Home Depot

Home Depot has a slogan, "You can do it, we can help". This is a way of making the customer feel as if someone is there for them and will help them along with their project. A lot like the way religons want you to think they will help guide you through your lifes journey. This is a way spirituality is sold by making the "customer" feel like someone is there for them and they won't be doing it alone.

Diet Pepsi Max

This pepsi commercial is a really good representation of the way in which the media and our society aim to convince the consumer that we need material things, rather than spirituality or religion, to make us feel more complete. It shows people from many different places and levels in society going about their everyday routines, from celebrities to factory workers. Everyone is falling asleep on the job until they get a bottle of Diet Pepsi Max, which not only wakes them up, but also makes them so happy that they bob their heads to the pop song "What Is Love" while continuing to go about their work. Although this commercial is intended to be humorous, it still conveys the idea to the consumer that without Diet Pepsi Max, they will lead a boring and melancholy lifestyle. This commercial advertises Diet Pepsi Max as something that is needed to give energy and liveliness to a person's life, something that religion and spirituality are also supposed to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ0A0xbORPU

Skittles, Taste the Rainbow

The popular slogan used in advertising for skittles is "taste the rainbow", which makes them seem almost magical or out of this world. In this commercial three people are sitting thousands of feet above ground on a rainbow while sharing a bag of skittles. When one of them questions the existence of the rainbow, he immediately falls off the rainbow. Then the narrator says in a deep strong voice "believe the rainbow, taste the rainbow". The commercial seems to be saying that you will only be able to fully enjoy skittles if you believe that you can. This idea can be directly applied to religion or spirituality in that, in order to follow certain beliefs you must believe in them without question. In this way, this advertisement is almost placing skittles on the same level as religion or spirituality in an individuals life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUmXhCmVaQg

This advertisement was one that Italian Atheist tried to post around cities to promote that there is no God. The slogan of this Ad was the following:

"The bad news is that God doesn't exist. The good news is that you don't need him to." This ad was rejected by the city of Genoa, Italy because they felt it was an insult to all religions.
When looking at this Ad, the first thought that comes to my mind is that, if there was no religion, then the Twin Towers would still be standing and 9-11 would have never occurred.
Also, I see a cross in between the two Twin Towers which is a symbol of religion or God to me. So I'm confused as to why the atheist chose this picture. I find it hard to imagine life without God and Religion. What are your thoughts and what other subliminal messages appear to you in this Advertisement?

WWJD

The WWJD bracelets or What Would Jesus Do, became popular in the 1990's. These bracelets let christians be remided throughout the day to think of their choices and what jesus would want them to do. These bracelets are another way people can convinently have spirtituality in their life. Convinence is a big selling point to almost any service or product. The less energy it takes to do something the better it must be.

The Good Life

The picture to the right is a Bud Light advertisement for beer, but it seems to be trying to sell more than their product. With an attractive woman holding the beer, it draws in males, perhaps leading them to believe they can obtain a woman like the one pictured. 

The slogan of the advertisement offers the "good life" to the customer by implying it can only be lived with a Bud Light at hand.

Certainly, life is more than just women and beer. Is it not true that people can live good without beer and the other sins that come along with indulging in this beverage?

Red Bull: Trip to Heaven

The slogan "Red Bull gives you wiiings," would probably sketch similar pictures in most people's minds. The line drawing cartoons followed by drinking Red Bull and then instantly wings appearing on their very backs, are meant to be a symbol for the product. In the following commercial, a lawyer reads off a will left by a deceased man, those that attending the hearing were his wife and children and also an attractive lady that seems to be the man's mistress. The man left all of his money and his entire estates to Jacqueline Chantelle Petite, the other woman. Immediately his wife consumes Red Bull, a set of wings appeared, then furiously flies off into heaven where she chases after her husband.

This commercial suggests that by drinking this product it gives super-human powers. It targets consumers that are looking for that extra kick of energy, something like growing a pair of wings. Marketers cleverly use the wings to influence consumers to buy their products because it suggests that this is the best product that will help those drinking it achieve higher supremacy.

"The Truth"

http://www.scientology.org/#/videos/scientology-commercial-search

Above link is to a public announcement made to advertise The Church of Scientology. It shows ordinary people in the world, searching for that one thing missing in their life. The commercial states that everyone is looking for it, some try to buy it and wear it, but most don't know what they're looking for. It further states that we can all feel it and that we have this aching desire to fill this unexplainable emptiness in our lives by one thing, "The Truth" which they believe is Scientology.

This advertisement is trying to sell Scientology to lost people in the world and is posing as "The Truth" to all. Even the slogan of Scientology states, "Know yourself, Know Life." Basically, this religion is trying to make people believe that if they know who they are as a person, then they will know life and how to live it better in total freedom.

But is it true that EVERYONE is in search of "The Truth"? What about those who feel they know who they are, how to live life and that "the truth" in their eyes isn't Scientology?

If you watch the commercial again with out knowing it is for Scientology, you could replace ANYTHING/ANYONE as "The Truth". What's your thoughts on this ad and what is "The Truth" in your life?

Crown Royal Ad

This advertisement suggests that crown royal is a drink that can make you feel like there is heaven on earth. Heaven is a religious symbol that represents a place where everything will be good and enjoyable and the absence of evil or anything bad. It is said to be something that cannot fully be experienced on earth or in the flesh because it is a spiritual thing. This advertisement is suggesting that drinking crown royal liquor can produce the effect of experiencing heaven on earth.

Girbaud Fashion House Ad

This advertisement shows a recreation of the religious picture of the Lord's Supper. Girbaud said they were simply depicting feminism by putting men in the position of fragility. However, one cannot deny the obvious similarities to the original picture. There just so happens to be a center person with six people on each side of him. This adds up to 12 which is how many disciples there were in the original picture. The Lord's Supper scene is where Jesus announced that one of them before him would betray him. It's ironic that one person in the picture has their back to the center person.

Wendy's Commercial

In this commercial, Dave, the founder of Wendy's, is unsure of how to create the next best thing. To help him make a decision, an angel shows up on his left and a devil on the right. This brings in the religious concept of good and evil and that both influence different decisions in life. In the end, Dave sides more with what the devil side tells him to put on the burger and tells the angel side to "mind your own business". This commercial showed that there is thrill in doing "wrong" as opposed to playing it safe and careful. It hints that there would not be as much excitement if he would have sided with the angel.

The link for commercial is as follows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NVNMMbUBVQ

Jay-Z HP Commercial

Hewlett Packard has a line of commercials out presently that show different well know celebraties who customize their HP. It is this idea on being able to make something fit your life and your style and you passions, that relates to spirituality. When people sell spirtuality they have to make it seem like it is right for everyone. Their are to many different types of people with all separete beliefs and ideals. Spirituality can't be "one size fits all". It has to seem like it is made just for you and that you can make it into what you want. It must comform around you, not you conform to it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsE0g-8CDQo

Feel Better, Tylenol

This commercial perfectly exemplifies the increasing dependence our society places on doctors and medications to "feel better". The commercial aims to convince the consumer that tylenol is the only pain medicine that will work in harmony with their body and still heal their aches and pains. In this way the commercial indirectly states that tylenol will make the consumer feel more whole. To emphasize this message more, the commercial uses soothing background notes and artistic camera lighting and angles to leave the viewer in a calm and meditative state, similar to the way the commercial states that they should feel when they take tylenol.

-Lily R-B

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDXtq7TL5Vo

Wrigley's Lasting Sensation

In August 2007, 5 gum came out with a campaign promoting its unique and long-lasting flavors.  It was titled, "Stimulate Your Senses."  The commercial began with a man's voice with the tagline, "HOW IT FEELS TO CHEW 5 GUM."  The effects they used for the picture of the gum pack was accompanied by interference or white noise, a nicely detailed beginning to the rest of the commercial.  It is set in a futuristic backdrop with a man lying on countless number of beads that begins to vibrate to a thumping sound.  Several scenes from the commercial indicates an increase in intensity.  First a small dial gets turned to the right and then another dial, larger than the first, also gets turned on and the vibration begins.  The intensity continues with the speakers thumping and a quick preview of the VU, volume units, level going beyond the red line.  That climatic scene of the balls overflowing and rolling off the edges indicates an extreme experience.

The setting was in a cool and serene environment.  The sensation seemed to be out of this world.  It made consumers like myself feel that to achieve that experience I need to chew 5 gum.  It is like experiencing a whole new realm, a realm of ecstasy.  A lot like reaching some sort of spirituality it is pure comfort and also an extreme, indescribable feeling.  

Going beyond the natural human limits and reaching spirituality appears to be through 5 gum now.  Welcome to the 21st century!

-Anna Phommavong

M & S Commercial

This commercial is sort of funny to me. It tells me that Christmas isn't Christmas without all these things.
It isn't christmas without mints, dresses, food, toys, clothes, naked people in underwear. Really?
This is what we've come down to? Yes, ourlives aren't complete without all the stuff to fill them with.
Much like spirituality it is more stuff to fill our lives with, to make them better. We use stuff like we use spirituality,
it's just another thing. It doesn't mean anything, and
it doesn't really do anything and yet we rely on it so heavily.
It is hard to pick up on the connection this commercial has with spirituality becasue it seems to be a fairly
secular commercial aside from the fact that it is referring to Christmas. Really I see this commercial as more of a
metaphor in relation to spirituality. - Ashley M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vbqN9bB1MI