Tag: advertising

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Journal News Commentary Wisdom

Reflection on Super Bowl Advertising

Is everyone a preacher?

I was going to write a typical article rating Super Bowl advertising again this year. I watched the game especially for that purpose. But as I watched the different advertisements, I was surprised by the number of advertisers who all but forsook the direct advertising of their product in favor of generalized moral admonition. It struck me that nowadays it seems everyone’s a preacher!

I was glad for those who spoke up favoring immigrants

Now since I am a preacher by profession (for almost 38 years now), you would think that I would be glad for this turn of events. And, in one sense, I am for it reveals that the high leadership in many of our top companies realize that some of the major issues of today are moral issues and they are courageous enough to speak out. I’m also glad to have allies in speaking up for some key topics of today. I noticed the issue that was most frequently spoken about in Super Bowl ads was the matter of welcoming immigrants, a subject dear to my own heart. All of us with the exception of Native Americans, are immigrants or descendants of immigrants. Having worked directly with Burmese Karen immigrants as a teacher during my last pastorate, and heard the stories about refugee camps, it is very easy for me to be in their corner. I also feel the Bible is very clear that we need to be welcoming to those who are strangers and immigrants among us. (For a complete Biblical statement on immigration see https://www.wesleyan.org/237/a-wesleyan-view-of-immigration)

But I’m uncomfortable when everyone is a preacher

But, in another sense, I found myself being surprisingly uncomfortable with the concept that everyone is a preacher. Is it that I am jealous for my position or my profession? Not directly. The more voices take the side of justice and righteousness, the more powerful the cause. To be jealous because someone else speaks up for good would be foolish. Why my concern then? My discomfort arises from the questions of motive and authority for moral exhortation. That’s a mouthful. But let me explain like this.

The preacher’s motivation must have integrity

Would companies like Budweiser and 84 Lumber have advertised as pro-immigration as they did if they had thought that it would be unpopular, detrimental to their bottom line, and cause the company’s leadership difficulty? I doubt it. They advertised as they did because they knew that those positions are very popular and would result in a good feeling about their company in most circles. But true preachers are called to speak the truth even if it hurts their own position and popularity. Most American preachers today cannot do so very often because in many American churches, we would either be voted out or people would stop attending and supporting the church. But in a true church, one where growing in discipleship is prized, people expect that sometimes the preacher will tread upon their toes, so to speak. To put it another way, sometimes the truth will cut across the grain and that is a good thing. How can we grow if that does not happen? Now you can see the motivational issue for my concern. Not just any preacher will be faithful to say what is not popular yet needs to be said.

The preacher’s authority must come from God’s Word

The second half of my concern has to do with sources of authority. When everyone is a preacher, everyone is entitled to use whatever source of authority they feel is right. Most of the time popular figures are drawing from some kind of perceived cultural consensus that supports what is being advocated. There is a strong relationship between the laws of society and cultural consensus. But for both Jews and Christians, the only true source of moral authority is the revelation that comes from God in Holy Scripture. When everyone’s a preacher, it is anybody’s guess what the relationship or lack of relationship will be between what is advocated and what the law of God says. That is another key source of my concern. The Christian preacher’s first job is to see that what he or she teaches is congruent with, indeed arises out of the Words and teachings of Scripture.

So not everyone is a preacher!

So there you have my concerns. When politicians, beer advertisers, movie stars, sports figures, businessmen and TV personalities all become preachers, there will be an increasing need for people to discern who the true prophets are. The genuine purveyors of godly ethics will be distinguished as those whose authority is not their own, it is derived from God’s Word; and the preachers to be listened to will be those whose motivation over time shows love for God and for others above oneself. Anyone can address an issue and oft times they should as a part of their own moral responsibility, but not everyone is a preacher!

Categories
Americana Journal News Commentary

My Take on the Super Bowl Ads 2016

Super Bowl Commercials are interesting
Super Bowl Commercials are interesting

I haven’t been really following football this year, but I always enjoy watching the Super Bowl ads.  I am especially interested in Super Bowl advertising because it is such a mirror and microcosm of American culture, for better or worse.  So again this year, I am reflecting upon the best and the worst of the Super Bowl advertising as I saw it.  (I didn’t see every one so I can’t guarantee that this opinion covers them all.)

 

The Best

 

  1. Weather Tech – I loved the ad with its talk about buying American while at the same time advertising Weather Tech products. It was visually interesting, and I felt the patriotic theme unselfishly dominated the ad. And at the end, the ad accomplished the company’s objective of helping you remember their company name and associating it both with their product and with the fact that it is American-made.
  2. Avocados in space – Every year there is one commercial that rises high on the list simply because of its creativity and off-the-wall idea. This year, this is the one.  The whole concept of future aliens looking back at current American society, totally misinterpreting some objects as undoubtedly we now do with things of the ancient past, and then getting to refreshment time and sampling avocados which are recommended as delicious was so creative.  Every Star Trek fan was glued to this one.
  3. Pepsi through the Decades – This was a delightful ad, a joy to watch. Nostalgic interest oozes from it. And it accomplishes the goal of associating Pepsi with good times. The lead actor carries it well.   I liked it also as the historical decades of music and dance theme goes with the idea of the 50th anniversary Super bowl.
  4. Marmot- This is a simple ad which at first I did not rate highly. However I changed my mind. The change came about because I was trying to figure out what the ad had been about.  I had not heard of the company. The ad prodded me to Google the company name and find out.  I discovered that the ad fit the company amazingly well and since I responded by looking it up, the ad must have accomplished its goal extraordinarily well also.
  5. Death Wish coffee – Here’s another one where the sheer creativity of the ad forced you to remember the whole thing. The drama of the ad was immense. The fact that it was for coffee at the end was a nearly complete surprise which increased the retention value.

 

The Worst

 

  1. Super Bowl babies – This ad loses on two counts. First of all it was pointless. What was it advertising? I still don’t know. That alone is a fatal flaw in an ad. Second, the ad loses on moral grounds. The whole idea of basing the ad on the assumption of couples having sexual relations after the Super Bowl is at best in extremely bad taste.  At worst, it trivializes the fact that huge sports events such as the Super Bowl are unfortunately taken advantage of by the illicit sex trade, one of the sad facts of our day.  The ad reflects America’s too casual view of human sexuality.
  2. Toyota Prius getaway – I was visually upset after this ad. It disrespects police.  It makes heroes of those who should be vilified.  It participates in the moral confusion that is America today.   Yes, I did see the mollifying ad during the closing ceremonies where the policemen got a Prius and finally caught the robbers and I was glad for that.  But to me it did not undo the damage of the original ad.  It flunked with me.
  3. Snickers Marilyn – This ad fails because the subject matter of the advertisement completely overshadows the object being advertised. After the ad, I did not even know what it was that was being advertised.   If one remembers the ad, but not what is being advertised, the ad has failed.   Any speaker knows that it is very easy for an illustration to distract from the desired point.  If I had known what was being advertised, the ad still would have failed on a second level. It failed to give a positive feeling about the product because I found the ad disgusting and not believable.
  4. Puppy monkey baby – Here’s another ad that grossly failed to do its job.  It was not interesting to watch.   The level of intelligence to which it appealed was somewhere below idiot.  And the supposed crossbreed in diapers was more stupidity than interesting.   In addition, the story line, if it could be called that, completely over shadowed the product being advertised.
  5. Kia Bland closet – I flunked this ad as well simply for not giving a positive impression. The emotional impression of a bland closet was so much of a turnoff that the ad never did recover from it. The idea of a polka dot sock as a contrast just did not cut it either. To top it all off, if I remember right, the vehicle pictured was white. So the colored highlight of the ad was the sock??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Americana Journal News Commentary

Baseball ads and culture

Star of Chevrolet World Series ad
Star of Chevrolet World Series ad

For the first time, I was able to watch at least some of every game of the World Series.   For a long-time baseball fan, this was a big deal that has been a long time in coming.    But since I am not a big TV watcher, I am not as adept as some at escaping the commercials. Oh yes, I take snack breaks, probably a few too many of them. But, still over the course of the World Series, I watched a lot of ads, many of them multiple times.   So I decided to make watching ads a little more interesting and become a critical observer of them. The results of this are my own annotated lists of the best and worst of them.

Here are five of my most important criteria.

  • Was there creative energy in it?
  • Did it have a positive message overall, positive for the company and for our culture?
  • Was it interesting?   Did I enjoy watching it?
  • Did it respect my intelligence?
  • Did it fit and respect the venue?

Okay, here are the top five

  1. Mo’ne Davis – This ad was sponsored by Chevrolet. It championed the rise of women’s sports in America today and fitted with the World Series by featuring a young girl who can pitch a baseball 70 mph at the age of 13. By the end of the ad, I wanted to know what company had the wisdom and welcome sense of Americana to sponsor it.
  2. T-Mobile’s the Big 7th – This ad reflected the interactive nature of the world today, something that cell-phones are exploiting for better or worse. The ad was shown as part of the traditional 7th inning stretch. It allowed the audience to be part of the ad in the way that TV announcers at games are trying to do by showing fan clips.
  3. Anheuser-Busch – the history of baseball. The ad showed great moments in baseball history through the experience of fans of that time in history. It was appropriately sepia in tone for the oldest ones too.   I loved the Babe Ruth’s speech over the radio moment. I’m not a fan of alcoholic beverages, but I have to hand it to the people who do advertising for Budweiser.
  4. Nissan Rogue – the little boy’s ride home.   The ad was a gem of creativity. It seemed to flow from the fresh mind of a child where the line between fantasy and reality is very thin. It was fascinating to follow. It captured the desired feeling tone of security very successfully too.
  5. HP ad with the lost iguana — This ad successfully showed that HP has many products while keeping attention with a mini-story of a child-prodigy manager who smoothly runs his campaign to find his lost iguana using HP technology.   Two favorite moments – he’s in bed and lights up the town with big screen ads at the click of a button on his phone; and, like a big-time CEO with a little too much confidence, he rightly predicts the knock at the door.

When I finished making this list, I noticed that four of the top five winners also had great story lines. Interesting!

No ad rating would be complete without talking about the losers as well. The World Series had plenty of them too. When these played I went to get a snack whenever possible.

  1. Painfully awkward Rob Lowe   – This ad was banal and offensive to my intelligence from the beginning.   Do ad makers really think people are that dumb? It was unkind to those who are not with it. It sealed its fate as the worst of the worst by sinking to offensive and unnecessary toilet humor at the end. Direct TV – you lose.
  2. Dumb and Dumber 2 – This is the trashiest ad for a trashy program. Raunch and idiocy replacing humor! Enough said.
  3. Geico – Ickey Woods – celebrate anything.  This whole series of ads has long ago lost its punch. You can only ride a good idea (..but did you know that…) so far. This one rode it ad nauseam.  More stupidity. Seeing ads like this confirms how TV in general has sunk so low that smart people seldom can find a show to watch.
  4. Rob Lowe – Creepy – Direct TV loses again. This one was not quite as low as the other one as it had no toilet humor. But it still insulted my intelligence. Do they really think I would choose Direct TV because one creepy person uses cable? I’m not impressed by actors playing different roles. I felt creepy about the whole ad.
  5. Sonos your home – The one where gold crept up the walls. This one is gross and seems more like a horror flick where the viewer is about to be engulfed in good-looking yuck. It is on the list because it failed spectacularly in the basic task of advertising – making a positive emotional appeal on behalf of the product.

Well, that’s my take. Any comments? What were your favorites and what ads were the butt of your jokes?

 

Categories
Journal News Commentary Wisdom

Moral issues in GM advertising

 

I am very disturbed by the alarming trend in the moral tone of some GM advertising.  I do not usually watch much television, but I do enjoy the winter Olympics and GM has been advertising heavily on NBC during the Sochi games.   I am saddened and disappointed at the low moral level reflected in some of the ads.   In addition, as a person who has driven more GM cars by far than any other brand, and currently drives a Chevy Equinox, I even feel a little betrayed. 

Let’s begin with the lowest one.  You know the one I mean.  “I can’t believe you got a tattoo on your…”   The viewer is left to imagine some kind of outrageous drunken night before which the male driver may not even fully remember and which his wife or girlfriend riding with him seems to take in stride as semi-normal.   Is this coarse humor the best they could do to advertise connectivity?  This follows the disturbing habit of much media to proffer that which gets noticed without taking any responsibility for its ethical content or probable influence.   I prefer following St. Paul’s advice, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29 NIV).

Then there is the ad by Cadillac that would turn off any morally mature person.  It is the epitome of hated American arrogance that gives us a bad reputation around the world.   The man talks about how we left the keys in a car on the moon because we’re the only ones going back.   We left because we got bored.  The further implication is that we can drive Cadillac because we only take two weeks off in August rather than four like the Europeans.   What snobbish nonsense! The writers of that ad were obviously not schooled in history or Christian ethics either.   “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18) and “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6) have not been part of their reading.

Finally, take the case of the young babysitter who, after noticing the Tahoe’s fine and expensive leather interior raises her price $20 on the spot.   Raising the price based on presumed ability to pay is the stuff of tourist trap street vendors, not normal business dealings.   It is hardly an example of honesty or wise interpersonal relationships.  It is also a counter-productive ad because the person driving the Tahoe will feel cheated.   (Also note that the baby sitter will be unlikely to be rehired.)   So the implicit ad message is, if you buy a Tahoe you get to be taken advantage of.   People would much rather be respected by honest dealing than by looking rich enough to be taken advantage of!

These ads do not reflect good moral thinking at GM.  I pray for better from a blue chip American company.   

 

Categories
Forward Look Journal

On the nature of blogging today

100th comment from Germany

I received my 100th comment on my blog today.  It was a TrackBack.  I left it up because of its significance.   It was from an advertisement site, but the interesting part was that the site was in German.   That is quite significant.   My count statistics plug-in tells me that the number of visitors to my blog from Germany is equal to about one third of the number of visitors from the United States.   Visitor count from the third-highest country, the Ukraine, falls off quickly to one third of that from Germany.   The third-highest number of reads comes from Hong Kong.  I am amazed to discover that the total reads outside the United States is approximately equal to the number of reads in the United States.  So my 100th comment reminds me that I blog in a very international setting.    

100th comment a precisely targeted ad

Secondly, the advertisement is for a Kindle reader and it is attached to the article I wrote about whether physical libraries are already becoming obsolete.  Much of the spam I delete from my blog is attached almost randomly to any article that the spammer thinks may attract attention.  But this trackback ad was different.  It was targeted very specifically to the relevant article on the topic addressing the exact issue that fitted the item being sold.  This shows the true power of targeted Internet connectivity.  I predict more advertising money diverted from the scatter-guns of mass mail and broadcast media to the focused targeting potential of the Internet.