Designing The Force for How We View Families

"Critical thinking empowers Americans to assess the credibility, accuracy and value of information, analyze and evaluate information, make reasoned decisions and take purposeful action” (p. 10). Critical literacy or more specifically, critical media literacy is comprised of five major principles (Kellner & Share, 2005):

1.  All Media Messages are Constructions. Producers of media edit and tweak every component of their work, imbedding perspectives, interpretations, and messages within it.

2.  Media Messages are Representations of Social Reality. Representations of social reality are based on the perceptions of those individuals who are constructing the text. Because of this, representations of people, groups, experiences or events tend to be less accurate, thus resulting in distortions and stereotypes.

3.  Audiences as Well as Individuals Negotiate Meaning. Each individual interprets messages differently and draws different meaning from the same text.

4.  Media Messages have Economic, Political, Social, and Aesthetic Purposes. Media texts are embedded with messages that are based on the producer’s particular ideology or political position. The primary aim for many works is to make money by influencing consumers’ lifestyles.

5.  Each Media Text or Form of Communication has Unique Characteristics Relative to the Medium that Produces It. The manner in which a story is told and the medium used influences how we interpret the meanings embedded in the text.

I thought it would be interesting to post both of these videos to compare and contrast them in terms of audience, representation, and design.  The purpose of the first video (The Force) is to highlight the technology available in the Volkswagen Passat to families with children.  The second video is designed to demonstrate the mild nature of the dish soap to housewives who want  protect their hands from the damage traditional soap can cause with repeated use.  Though approximately 40 years spans the production of these videos, the are remarkably similar in terms of how the people are represented.

But first, let's discuss the intended audience of these commercials.  The Volkswagen commercial is intended for suburban families with children.  The use of the dog and the cut to the bedroom, clearly designed for a young girl, informs the viewer that this vehicle is designed with families in mind. Even the images of the exercise equipment and appliances demonstrate the daily routines of working families.  Showing both the mother and father of the young boy on screen tells the viewer that car is meant for both moms and dads.  Whereas the audience for the second video is targeted to stay-at-home young housewives who are concerned about maintaining their youth despite the hard work of housekeeping.  Madge is a mother figure who gives advice to a young women who is clearly married.  

In terms of design, both commercials use humor to create a memorable moment to connect to the product.  Both commercials use familiar almost universal images such as the kitchen and its sink, groceries, and suburban settings.  The Palmolive commercial has many close-up shots of smooth and perfectly manicured hands - seemingly manicures that would not be damaged by the product as well.  In contrast, the Volkswagen commercial does not show its product until the end of the commercial to capitalizing on the impact of our wondering what the outcome will be of this boys trying to move objects with mind control similar to Darth Vadar.   The main difference between the commercials is how they incorporate the media sophistication of their targeted audiences.  The Palmolive commercial relies heavily on slogan-like language to convince the audience of its usefulness, whereas the Volkswagen commercial counts on our knowledge of popular culture and trusts us to make the connections ourselves without the voiceover persuading us to use the product.  The use of the familiar Stars Wars soundtrack evokes nostalgia for thirty-somethings while emphasizing the power of the vehicle.

What I find most intriguing when comparing the two commercials is their representation of women and family.  Both commercials reinforce heavily stereotyped views of women as domestic.  This is perhaps expected from a forty year old Palmolive commercial.  It is interesting to note here that the voiceover in the Palmolive commercial is an authoritative male voice who supports Madge's statements, implying that because Madge is female she may be wrong. This view of women, however,  is somewhat surprising in a commercial from 2011.  In the Volkswagen commercial it is clear that the father is the breadwinner in the family who is coming home from work from his white collar job while the mother is responsible for providing lunch to the children.  We only see her in the kitchen.  Both commercials strikingly leave out many segments of American population.  Again, the narrowness of the Palmolive commercial may not surprise us but the Volkswagen commercial leaves out a multitude of other economic, ethnic, and sexual orientation family constructions.  This is to be expected in the world of advertising, I suppose, and companies play safe and typically do not disrupt social norms for fear of losing their market base.  However, it is important to teach children to critical analyze the media onslaught that surrounds them so that they may learn to make thoughtful decisions.