Thursday, February 4, 2010

Are You Ready For Some. . . . Commercials?

It's that time of year again. . . the time of year when companies open their checkbooks and pull out all the stops in an effort to grab our money and brand loyalty. Cost to run an ad on this year's Super Bowl broadcast? . . . $100,000 a second!

Super Bowl commercials have become such a big event in and of themselves that several companies have been previewing their commercials on the internet. I'm especially excited about seeing the full-length ads created for Doritos by viewers themselves. The contest's six finalists preview video made me laugh. I'm a sucker for slapstick.



As we do every year here at CPYU, we're encouraging you once again to use the event as an opportunity to ponder and discuss the role advertising plays in our lives. In addition, we're making it easy for you to think and talk Christianly and Biblically about marketing. This week we've already had some youth workers ask us where they can find the downloadable/printable pdf of our Super Bowl Commercial Discussion Questions. Look no more - you can find it here!

As a warm-up, check out this archive of Super Bowl commercials from years gone by.

15 comments:

Tammy Robinson said...

ATTENTION! ATTENTION!
A Must Read!
Comments on walts Feb1 and Jan15 Posts

Tammy Robinson said...

RE: Walt’s post of Feb.1

You're not being totally honest with us Walt.

I too was following the interesting discussion among the anonymous and black byname contributors. The reason you give for eliminating them is insulting, - "We simply decided to eliminate the 'anonymous' comments."

Your sadly disappointing response tells "how"(simply), not "why" the decision was made. Don't think for a minute that any of us believe the decision was simply made. Worse yet, you give absolutely no reason for dropping the black byname option.

This is called “covert censorship”.

I’m very disappointed Walt that when you stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded, you struck out … looking.

Tammy Robinson said...

Walt I'm afraid you're going too far with this critical thinking bit. My God it's the Super Bowl. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy it dear.

Tammy Robinson said...

so, you think its funny to watch somebody getting electrically shocked do you. how would you like to get tazed dude?

jj said...

I appreciate your ministry and learn a lot from you. I have followed your blog since I heard you speak a few months ago. I am not quite sure why people are leaving negative comments.

Tammy Robinson said...

As one who conversed with Linda,who commented under a previous post, I find myself more and more taking up her cross of examining all my behavior by WWJD. At first I thought she was taking it too far. But now I realize, how can one take WWJD too far? She inspired me. I hope you're still reading this blog Linda.

I held off posting about the unconscionable violence in"Book of Eli", which you and your son highly recommended, but now with your expressed enjoyment over the Doritos ad I must comment.

Please take this as constructive criticism.
How can you stomach such violence and totally unacceptable behavior? Don't you realize that your enjoyment and endorsement of this violence is contributing to our youth becoming inured to it? When a child becomes inured to violent and/or unacceptable behavior they are much more likely to not only accept it , but also to commit it.

Also, I once heard you speak and you definitely have a deep loud hearty laugh which is easily triggered. I just can't picture Jesus sitting next to you guffawing at these violent,not slapstick, Dorito ads.

Tammy Robinson said...

Yo Slim, get a life would ya. She ain't that hot.

Hey Maria,there's not just violence on that video but also sleeze. Did you catch the wide open cleavage shot on that big busted broad?

Walt bro,don't you remember the filthy dirty thoghts you had as a kid when seeing a shot like that? How bout being a little more careful in the future because of all the kids on this site.

Tammy Robinson said...

To make sure I wasn't being unrealistic in my expectation of you I shared the Dorito ads with a friend of mine who is very familiar with your work. After viewing them she thought that your post would be highly condemning, in line with your 3(D)Christianly thinking critique.

When I showed her where you laughed at them and thought them funny, she was speechless. Her first verbal response was, "That's disgusting".

It just doesn't make sense. Your whole purpose seems to be helping youth critique and understand the effects of media advertising, yet you so heartily endorse these ads.

Please reconsider your approval of such humor, which is having such a deleterious affect on our impressionable youth, and a dumbing down of society in general. Please let WWJD be your guide in reconsidering. Please.

Tammy Robinson said...

Even though I laughed too, she does have a point. GO SAINTS

Tammy Robinson said...

Slimmy, are you skinny or dirty and greasy? Or Both?
JJ HOT? What are you smoking????

Mom Held said...

what is meant by "a black byname"?

Tammy Robinson said...

Walt, I hope you took my advice and enjoyed the game. Hope your team won.

Truett said...

I'm surprised over the response to The Book of Eli and the Doritos ads! ...Mostly because I do not find that CPYU and Walt Mueller are teaching parents and students to avoid all media which depicts sin.

Surely Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli is far from a pure, sin-less character, and the movie is packed with violence which I, personally, pray teenagers will NOT take away from it. However, its most central message and story include a striking look at the world and God's work in it. One has to sit through the 'bad' to see the overwhelming 'good' in the movie, but the violence is worth the message for many discerning viewers. In response to Marie's WWJD usage, as hard of a question that is to answer, I could imagine having watched that movie with Christ nearby.

The Doritos ad situation I interpreted differently. CPYU posts all sorts of things on their site which are not necessarily redeeming, but are worth seeing because of their cultural importance. (Perhaps its helpful to watch the top ten music videos for instance, though the videos and they're messages are often sickening.) It's culturally informing that Doritos held a competition for its superbowl commercials, and these were the runners-up. And yes, they made me laugh too - though I am certainly opposed to tasering a man to get to my snack food! I do not think Walt Mueller supports tasering people for snack foods either, but that he provided an amusing example to utilize CPYUs Superbowl Discussion Questions on.

If we overlook all American media which has violence or sex in it, we're going to miss out on alot - including the ability to build the foundation with teenagers necessary to speak truth into their lives. I appreciate both the 'good' and 'bad' content which Walt chooses to pass on.

Tammy Robinson said...

I now see a reason for having to censor. Will you still allow controversial and strong opinions that differ from yours, is now the question, as prior to these last comments you were

Previously you took away the option of anyone commenting without having a Goggle account, which I thought was an attempt to censor, yet you still allowed a wide range of comments. Perhaps Google was putting pressure on you to enable them to have more accounts opened.

Tammy Robinson said...

Truett, your perspective is extremely well articulated. It helped me greatly to understand where Walt was coming from. Thank you.