So last night I was watching TV (not a movie by the wayJ) and the commercials came on. Again. Being generally fed up with the absurd amount of commercials in television normally I found it especially unnecessary for there to be a five minute commercial break in between each and every contestant on American Idol. So when the commercials came on for the umpteenth time I got up to check my email, anything to avoid yet another ‘Hefty’ garbage bags add. But as I was walking away from the TV I heard the opening riffs of a song I knew and loved. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked back to see what company could have possibly chosen ‘Tuesday Afternoon’ by The Moody Blues (I know I know, I’ve finally broken out of my movie rut and now I’m stuck in a Moody Blues rut. But what can you do?)as the song for their commercial. At first I thought perhaps they were on tour and coming to the area—and exciting notion indeed—but upon watching further I realized it was a Visa commercial. Here’s the link to the commercial if you want to watch it.
Basically the commercial starts with part of the song and has fish and such swimming around in the background. Then a voice comes over saying “When was the last time you went to the aquarium – pause– with your daughter – pause– on a Tuesday?” As he is saying this the fish in the background form the word ‘go’. He then goes on to explain how Visa card are faster and more convenient than cash or check (as a former employee at McDonalds and someone who has handled all the forms of paying many times I feel inclined to ask “faster and more convenient for whom?” Certainly not the cashier let me tell you) and how thousands of people are ‘going place’ with Visa. After realizing what the commercial was about—consumerism, buying things in order to be happy, essentially ‘money (or credit cards) can buy happiness’—the song choice really struck me as odd. It does not seem to fit the feel of the commercial at all. In order to illustrate this I will deconstruct the song and what the Visa commercial is saying.
Tuesday Afternoon (Full lyrics here)
Now I'm on my way – Not going
It doesn't matter to me – Worry
Chasing the clouds away, the trees are drawing me near (Nature) – Material/man made things
I'm looking at myself reflections of my mind – looking into other things/the world
So gently swaying through the fairyland of love – Um, industrial world
If you'll just come with me you'll see the beauty of Tuesday afternoon – Beauty/happiness in material things, things you can buy
So in essence the song has always seemed to me to be very…pure I guess, for lack of a better word. It’s all about finding joy peace and happiness in the simply things—clouds, trees, a Tuesday afternoon—things you don’t have to pay for.
Visa, to me has a very different message. It’s hard to deconstruct Visa as it does not have lyrics or what have you to do so with, but I can give a general message that Visa projects that will illustrate why it clashes so horribly with its song choice. In essence, as I said before, Visa is all about buying happiness. They hide behind notions of family time (going to the aquarium with your daughter, etc) and taking time to relax and be alone, but in essence they are all saying the same thing. They make it seem as though you need a Visa card in order to obtain these simple pleasures. And why would you need a Visa card if you did not have to pay for these things. So what Visa is saying is that in order to be happy or spend time with your family you have to spend money. The exact opposite of what The Moody Blues are saying in ‘Tuesday Afternoon’. The song and the commercial are like oil and water. They simply don’t mix. It is consumerism vs. simple, costless pleasures. It is finding joy in watching the clouds vs. paying for entertainment. Therefore the central argument or message of the song is not the central message or argument of the commercial, even though it is essentially what the commercial is all about. In a way, the center is not the center, though perhaps that is a rather lose analysis. It makes me wonder what Derrida would have to say about Visa’s poor song choice, an interesting notion indeed.
I would advise Visa to be more careful about their song choices in the future, because although I love to see The Moody Blues recognized (something that rarely happens because they came from—though were not limited to—a decade so vastly monopolized by the Beatles) I hate to think of how horrendously different the two messages in the commercial are and would prefer they had just left the Song alone. If the band were dead I have a feeling they would be turning over in their graves at the use of their song in such a way. As they are still alive and kicking that is not a valid opinion so instead I am going to chose to say that they are in all likely hoods not the commercial's biggest fans.
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I know a lot of us in that class want to be high school English teachers. One of the important things that English teachers are (or at least should be) responsible for teaching is media literacy. Your blog is an example of why that is the responsibility of the English department– the very ways we look at literature are also applicable to the media.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you looked at a commercial to make your point, too. Clearly, most media– tv, news media, film, etc– exists for the purpose of selling advertising, so making sure we understand what the ads are trying to do (as well as having some basic financial instincts– but those can be left to some other department) can protect us from the persuasive power they often hold.
Good luck on the test.
I second what Carl says about the media: I'm in Communications now, and we just started our advertising unit. Because there are so many commercials and products in the world, the advertisers are spending more and more money and trying harder and harder to make their ad the ad that sticks out to a consumer. And they do that by gripping our attention through catchy songs that people know--"Tuesday Afternoon" (such a good song) and then hold your attention until the end to figure out what the commercial is for--Visa.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the media succeeded in grabbing your attention, you successfully deconstructed the contrary meaning of song and ad.
This was a very interesting blog. I haden't seen the commercial yet but I read the whole blog before I watched it and it was sort amazing to me how much stuff I probably would have glazed over. To respond to what Amy said, it reminds me of this thing we did in and English class once where we talked about advertising and how it really appeals to the seven deadly sins. Pretty cool.
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