I’m referring to this commercial, which seems to be the most popular - er, perhaps I should say frequent - suggestion in the “Television Commercials You Hate” thread. People really, really hate this commercial. They hate this commercial like Jews hate Hitler. I’ve got a slightly different opinion of it:
I think this commercial is amazing.
Aside from packing in an impressive amount of drama and character into a few seconds, it’s one of the most blatantly subversive films I’ve ever seen on TV.
Starting on a simple textual level, look how much this thing communicates about the characters and their relationship. It’s impossible not to watch this thing without absolutely hating the wife, and for very specific (if entirely implied) reasons. In roughly seven sentences, it spins out years of bitter resentments and swallowed anger in the face of a steady barrage of belittlement and emotional castration. The expression on the husband’s face, and that little catch of suppressed rage when he responds to his wife’s reflexive criticism, and her “I may have just gone to far…” reaction, suggests that decades of buried aggression are about to come to the surface. I like to think that seconds after this commercial ended, the marriage dissolves in a profanity-laden screaming match that leaves no pane of glass intact in that greenhouse. Taken as a dramatic work, this commercial is a marvel of economic storytelling.
But on a subtextual level, the real brilliance of the work is revealed. Because the whole thing is one big middle finger to the commercial’s target market.
One of the reasons most often cited for hating this commercial is the idea of a woman who can afford her own private greenhouse bitching her husband out over how much money they’re spending on text messaging. You are, of course, meant to despise her. But this isn’t just one over priviledged yuppie hausfrau. She’s a stand in for the American consumer. You are meant to hold her in contempt, and by extension, you are meant to hold anyone in contempt who frets about something as petty as text messaging while living surrounded by opulent wealth. Which, relative to global prosperity levels, includes the majority of people living in the United States. What the commercial is saying is that if the service being offered in this commercial interests you, then *you *are the bitchy housewife. There are thousands of children dying every day because they don’t have access to uncontaminated drinking water, but here’s America, in its little hothouse, desperately worried about how much money it costs to pass vacuous, semi-literate e-notes back and forth, like a nation of arrested adolescents gossiping during algebra class. The searing hatred this commercial clearly feels for the wife is a cover for a searing hatred of the very people the commercial is counting on to buy their product. It’s a bold and unmistakable indictment of the entire capitalist system, disguised as an advertisement from a major multinational corporation. This is a commercial that says, “If you buy our product, you are what is wrong with the world.” That is some absolutely dazzling chutzpah right there. As a work of short fiction, this is a masterpiece.
Of course, for exactly the same reasons, it’s an utter failure as a commercial. But I’m not sure that wasn’t also the goal - nobody goes to film school for four years so they can pursue their dream job of making cell phone commercials. I think someone at this ad agency is starting to resent their career choices to date. God love him, whoever he is, but I hope he stays in the ad business just a little bit longer.
As a final note, please keep in mind that I’m just identifying the message of the commercial, not endorsing it. I’m not going to try to defend the accuracy of the message, although I’m more than happy to defend the accuracy of my interpretation.
