SuperBowl commercials

Like most of America, I enjoy the Superbowl and the festivities around it, even if I wonder about the violence inherent in the sport, the dangers of concussions on millions of American youth, and things of that nature.

But like many people, I'm also fascinated by the advertising binge that is the Superbowl, and the ways the companies try to market themselves. Advertising is all about image, about creating a vision of life that invites a listener to participate and become connected with a product, and so there is this process of creating a vision of what it means to be human.  Since this is a project that is near and dear to my heart, as I believe it is a fundamental part of the human task, and part of religion's role in the world, I watch with interest.

This year, in particular, I saw two massive multi-national soulless corportations offer two very different messages.
On the one hand, you have Pepsi-Max
which in this spot:

and this one:

and this one:

teach us all that Pepsi products make great weapons, that relationships between men and women are defined by the twin poles of sex and violence, that in general, life is a nasty, dog-eat-dog, uncharitable place, but hey, at least it doesn't have calories.

In contrast, Coke taught us with commercials like this one:

and this one:

that Coke products can end wars by acting as a creative non-violent method to disarm the enemy that Coke can help break down barriers between nations as a core sign of trust and respect, that all humans, all goat people, and even the ravaging horde of beast monsters are worthy of respect and their lives have value.

Obviously, I'm not going to suggest that either of these themes really speaks to the values and beliefs or practices of anyone in either company.  (To be precise, the better world shopping guide gives Pepsi a B rating and Coke a D and I think this guide is a much better way of choosing soft drinks than advertising messages). It just seems odd that Pepsi wants to communicate that people who drink their product are prone to violent rage, and that a Mennonite seems to have gotten a hold of Coke's advertising budget, and I thought it was worthy of comment, and an opportunity to encourage everyone to reflect on what stories we tell about how the world really works.

And to close, here's my favorite Superbowl commercial, on the rewards of random acts of kindness: