Selling the Outrageous

For years the goal of advertising campaigns has been to personify their product. That is, the companies wish to convince consumers that the products they buy will do more for the consumer than they are capable of doing. This sort of advertising has been used in America for a very long time and can be seen in almost every advertisement for consumer grade products. One such product is Planters Peanuts. In 2008 Planters aired an advertisement during Super Bowl XLII. This commercial followed the day in the life of one, less than attractive, woman. Hilarity ensues when she draws the attention of every many she encounters causing havoc in one way or another. The commercial concludes with a shot of the woman dabbing her skin with a Planters Peanut. This commercial uses ridiculous claims in order to sell the product but gains the attention of the viewer by the nature of its outrageousness. For this reason it would appear that companies have come up with ways of selling products without providing factual advertising.

Mainly because of it's creativity and enormous audience during the Super Bowl this advertisement became pretty well known. People often watch the Super Bowl solely for the witty advertisements and this specific one received a popular reaction. What is noticed when viewing this specific advertisement is the absence of a product until the very end of the commercial. I can therefore be assumed that the product itself has no importance in this advertisement to the viewer. Any product, albeit not a fragrance, could be switched in for the Planters Peanuts and the reaction by the audience would be the same. Planters Peanuts then are not building this reaction to the commercial. They are merely the punchline. In this way the audience is endeared to the product. They can therefore associate it with laughter and good times. Since it was seen by most people during the Super Bowl during which people commonly gather with friends for a party Planters Peanuts becomes subconsciously linked to a social gathering atmosphere. In other words, this commercial is silently saying, “If you're going to have a party, you're going to need Planters Peanuts.” You are sold. The focus of this advertisement is not to convince you that Planters Peanuts are the best peanuts on the market, they're telling you they are the ONLY peanuts for an enjoyable social gathering.
Now, this claim may seem quite radical. But when compared to other commercials it can be seen that this type of advertisement is frequently used. One such commercial was first aired during the exact same Super Bowl as the Planters commercial. This advertisement was a minute long action sequence of Shaquille O'Neal in a horse race. It consisted of quick cuts between the horses racing and the audiences' reactions. Shaquille storms from behind the pack of horses to eventually win the race. He mounts the podium and raises a bottle of Vitamin Water. The viewer reaction to this commercial is similar to the Planters commercial. Throughout the sequences we are unsure of what this commercial is for and for a while we stop caring. The Vitamin Water commercial is tense and engaging causing the viewer to worry more about whether Shaq will win the race than what he will endorse at the end. It could be argued that this portion of the sequence is not an advertisement at all but a short cinematic experience. At the end of this experience the character plugs a product thereby linking your emotional reaction to the experience with the product being plugged.

The style of advertising witness in both of these commercials is becoming more and more common in The United States and around the rest of the world. They are a sign of the conscious effort made by advertisers to avoid all questions regarding the quality of their products and simply assuming that we will buy them anyways. These advertisers believe they can use methods of psychology and emotional association to tap into the inner framings of the human mind and inspire consumption regardless of the product. It is a sign of the modern power of advertising in the early 2000s which is becoming increasingly frightening.

Nathaniel Winter