By SJ Otto
I really enjoy analyzing and criticizing commercials. I don’t like watching them much, but I enjoy making fun of them. All day long I’m bombarded by commercials. They can really get to me.
When I find a really interesting commercial, I analyze it to figure out why these folks think I will want to buy their product. The latest example is a couple of ads for Loan Depot. The ad features a whole bunch of people who stare back at us, while some guy gives us a spiel on how this loan company has grown and how they invest in neighborhoods and the community. They act like they are providing this badly needed community service. But the bottom line is that they are just trying to sell you a loan.
I see face after face of people who I suppose I am supposed to identify with. But what I see is a whole bunch of dorky people staring at me. They look weird. And I have to wonder why I’m being subjected to looking at these fools? Some of these guys look really dorky. Recently I wrote an article about hippies. One thing that arose from that movement is that suddenly guys did not have to all look alike. Conformity is a major part of the male experience. We all (guys) grow up given a basically similar hair cut to the guy next to us. Looking the same as everyone else seems to be a major part of American manhood. We can see that in this commercial when one of these guys has a narrow head, he’s unshaven and his ears stick out. Some men’s ears stick out, while other men’s ears REALLY stick out. They guy looks goony as hell and I have to wonder why anyone thought I would want to stare at this guy? If I looked like that guy I would change my hair style. I don’t care how un-manly it looked, having ears like that, that stick out, just plain sucks. Some people look like dorks anyway and following the crowd, to look like everyone else, does not help things. They just look like dumb, damn, dorks. They may be real smart, but looking like a f#&*ing idiot doesn’t help them any.
The commercials I’m amazed at come in two. There is one with mostly guys in it and the other has a lot of women. They both seem like a really stupid idea. But it is if there is one for guys and the other for girls. They both seem to want us to identify with people who are supposed to be “just like us.” I’m thankful I don’t look like any of these people.
The women’s ad doesn’t really look any better. Women don’t look as much alike, but they all stare at us from that ad and we have to wonder why they don’t have anything better to do. In one scene a whole bunch of women are making that hart sign with their hands. In other scenes we see a woman gawking at us. I have to wonder what we are supposed to be doing back at them. They look stupid. So what is the point?
And that is the point of this article—what is the point to a bunch of idiots gawking at us.
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