effective advertising
Tonight Jason and I went to Harpoon Harry’s for dinner—a very fun waterfront bar and restaurant. Tonight was Monday Night Football with the Saints vs. the Giants. The Saints lost handily.
The focus of the evening was Katrina recovery. And while the entire event was moving, just before halftime, I saw a commercial for Katrina fundraising that somehow knocked the very wind out of me.
It featured a series of NY Giants players wearing Saints jerseys. Perhaps the whole starting line. (For non-football watchers, usually at the beginning of the game the starting line-up is introduced by showing a picture of each player and the player’s voice saying: “Bob Brown. Louisiana State University.”) The commercial featured the Giants wearing Saints jerseys. The players said: “Bob Brown. New York Giants.” “Sam Smith. New York Giants.” Ending with: “Eli Manning. New York Giants.” And then the screen went black. White writing: “Be a Saint.” And donate.
And whammo. I was floored. It was a little confusing and I didn’t get it until I saw Eli Manning. Eli Manning who went to Newman, our (my school’s) biggest competitor (tho’ co-ed). Eli who is the middle child of a nearly unparalleled football family. Eli, who I hope, at the very least, felt a little bit shitty for beating the snot out of the Saints today.
Man, as stupid as it sounds, that ad drew more tears from me than all the very dramatic Red Cross ads I’d seen all week. And so in the middle of Harpoon Harry’s I was wiping away throat-closing tears.
As a woman who teaches pop culture in her spare time—a class devoted to the study of advertising and the way that it affects us—I pay special attention to ads. And I get a little disgusted at most of the charity ads these days. But that ad, man, messed me up.
The focus of the evening was Katrina recovery. And while the entire event was moving, just before halftime, I saw a commercial for Katrina fundraising that somehow knocked the very wind out of me.
It featured a series of NY Giants players wearing Saints jerseys. Perhaps the whole starting line. (For non-football watchers, usually at the beginning of the game the starting line-up is introduced by showing a picture of each player and the player’s voice saying: “Bob Brown. Louisiana State University.”) The commercial featured the Giants wearing Saints jerseys. The players said: “Bob Brown. New York Giants.” “Sam Smith. New York Giants.” Ending with: “Eli Manning. New York Giants.” And then the screen went black. White writing: “Be a Saint.” And donate.
And whammo. I was floored. It was a little confusing and I didn’t get it until I saw Eli Manning. Eli Manning who went to Newman, our (my school’s) biggest competitor (tho’ co-ed). Eli who is the middle child of a nearly unparalleled football family. Eli, who I hope, at the very least, felt a little bit shitty for beating the snot out of the Saints today.
Man, as stupid as it sounds, that ad drew more tears from me than all the very dramatic Red Cross ads I’d seen all week. And so in the middle of Harpoon Harry’s I was wiping away throat-closing tears.
As a woman who teaches pop culture in her spare time—a class devoted to the study of advertising and the way that it affects us—I pay special attention to ads. And I get a little disgusted at most of the charity ads these days. But that ad, man, messed me up.
posted by M at 10:07 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home