the festive atmosphere. They draw
viewers in. They entertain. They make us laugh, groan, or shake our heads in
befuddlement. They get us talking.
The Hyundai “First Date” commercial
was pretty sweet. The Heinz
“Weiner Stampede” was clever and funny.
“Avos in Space”, advertising Mexican avocados, was so weird that it came
close to poisoning one of my favorite foods. And, the “Monkey Puppy Baby” Mountain Dew commercial was
just plain creepy.
"We're lookin' for love in all the wrong places"
But whatever the content or its
appeal, the purpose of the Super Bowl commercials, like other commercials, is
to imprint a product on our mind and harness our purchasing power. The
commercials market to our desires.
They would have us believe that we can calm our restlessness with
things, and that consumption is the font of happiness.
So as “we’re lookin’ for love in
all the wrong places/ lookin’ for love in too many faces”, we get caught up in
the culture’s subliminal messages. A tummy full of beer and fast food will
satisfy our hunger. A shiny new
vehicle will satisfy our longing for status, love, power or adventure.
Investing our money will guarantee security. Drive the right vehicle, grow your net worth, eat, drink and
be merry.
I’m not knocking the importance
of all of the above. It’s common sense that we need some material security if
we are to support our selves and our families, and at the same time, look to
the needs of others. But,
possessions and wealth are insufficient on their own in calming our restless
hearts. The Beatles had it right; “money can’t buy me love”.
Apart from the commercials mentioned
above, one stood out for me because it hinted at a different sort of
longing.
The Colgate “Every Drop Counts”
commercial addressed North American water consumption. According to Colgate, when
we leave the tap running while brushing our teeth, we use “more water than many
people around the world have in a week”.
While this commercial might sway
us in favour of Colgate toothpaste, it is more likely to make us think about
the ways we use and waste water. The commercial stokes our sense of social justice and touches
our concern for the environment.
It challenges us to change our habits, and, in theological speak, “to be
in solidarity” with the poor.
"Our hearts are restless"
Maybe it was the influence of all
those Super Bowl beer commercials that made me think about Saint Augustine, the
patron saint of brewers, because after previewing the commercials, I found
myself returning, as I frequently do, to his experience and words.
Augustine, who lived from 354-430
BCE, was immersed in the culture of the Roman Empire. And while he pursued its
amusements with intensity, not even the distraction of the Roman Empire’s bread
and circuses, or the intellectual machinations of his brilliant mind could satisfy
his hunger for meaning. Reflecting
on his life, he wrote “Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they rest in
you.”
The Super Bowl experience is its
own form of bread and circuses, with its commercials playing a part in
distracting us from the realities of the day. Sometimes we need to be distracted, but let’s not forget
that “man does not live on bread alone.” There are some things that money can’t
buy.
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