Now for the pause that refreshes…an assessment of this year's Super Bowl commercials. In particular, I’m interested in the commercial for Pepsi Max. (I know I take this stuff way too seriously, but some one has to. And, I know my analysis of commercials sucks all the fun out of watching them, but so be it - that's my role in life.) So, what's up with the Pepsi Max spot, titled "I'm Good," that joins the long list of advertisements -- Super Bowl and otherwise -- that attack masculinity?
As you can see for yourself, the spot goes through a series of vignettes: the first one features a guy being hit in the back with a length of wood that is spit out of a planner, in reaction to which he declares "I'm good," meaning he's okay, even though a two-by-four just hit him in the lower back at twenty mph. This is followed by a golfer who in the process of teeing off swings and hits his golfing buddy both with the back and forward stroke of his driver. Then a bowler drops a ball on the head of his bowling buddy, and a passenger stands up through the sunroof of a limousine, declaring "I'm the man..." while being struck by the low abutment of a parking garage the limo is entering. After each of these sequences the object of the "comedic violence" declares to his buds, "I'm good." The last scene depicts several guys doing electric work on a house. One fellow sticks his hand into an outdoor light socket as another switches on the electricity. The guy with his hand in the socket goes flying through the air for about 30 feet until he hits a trailer parked on the property, and upon landing also declares, "I'm good." The voice over at this point boldly states: "Men can take anything, except the taste of diet cola...until now." Of course Pepsi Max is offered as a solution to this problem. The announcer then says that Pepsi Max is the first diet cola for men. Isn't that nice? A diet cola just for men; men who can take anything, that is, except the taste of diet cola. All in good fun, until you focus on the comedic violence.
Researchers have found that social conditions, like the economic recession we are presently experiencing, encourage people to gravitate toward more violent comedy. Why? According to one study:
“because violence makes comedy harder and angrier, although also satisfying viewers’ authoritarian desire to see those in power discipline transgressors.”
This means people enjoy seeing good guys punish bad guys. In the ad for Pepsi, the guys aren’t necessary good or bad, they’re, well, just guys. So where is the pleasure? The ad, in my opinion, is merely an attack on middle-class values, and part of a continuing attack on masculinity that started in the mid-1990s. I’ve been tracking this trend for several years now, having studied commercials in which guys are caught in public with their pants down, guys depicted as werewolves, and guys depicted as cavemen. In my opinion, the sum total of these advertisements suggests advertisers seek to discipline this target audience in a way that nudges them in the direction of the brand, product or service. I don’t think this trend is connected only to our current economic problems, although I think it is rooted in the economic problems men experienced in the early nineties when many lost their jobs and never were able to regain their status as “breadwinners.” So, rather than blaming this current trend on what I hope will be a relatively short-lived economic downturn, I suggest it is part of a longer term effort by advertisers to contain and control masculinity.
4 comments:
I will agree that this ad can be seen as an attack on the persona of masculinity. Sad to say, it is kind of true. As a man, I can relate to the ad in not admitting when things are as bad as they seem. Downplaying events is pretty common for a man. Things happen, we get hurt, no sweat.
On the other hand, I don't think men really feel all too offended by the ad. I've learned to poke fun at myself on a number of occasions, and several other male friends of mine do the same. My feeling on the situation is I know who I am and if there's a flaw that can get a laugh out of people, so what? Criticism can be a funny a thing, but if their talking about you (the male), how bad can it really be. It's like making fun of somebody on SNL...sure, you're getting poked fun at...but is the most popular sketch comedy show on TV is doing it, it's got to be for good reason and you have to just sit back at not take yourself too seriously. Likewise, men, if you think the world is out to get you with this ad, relax...it's just something else to laugh at while you say, "I know what they mean."
I will agree that this ad can be seen as an attack on the persona of masculinity. Sad to say, it is kind of true. As a man, I can relate to the ad in not admitting when things are as bad as they seem. Downplaying events is pretty common for a man. Things happen, we get hurt, no sweat.
On the other hand, I don't think men really feel all too offended by the ad. I've learned to poke fun at myself on a number of occasions, and several other male friends of mine do the same. My feeling on the situation is I know who I am and if there's a flaw that can get a laugh out of people, so what? Criticism can be a funny a thing, but if their talking about you (the male), how bad can it really be. It's like making fun of somebody on SNL...sure, you're getting poked fun at...but is the most popular sketch comedy show on TV is doing it, it's got to be for good reason and you have to just sit back at not take yourself too seriously. Likewise, men, if you think the world is out to get you with this ad, relax...it's just something else to laugh at while you say, "I know what they mean."
I found this advertisement very interesting in regards to the reaction it received from the people I was with during the game. For instance, all of the females in the room were cringing with each blow that the men in the commercial received, as if they felt the pain of the men who were being hit. On the other end, the males in the room, had a much different reaction; laughter at the images they were viewing.
While this commercial does seem to poke fun at the way men tend to handle pain, and how they want to appear more masculine by saying "I'm good" after they've been hit pretty hard, it was the men in the room who saw this as comedy. I guess their interpretation of the commercial was more of an understanding of the way that males tend to act in social settings, especially when around other males. Perhaps they found it comical because they could relate to what was going on in the ad, even if not on such a violent level.
For me, the ad was funny, but it had no relevance to my life. It was strictly a commercial directed at a male audience, which is why I feel that the males who were in the room during the game appreciated it so much. One of my friends even said, "That commercial was awesome!"
Although I agree with your opinion regarding how advertisers seek to discipline this target audience in a way that nudges them in the direction of the brand, product or service, I don't think that the emergence of this "Pepsi Max" for men, was overly effective. In fact, the people who I was sitting with all were surprised to see what the commercial was for, when the ad finally revealed the product at the very end. I, myself, thought it was going to be another beer ad.
Sadly, I did not really enjoy most of the commercials shown during the superbowl this year. But after reading this post, I realized why this particular commercial amused me. It was because of the comedic violence. When I started to think about it, most of the programming we watch as children includes so much comedic violence, that we find ourselves laughing at someone when they hurt themselves. Many of the cartoons we grew up watching were based on comedic violence such as, Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, Roadrunner and Whiley Coyote, Tweety Bird and Sylvester, etc. Even as we get older there are reality shows that consist of violent clips. For example, in America's Funniest Home Videos there is always, without a doubt, a clip of a man being hit accidentally in the genitals. The crowd loves it! There are even shows that poke fun at the "dumbest criminals" who fall through ceilings s they try to escape after an attempted robbery.
After being conditioned to laugh at violence, I have laughed hysterically when my friend fell face first down a flight of stairs. In reality, she really hurt herself but my first reaction was to laugh! It sounds terrible but if you think about it, no program really shows the aftermath of these violent acts.
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