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With a few exceptions, I thought last night’s Super Bowl ads
were lackluster at best. Since today’s
most-blogged-about topic will likely be the best and worst ads, I thought I’d
take a slightly different approach with this post and discuss the underlying
cultural significance of a few of the spots.
After all, advertising is the art of commercialism, and like all art
it’s a reflection of our society. Last
night’s ads from Audi, Bud Light, GoDaddy.com and SalesGenie.com point to
broader things happening in consumer culture – both good and bad.
Audi’s spot
for its super-sleek R8 that parodied “The Godfather” was particularly
interesting.
It was refreshing to see a
luxury car maker use humor and a bit of an edge instead of overly pretentious
beauty shots of the car zigzagging through mountain s-curves.
But more importantly, Audi is quite cleverly capturing and
leveraging society’s shifting notions of luxury with its tagline and overriding
message – “Old luxury just got put on notice.”
It positions “old luxury” as corrupt (Mafiosi), staid and boring.
This dichotomy between the “nouveau riche” and “old money”
is something I believe we’ll see more and more of as a new generation of
technology professionals and other self-made entrepreneurs become “new money”
members of the luxury class. Luxury
brands will begin to reposition themselves away from mere elitism, and we’ll
see more of them rebelling against the pomposity and pretentiousness of “old
luxury.” While luxury brands will always
be about status, I believe this will take more of a backseat to messaging
focused on the scarcity or special-ness of the experience itself – not the
luxury logo as a better-than-you badge.
Bud Light’s ads as a collective whole also fascinated
me. You have to hand it to Bud Light and
our good friends at Anheuser-Busch.
They’re consistently in brand with Bud Light and they very rarely stray
from the “dude”
voice they’ve owned for so long.
But besides their humor and consistency, these ads take a
strategic gamble that could pay off in the long run. Wine and spirits, as well as craft and import
beers, are capturing share from embattled mainstream beers because they’re
perceived as more sophisticated by millennial consumers. Bud Light must believe the backlash against
sophistication for sophistication’s sake and the “metrosexualization” (hate
that word – is it still 2005?) of American men is inevitable. And I’m not sure I disagree.
Bud Light is sticking to its guns and being what it’s always
been: not-so-serious and unapologetically
masculine. The brand is admirable
because it has the ability to laugh at itself – and its drinkers. The only question is how long will customers
be in on the joke? Bud Light ads
brilliantly capture the stereotypes of the mainstream beer category. For longtime fans that’s a great thing. As for driving trial and building new brand
loyalists, only time will tell if this approach will pay off.
GoDaddy.com’s “Exposure” spot
featuring Danica Patrick disgusted me.
It’s sad to see that in this day and age we
still continue to sexualize
our female sports heroes. Patrick is a
respectable IRL driver in her own right, but she still feels the need to be a
sex symbol and to participate in lowbrow jokes about “her beaver”. Whether it’s Danica Patrick, Anna Kournikova,
Maria Sharapova
or a random “hot” high school pole vaulter,
it’s sad that we still can’t see past women athlete’s looks. Shame on you, GoDaddy, for perpetuating the
problem. Of course, I’d expect nothing
less given your previous Super Bowl spots.
Lastly, SalesGenie.com’s spots
reminded me that that we still have a long way to go when it comes to race
relations.
Perhaps my negative reactions
to the cartoon Panda as a bad Asian stereotype or the Indian (?) salesman with
“seven kids” point to my own subconscious stereotyping.
But to me these spots were outright racist. Could they have gotten away with it if the
Panda was a real-life actor speaking in the poorly done Asian accent? I’m all for non-PC entertainment that creates
a bit of tension and opens dialog about racial or religious differences. And since I’m writing about them, I guess the
SalesGenie.com spots have done that, in a sense. However, I think these spots are merely
playing to and solidifying racial stereotypes rather than working against them. Or perhaps I’m just an old fuddy-duddy.
For a change the game took the spotlight over the ads
for this once-a-year sports fan. But
despite a somewhat poor showing from this year’s advertisers, the cultural
phenomenon that is Super Bowl advertising was nonetheless revealing. I’m just hoping next year’s ads make it a
little harder to get up from the recliner for a Bud Light during the commercial
breaks.
**To read more articles by this author, click on the name under the headline**
Full disclosure: Anheuser-Busch and Budweiser are clients of Patrick Davis Partners, publishers of Unbound Edition.
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