“The purpose of publicity is to make the spectator marginally dissatisfied with his present way of life. Not with the way of life of society, but with his own within it. It suggests that if he buys what it is offering, his life will become better. It offers him an improved alternative to what he is” – John Berger
The Super Bowl is a huge American sporting event, and is one of the most watched TV broadcasts in the world. Perhaps even more important than the event itself (at least to people who have no idea what on earth American football is, anyway), is the commercial break. Given its enormous viewing figures, the price of buying airtime for a single 30 second long spot advert is a crazy $5.6 million dollars. This figure does NOT factor in production costs, including the cost of hiring actors.
The Super Bowl commercial break is advertising at it's most extreme and polished, and will tell us everything we need to know about representation in America in 2020.
Click here to view the Super Bowl commercial break for 2020.
Please only watch from 8m56s to 15m41s (approximately)
As you are watching this these commercials, please make notes using the following prompt questions:
- What brands are being advertised?
- Who is the target audience for the advert/product?
- What lifestyle is being sold to the target audience?
- John Berger argued that advertisements work by causing the audience to be dissatisfied with their everyday life. What 'problems' are these adverts solving?
- What groups of people are represented in each advert? Think age, nationality, ethnicity, weight, sexuality and so on
- What messages about these groups are constructed and re-presented to the target audience?
- In what ways might these representations reinforce and reconstruct reality for the target audience?