Orbit Gum Commercial
This commercial came out a few years ago and I found and still find it hilarious. It quickly became a popular ad for Orbit Gum's Dirty Mouth Campaign. Within the commercial the businessman's wife walks in on him mingling with what appears to be the "cheating assistant" or secretary. The wife confronts the man about the other woman and he tells her to stop overreacting. The woman and the wife get into an argument that soon escalates to a fight. During the whole altercation the three characters are simultaneously chewing Orbit Gum and not using curse words in the situation when one normally would. The tag line and the orbit girl come in, "Fabulous, New Orbit Raspberry Mint cleans another dirty mouth. For a good clean feeling, no matter what." The pun here being that their dirty language and their dirty mouth was being cleaned with the gum.
While at first galnce this commercial seems to be a funny advertisement for Orbit gum, by analyzing this commercial through the Marxist perspective one can see examples of economic metaphor, preferred reading, and occluded preferred reading uncovering the true purpose for the commercial.
Economic metaphors are anything that signifies something about the culture's ideas, norms, values or practices. In this commercial, the economic metaphor is that when faced with heartbreak, tragedy, or anger as a society we permit "dirty language" to be allowed. In the commercial the "dirty words" are replaced with silly little sayings or non threatening words. By replacing these words the commercial is poking fun at our societies ability to allow dirty words based on elevated situational happenings. It also shows that as a society we maintain our honor and status by saying horrible things to each other. The person with the worst name to call the other wins in an argument. This commercial is really designed to make us feel ashamed of our dirty mouths and want to replace that shame with Orbit Gum to clean up our language because we see how silly we act through the examples that the actors give.
A preferred reading is known as something easy to pick up on or "the norm" in a situation. In this commercial the preferred reading is a middle to upper class white wife visiting her husband at work. We know by the actions of the wife throwing the box that she is angry and we assume that it has something to do with the husband and his secretary. These assumptions are what is known as preferred readings. Viewers immediately know something is wrong. The ad displays this reading to show that the we all have problems, and even in the midst of them it's nice to maintain a "clean mouth". While the advertisement shows the characters yelling at each other their actual words are clean and nice sounding. A preferred reading of the actual wording makes the situation seem much less volatile.
Alongside a preferred reading is an occluded preferred reading. An Occluded reading is something similar to the preferred reading but more subtle. The characters in the commercial also represent an occluded reading because while the characters seem to have nice clothes and good manners we quickly find out that they are lower than what we expected. They soon show us that they don't carry themselves well and that they are going to make a scene. As the situation escalates into a physical fight viewers realize that what they are seeing is really an occluded reading because the characters are not who they first appeared to be. Their language may be cleaned up with their gum, but their body language can't be stifled. Thus, the viewer gets the message that no matter who you are and in whatever situation you can have the power of a clean mouth just like our characters have.
By looking at the Marxist Perspective and termonology we as viewers can identify that this commercial is not simply about chewing gum, but how our society holds itself in front of others. While our presentation of ourselves and our society may seem on the surface as a clean holistic and valuable one, when looked at in depth may come to be a trashier omitting one, yet, whatever the case may be we all have the power to have clean mouths.
While at first galnce this commercial seems to be a funny advertisement for Orbit gum, by analyzing this commercial through the Marxist perspective one can see examples of economic metaphor, preferred reading, and occluded preferred reading uncovering the true purpose for the commercial.
Economic metaphors are anything that signifies something about the culture's ideas, norms, values or practices. In this commercial, the economic metaphor is that when faced with heartbreak, tragedy, or anger as a society we permit "dirty language" to be allowed. In the commercial the "dirty words" are replaced with silly little sayings or non threatening words. By replacing these words the commercial is poking fun at our societies ability to allow dirty words based on elevated situational happenings. It also shows that as a society we maintain our honor and status by saying horrible things to each other. The person with the worst name to call the other wins in an argument. This commercial is really designed to make us feel ashamed of our dirty mouths and want to replace that shame with Orbit Gum to clean up our language because we see how silly we act through the examples that the actors give.
A preferred reading is known as something easy to pick up on or "the norm" in a situation. In this commercial the preferred reading is a middle to upper class white wife visiting her husband at work. We know by the actions of the wife throwing the box that she is angry and we assume that it has something to do with the husband and his secretary. These assumptions are what is known as preferred readings. Viewers immediately know something is wrong. The ad displays this reading to show that the we all have problems, and even in the midst of them it's nice to maintain a "clean mouth". While the advertisement shows the characters yelling at each other their actual words are clean and nice sounding. A preferred reading of the actual wording makes the situation seem much less volatile.
Alongside a preferred reading is an occluded preferred reading. An Occluded reading is something similar to the preferred reading but more subtle. The characters in the commercial also represent an occluded reading because while the characters seem to have nice clothes and good manners we quickly find out that they are lower than what we expected. They soon show us that they don't carry themselves well and that they are going to make a scene. As the situation escalates into a physical fight viewers realize that what they are seeing is really an occluded reading because the characters are not who they first appeared to be. Their language may be cleaned up with their gum, but their body language can't be stifled. Thus, the viewer gets the message that no matter who you are and in whatever situation you can have the power of a clean mouth just like our characters have.
By looking at the Marxist Perspective and termonology we as viewers can identify that this commercial is not simply about chewing gum, but how our society holds itself in front of others. While our presentation of ourselves and our society may seem on the surface as a clean holistic and valuable one, when looked at in depth may come to be a trashier omitting one, yet, whatever the case may be we all have the power to have clean mouths.
What the french, toast?!
The text being reviewed here is an Orbit chewing gum commercial. The artifact is clearly stated early on in the essay. You also have a clear thesis statement which reveals that the artifact is being analyzed from the Marxist perspective, and is an occluded preferred reading.
ReplyDeleteThe text is described clearly and concisely. Paragraphs flow in a cohesive manner, there are appropriate topic sentences for each paragraph and effective transition sentences.
You give good examples that supports the perspective you are applying. Your example on the text being a preferred reading was effective. You explained how a middle class white woman going to see her husband in the office is considered a prefered reading-->this was a good example.
Finally, you conclude your essay well. You bring up the main points of the text your analyzing and you also connect your points together,revealing the bigger picture of the text.
This a funny commerical. The Martrixt Prespective was great to analyze Orbit gum. The elements and charateristics tier in easily for this preferred rerading. Even someone who has not seen the commerical could understand your point of view. The main point and thesis are clearly stated. This would be good for a final paper the way you elaborated on the dimensions of the prespective was wonderful.
ReplyDelete