I’m not your fantasy-football-loving, catch-every-game-no-matter-the-team-playing fan, but like many Americans, I tune into the Super Bowl each year. Besides an incredible game that ended in a dramatic win for my hometown team, this year’s event featured a hopeful trend in advertising — bringing light to social justice issues.
Super Bowl commercials have evolved into spectacles in their own right. For many who aren’t avid admirers of the sport the commercials can be more exciting than the pigskin — as evidenced by the countless websites rank the best and worst advertisements. These commercials cost millions of dollars, and generally reflect that their primary goal is to sell a product.
Super Bowl XLIX, however, featured a type of commercial far removed from silly 15-second spots or flashy chrome-and-asphalt car commercials. Instead, many of these commercials focused on a message greater than a brand or a product and were designed to make us think, not laugh.
As part of their #likeagirl campaign, Always asked several people, including young boys and girls as well as adult men and women, to perform certain actions, like running or throwing, “like a girl.” The young girls’ reactions differed from those of the older respondents, who often flailed their arms or hid their face, showing that women are taught during puberty that their gender makes them silly or weak. In a similar vein, Microsoft showed a series of ads, also hashtag-themed. One showed a young boy battling a physical disability with the help of Microsoft technology and another followed Estella, a woman who drives a bus bringing technology to children who need it most. Through these ads, Microsoft sought to be “#empowering” to these individuals and their causes. Jeep took a different approach, telling not a specific story but instead the story of an interconnected world in a beautiful spot set to “This Land is Your Land” featuring snapshots from across the world. Like the others, this commercial was designed with a message in mind, one of inclusivity in a time when immigrants of all races face a resurgence of anti-immigration sentiments.
None of these commercials appear to sell a product directly. While they implicitly sell the brand by eliciting positive responses, these commercials seem to have a greater goal — to raise awareness of injustices or cast a spotlight on the people rectifying problems worldwide.
A cynic would say that it’s just good business. Americans like sentimental ads that elicit some powerful feeling, and telling touching stories or shining light on injustice puts a positive face on big corporations. Perhaps it isn’t a sign that corporations care about justice, but instead is a reminder that they only care about their bottom line — selling a product.
I, however, have always been an idealist, and I firmly believe that this new trend in advertising means something. Advertisers try to speak to our core beliefs and target things we care about. Yes, it’s naïve to think that these commercials don’t have any economic motives, but this change in advertising certainly provides some hope. Super Bowl commercials are extensively researched and planned, especially when airtime costs $4 million for a 30-second slot. Corporations are willing to spend millions on a message, perhaps it shows that message is finally being valued at its true worth. If they care so much, you might counter, why didn’t they donate those millions? Because not everything can be solved with a donation, and an issue like inequality demands a fundamental change in worldview, not just money.
We should be encouraged that corporations have decided to showcase subjects like feminism, education, poverty and ethnocentrism. Even if the corporations themselves are driven by profit, these ads can make a difference. Maybe someone cracked open his second beer of the night and thought, “Wow, why is doing something like a girl a negative thing?” These ads, viewed by millions of Americans, can force us to confront social issues that we may otherwise disregard.
The motives of various companies producing these advertisements isn’t important. Regardless of intent, the commercials can educate millions of Americans about injustices that too often go ignored or dismissed, and ultimately open up the possibility of a more aware and socially concerned America. After all, seeing is believing.
