NFL Commercials: A Snapshot of American Culture
With more open Sundays, Rich finds himself watching more NFL football. The commercials captivate him just as much as the games themselves. The NFL is one of the last pillars of monolith culture in America and the ads reflect the diversity of its audience and their perspectives.
Something I’ve really gotten into the last few months is watching commercials. They’re so interesting to me. My favorite time to watch them is during NFL games on Sunday. Believe it or not, the NFL is one of the few pillars of monolithic culture left in America after the decentralization of media.
For the last four years, I’ve bartended on Sundays at Lincoln Station, a Buffalo Bills bar in Chicago. They’ve been mediocre the whole time. During this stretch though, I’ve met so many regulars and die-hard Buffalo fans and residents of western New York. Props to them for sticking around and believing in their team.
About five or six weeks in the season though, we closed the bar for the time being. The city restrictions on restaurants and the service industry has been brutal during COVID. Gotta live to fight another day. But go figure, the best Buffalo Bills season in over twenty years and of course it happens in 2020. I miss seeing everyone on a weekly basis. I’m so excited and happy for them that their team is awesome.
So my Sundays have been more open than previously. I can actually sit down, watch and pay attention to an entire game. Something I especially love: the commercials.
Watching an NFL game means leaving whatever bubble that surrounds you during the rest of the week. All across America people in different communities and backgrounds come together to watch their favorite teams compete. These games are the highest rated TV shows of the week, which means advertisers pay top dollar to get their product or message to the public. The result is a range of commercials trying to appeal to the largest possible crowd, but still within the context of football. Watching NFL commercials provides a snapshot of American culture and the values of various groups in the country. It’s high stakes.
It’s so interesting to me. I really enjoy watching them and then try to think of who the ad is for. What are they saying or trying to communicate with these images, this music, this font, these colors? Every single thing in a 30 second commercial is intentional. Everything. It’s commercial art. What’s even more interesting to me is that the Millennial generation is now leading the creation process—it doesn’t just have a voice—it’s shaping the narrative of who we are as a country and people.
Recently—and by recently I would say over the last year—I’ve slowly realized that I’m not young anymore. It’s a strange thing to grasp. To come to terms and comprehend the fact that my generation is longer the “young and upcoming” generation. We’re adults. We’re men and women now in our prime. We’re in positions of power now and we get to determine the future. The commercials are reflecting Millennials’ views because we’re the ones creating them. It’s through a Millennial filter.
A couple examples come to mind. There’s one that flashes back to parent’s childhood and the teenage girl has wire braces and dial-up internet. Another one is an insurance commercial about turning into your parents. I enjoy those ones, especially.
I don’t know. The commercials are just so interesting to me. They all just make me laugh. It’s like a game where I try to figure out who they’re trying to target. It’s silly. Each one is so over the top to reach their audience. There’s the young guy super into sports gambling, the working-class guy who’s into the classic rugged and independent and strong work ethic with a dirty truck, the nerdy guy who’s into gaming and IT and web services, and the family doing their best to live a happy life with humor, kids and teenagers who just like cool and hip things, the veteran who served, women watching with their boyfriends or husbands, or images that appeal to people on the woke-left, or people at the retired age who have a lot of ailments but still want to live a healthy normal life. There’s everything. It’s such a mix. It’s America. It’s just so interesting to me.
I’m excited for the NFL playoffs. Not just because two of my teams, the Packers and Bills will be competing (maybe the Bears too), but we’re probably going to get some new commercials for the postseason run! I’m excited!