Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Wired Become Clueless
You know that the issue of generational differences in the social networking experience has been taken to the next level when it's parodied in a funny car commercial. The tables are turned when the wired become the clueless. There is some risk here for Toyota because they probably don't want to be seen as marketing to "old people." Other lenses through which to view this ad include gender and class just for starters.
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I think this is a really interesting commercial in terms of the rhetorical position of the commercial designer. Without alienating their potential buyers (the older generation), the Toyota team succeeds in constructing a positive image of themselves by showing their accurate understanding of the generational differences and flexibility to accommodate different points of view and voices. In other words, Toyota manages to address their potential customers (keep on rolling) in a funny commercial which at the same time conveys an affirmative message to the younger generation as well—“Your opinion is valued and you are entitled to what you think of the family authorities.”
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting about this commercial is that the audience has to completely dismiss (even gently mock) the young woman's stated views on the value of online social networking in order for the commercial to function. Although the young woman is seemingly privileged as the only direct narrator, everything she says about the value of online community is immediately undercut by images of a group of people having intense physical experiences in the "real" world (experiences that are, of course, made possible because they own a Toyota). The commercial makers assume that their audience--adults skeptical of social networking--will immediately accept the idea that such physical social experience is more valuable than digital social experience. But, even among car-buying adults, acceptance of mountain biking as a more valid social experience than communicating with a network of friends on the internet is by no means a given. In an increasingly digital age, it is not just teenagers who value their online social lives; therefore, it seems risky to stake the effectiveness of a commercial on a strict binary (physical=good, digital=bad) that may well be in the process of shifting for members of the target audience.
ReplyDeleteCar commercials tend to target a young semi-affluent demographic because those are the people most likely to be new-car buyers, so the commercial does take a slight risk by mocking a common interest of its likely target audience. However, this risk is tempered by the use of genre conventions. Many SUV advertisements show a new vehicle allowing a group of active people (almost always white and able to afford a new car and some sporting goods) to access a remote location devoid of other people. This commercial just tries to set itself apart from the competition by setting up the opposition of the typical outdoorsy activity versus the lone wired teenager. I also find it interesting that the narrator doesn't just say that she read an article, but that she then qualifies her statement by saying "well, most of an article..." Though that's probably the start of another comment altogether.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting is the almost invisible product placement within the ad itself; in the medium shots of the narrator, a Macbook occupies the center of the frame. On the one hand, this perpetuates the stereotype of Apple products as little more than precious toys. The young woman is not using her Mac to write code or produce spreadsheets but to access her Facebook account and peruse pictures of puppies; her "work" is not substantial but frivolous, a feeling compounded by the stuffed dolls that occupy the background. At the same time, however, the very placement of a Macbook in the ad is a normalizing gesture, seamlessly blending in with the lovingly adorned oak-colored shelf and echoing the clean whiteness of the circular table: a tableau of modest, middle-class comfort. Even as the ad gently mocks the young woman for her oblivious isolation, when it comes down to it, the milieu of her aloofness is not really an unfavorable contrast to the natural world her parents are exploring.
ReplyDeleteThis commercial is great because essentially, it's saying to its target audience: "You're not enjoying the awesomeness of life (of course, through our car!), while all these "old" people are. I mean, you don't want to miss out on even what the old people are getting to do just because you're on Facebook, right?" It plays nicely on all the current fear mongering about how the digital world is overtaking the "real" one, taking a shot at a young person's already potentially self-conscious usage of digital media. In this way, I actually don't think the ad wizards are taking too much of a risk here. They're mocking their audience, definitely, but just enough to make the audience laugh at the humor, and maybe feel a little sheepish as they can't help but compare themselves to the girl. Well played, Toyota.
ReplyDeleteI, too, applaud Toyota, but not for the advertisement’s ability to get a laugh. Instead, I find laudable Toyota’s awareness of how form can work to reinforce content. Indeed, the form of the advertisement—that is, the movement of the camera-—is just as rhetorically charged as the language and images themselves. The stillness of the shots of the young girl reinforces her sedentariness while the camera shakes and pans to capture all the locomotion of her parents. The camera literally forces viewers to see the girl as inert and the parents as active, vibrant, and alive. Furthermore, during the girl’s scenes, the only changes in the camera’s perspective result from rapid-fire cuts, which nicely enact the (supposed) short attention span of the girl’s facebook-addled brain. Fascinatingly, the camera comes to stasis in the final shot when the geriatric cyclists reach their goal: the car. But the camera’s stasis here does not communicate the inertia of the chair-bound girl. Rather, it betokens a well-deserved rest for the parents after a day of vigorous activity, and it is certainly no accident that the satisfaction of this rest is tied to an image of the car.
ReplyDeleteOn the surface, this commercial seems to question the value of digital forms of communication, especially social networking sites. As such, it ostensibly claims that live socialization is better than virtual forms of interaction. While this argument is certainly part of what the commercial aims to convey, the dichotomy created here is not only about digital vs. live communication, but also about multiple vs. intimate relationships. The girl in the commercial seems to believe that the fact that she has 687 facebook friends demonstrates that she is living a full life ("this is living") while the fact that her parents only have 19 facebook friends presumably demonstrates that they do not have lives. Nonetheless, while she is depicted as sitting alone in a room and without any company, her parents are depicted as genuinely interacting with a small group of their friends as they enjoy a shared interest. It is highly improbable that one could cultivate such close friendships with 687 people, but it is possible that one could do so with only 19 friends. The point that is being made--and we must recognize that all this is ultimately presented in the interest of selling cars--is that the speaker's conception of her rich social life is a false notion based on the quantity of her friends instead of the quality of her relationships. The commercial suggests that viewers should follow the example made by the girl's parents by attempting to develop their relationships with a small number of close friends. The Toyota Venza can faciliate this kind of 'genuine' social interaction.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to depicting the young woman as a passive and stunted experiencer, stuck in the virtual world of small and insignificant pleasures, she seems also to be depicted as a consumer, and negatively so. The well-ordered shelves behind her hold dolls, vases, and other nick-knacks arranged perfectly; there is an emphasis on sterile materialism in her pretty world of pretty things. In contrast, it seems that the commercial downplays the reality of consumption in the parents' world, by creating a binary of computerized consumer vs. off-the-grid adventurer. The parents' lives are authentic, focused on experiences rather than possessions. In an economy in which conspicuous consumption has become a subject of guilt for many upper-middle class, middle aged consumers (read: the audience of the ad), Toyota tries to make the viewer forget that buying a Toyota, and hence buying into the active and authentic lifestyle, is still an act of consumption.
ReplyDeletePart of what builds on the humor of this commercial is the music throughout. We're shown essentially two different scenes that are flashed back and forth but the music is constant between them; in other words, there isn't the plodding, boring music for the scene with the young woman and some exciting rock song for the scene with the parents. There's just the boring sound track for the woman. By using just the one piece of music, the advertisers augment the actual and ironic anti-social problem of the younger generation caused by social networking and allow the audience to laugh by continuing that music into the scene with the parents because the audience can see the situational irony to which the woman is oblivious. It also creates this idea that the parents' real lives are a kind of "secretive fun" because it's not broadcasted through facebook. In the woman's mind, she is thinking, "If it's not on facebook, it didn't happen," whereas the parents are probably thinking, "If we're on facebook, it won't happen." "It" being the fun.
ReplyDeleteI find this commercial and the queue of the other Venza commercials intriguing and very humorous. In terms of its rhetorical approach, similar to John Faustus and Matt, the notion of what constitutes middle-class becomes readily apparent, something Toyota is very cognizant of. Toyota reinforces middle-class ideology on the grounds that their particular car buyer will own the following: a Mac, a young professional, a suburban home, a bike, and have a handful of adventure-seeking friends. It is important to note, that this however is not the case, and rather a foolhardy gesture on Toyota’s part. Because Toyota ostensibly caters to a particular audience, other audiences, one’s lacking Mac’s, suburban homes, and young professional’s entire demographics become alienated. Although the goal is to advertise the dynamic life-style that one gains when purchasing this car and the humorous technological gap between generations, what are Toyota’s real intentions?
ReplyDeleteI was impressed by the commercial’s use of multiple ironies in order to communicate certain points about the Venza, while smothering others. The most obvious irony contrasts the girl’s purported friendships with her isolation, and her parents’ purported anti-sociality with their exciting trail-riding trip. That irony dominates the commercial, distracting the viewer from other, less marketable ones. For one, the commercial strongly associates the Venza with an adventuresome lifestyle, yet nothing in its content suggests the Venza is necessary for such adventures, or that other cars/SUVS could not perform such a job even better than the Venza sedan. Indeed, many viewers must intuitively know such a thing is true; if one wants to access a trailhead, the Toyota Venza is not the car of choice. But by associating the car with the adventure, rather than claiming it makes the adventure possible, Toyota dodges that irony, hiding it beneath the generational one. Additionally, as Yonina mentioned, Toyota frames the Venza as a vehicle (ahem) for escape from the stuffy, consumer-driven world, when in fact it costs much more than everything in the dining room with the girl. Again, a less-than-desirable irony, from a marketer’s perspective, but the commercial controls for it by turning the audience’s gaze back at itself, encouraging laughter. Good-humored ironies—generational ignorance, the oxymoron “digital life”—contribute to the commercial’s rhetoric by distracting the viewer from contradictions in its content.
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