KILL SCREEN

Super Bowl ads offer an annual glimpse into the American psyche.  In aggregate, they are perhaps the quickest way to measure the temperature of the American experience, as they present a filtered snapshot of the country’s fears and desires.  A keen understanding of these emotions is critical for advertisers, as these are the primary levers that an ad person must manipulate in order to sell a product and to substantiate buying thirty seconds of air time for $2.5mm.

While watching the ads, the “desires” component manifested itself quickly and predictably.  Many of the ads appealed to people’s lust for sex and violence.  Duh.  That’s not unusual.  Though, the amplitude and frequency of the violence, in particular, I thought was heightened relative to previous years.  One child (Tebow) tackles his mother.  And then another child (Doritos’ kid) slaps his mom’s date.  But, again, the elevated violence was not a particularly surprising development.

What I found more interesting was the prevailing subtext of anxiety.  Specifically, many of the ads evoked a nebulous dread, presumably stemming from man’s seemingly futile defense against the march of technology.  There was an end-of-the-world science fiction movie vibe coursing through several of the ads.  Perhaps this dread factor may have been muted a bit if unemployment was at, say, 5% rather than 10%.  But I think the recession was only a contributing factor.  To me, the subtext of these ads spoke to something deeper than a market cycle – the sinking feeling that we’re quickly becoming obsolete.

Example #1.  Doritos’ Dog Collar.

Man over-breeds dogs to sell companionship.  But these companions bark too much.  So man invents a bark-equals-excruciating-shock collar to silence dogs.  A dog indicates that he is hungry and that he would like some Doritos.  The non-owner (he refers to the dog simply as “dog”) taunts the dog, saying the dog must speak to get Doritos.  Anonymous cruelty is always easier.  Having been temporarily denied his desired snack, the dog then puts the shocker / choker around the park bench guy’s neck, rendering him Dorito-less and in agony.  A prescient careful-what-you-wish-for allegory about technology.

Example #2.  Emerald Nuts’ Human Dolphins.

Bio-engineering gone wrong.  The “human dolphins” are responsive to the ring leader’s high-pitched “eee—eee” commands and they apparently have webbed feet, given their enhanced swimming ability.  Awesome plus awesome equals genetically modified human beings performing circus tricks for the entertainment of non-genetically modified human beings?

Example #3.  Intel’s Lunch Room.

Apparently, Intel has products that are more impressive than a sentient robot who can experience a full range of human emotions.  I was expecting Jeffrey (the robot’s name) to bust out some Rutger Hauer … “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.”

Needless to say, I find these sci-fi narratives fascinating.  Look for the man versus machine aesthetic to feature prominently in Kill Screen releases.  For instance, see below for an image of Smasherelly contending with his gear.