It's All About You

I read a little book once that described a certain type of commercial as a modern-day parable of salvation. The line goes like this: You lack something, and because you lack it, your life is woefully inadequate. The product being advertised will address your need and make your life perfect in all ways.

The job of the commercial is to convince you that you lack something. Maybe it shows a situation that's similar to yours, or maybe it shows how great life is for the person who owns the featured product. Now, the wink-wink, nudge-nudge of all of the whole deal is that you and the commercial makers both know that the product won't really make your life perfect. They're exaggerating to make their point, and we viewers know they're exaggerating, and sometimes they go wildly over the top in order to have some fun with the whole bit.

But even though we all know this exaggeration is going on, we still "sort of" buy the idea the commercial is selling, even if we buy it at a sort of remove from the idealized version.

I thought about this when I saw a new commercial for a wireless telephone provider the other day. A young woman, oblivious to the world around her, texts on her phone, watching the screen and ignoring pretty much everything else while she does. Different things like buildings, newspaper racks and such morph Transformers-style into speakers, receiver antennae and other wireless reception paraphernalia as she walks past. A guy walks to his car as the same thing happens around him. You, this company suggests, are the most important thing in the world. Sign up for this service and everything about your life will conform itself to your wishes.

The re-shaping of the world is exaggeration, but the idea that people and their interactions via the little screen to which their attentions are shackled are about the only thing that matters? Doesn't seem so outlandish from what I've seen.