Super Bowl Sunday showcases the best and sometimes the worst in television advertising. A massive viewing audience presents the ultimate platform to portray creative prowess, a time when ad agency execs flex their message muscles. The nation’s “mirror makers” yearn to win accolades for their humor, cleverness and pluck. Nearly everyone is watching – 115 million estimated viewers.
The flat-screen LED “mirrors” dominating living rooms today often reflect back humanity’s absurdities, from scatological to slapstick. Half the fun of the big game involves watching the commercials as we consume contemporary cultural narratives, writ large and bombastic.
Humor reigns, followed by ads created to tug at our heartstrings. A few magnanimous ads even inspire community engagement, propelling worthy causes into mainstream consciousness. But jokesters and pranksters dominate the Super Bowl's advertising genius parade.
Humor has become more of a challenge in recent years: how to present human absurdities and paradoxes without offending a class of viewers, whether racial, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic. In today’s socially aware era, when diversity and egalitarian values have become an obsession of public discourse, very few groups and classes remain amenable to ridicule, wherein satire and irony don’t incur aversion and censure. Ad creators must circumspectly ask themselves during brainstorming sessions, “Whom might we anger with this ad, and what could be the consequences?”
Even in these hyper-vigilant times, one class of citizen still remains a favored ironic target of advertisers, a proverbial butt of the joke: our oldest old and wizened. And for this Super Bowl season, Taco Bell and its ad agency, Deutsch L.A., have rolled out a TV spot brimming with stereotypes, a storyline that’s absurd and denigrating.
A watchful nurse wishes the sleepy protagonist a “good night” while softly shutting his bedroom door, her charge safely tucked in bed, a scene reminiscent of childhood. But this clever fellow sneaks out of his retirement community, where he joins like-minded octogenarians for a wild night of carousing. This motley crew invades a swimming pool; rocks the night away while clubbing; engages in illicit sexual encounters behind bathroom stalls; drives dangerously; and acquires brazen tattoos. Oh, yes, they also eat Taco Bell tacos while attracting wary surveillance glares from cruising police. These old people are careless, reckless, defiant, and bacchanalian.
So what? Isn’t this merely an entertaining TV commercial, harmless if not a bit reverential of old adults who refuse to remain institutionalized and marginalized? That’s one way to look at it, undoubtedly the intentions of the ad’s creators.
Another way to look at this commercial is through the lens of ageism. From this perspective, other narratives under-gird the message to buy Taco Bell tacos.
The adults in this ad include a middle-aged nurse making sure her charge is safely tucked in bed, a manager busting the rambunctious clan for swimming in his pool, and frowning cops not quite sure whether or not to arrest the oldsters. Another message prevails: old people have become children once again; adults are middle-aged or younger and must impose careful supervision.
A series of vignettes depict the wild and crazy seniors engaging in behaviors we might expect of a group of drunken teenagers: breaking into private property for a co-ed splash, boogieing at chaotic discos, consuming massive quantities of alcohol, catching some sexual action in a bathroom, eating fast food while cops glare suspiciously, driving recklessly though slumbering neighborhoods, and getting trophy tattoos to commemorate clandestine adventures. Through this looking glass, TV viewers behold senior citizens as a complement of young and foolish rabble-rousers: misfits who want little more from life than cutting loose while defying authorities.
This is old age as seen through the eyes of youth because, most assuredly, none of this ad’s creators – copywriters, art directors, and video producers – are themselves octogenarians. Without much worry of condemnation or censure, the “mirror makers” manipulate old age stereotypes with the same carefree abandon as their industry’s progenitors once portrayed African Americans as servile to Caucasians, women as dependent upon males for self-esteem, and gays as merely effeminate and eccentric. The ad biz has a long and sordid history of reinforcing stereotypes in the guise of “innocent” humor, rendering an identifiable class as less-than adult: less capable, less relevant, less deserving of first-class status.
The late Dr. Robert Butler, a Pulitzer Prize-winning expert on aging who coined the term “ageism” in 1968, believed that the underlying basis of ageism is “dread and fear of growing older, becoming ill and dependent, and approaching death.” Making fun of older people is one way to push this fear further away, to make aging merely theoretical rather than personal.
In his final book, Longevity Revolution, Dr. Butler shares perceptive observations about ageism:
“Just as racism and sexism are based on ethnicity and gender, ageism is a form of systematic stereotyping and discrimination against people simply because they are old.
”Advertisements and greeting cards depict older persons as forgetful, dependent, childlike and – perhaps the ultimate insult in our society – sexless. Conversely, older people who continue to have sexual desires are dirty old men and ridiculous old women.
”According to one study, approximately 70 percent of older men and more than 80 percent of older women seen on television are portrayed disrespectfully, treated with little if any courtesy, and often looked at as ‘bad.’”
Similar to its nasty cousins, racism and sexism, ageism is also about power. It’s about a more powerful group suppressing a weaker cohort. In this Taco Bell ad, the powerful make certain that older people are safely tucked in bed as if children, their rambunctious rebellion angrily admonished. Finally, those defiant and weary seniors return to “where they belong,” sheltered from adult society in a safe home for elderly.
Disobedient older persons may consume alcoholic beverages, spicy tacos and tattoos, but they do not gain a measure of respect, dignity or the veneration that most societies once afforded wise elders. Old people are rarely embraced in advertising today for their special gifts, wisdom or compassion. That would not be ironic or humorous, and certainly not award-worthy in ad-biz circles.
You've made some good points that I neglected to think about, Chuck. The ad also depicts sloppy diners, parking lot loitering, police drive-by vigilance -- making Taco Bell appear not to be a nice place to dine late at night. That ought to bother the corporate brand managers more than the ageist imagery.
Posted by: Brent Green | February 02, 2013 at 03:53 PM
Good points. Nods to all the intelligent comments.
This is a third tier Superbowl spot, silly and stupid. Nothing wrong with silly and stupid, but nowadays they are the rule, not the exception. Silly and stupid used to work when unexpected and jarring. Now everybody waits to see if the next spot is sillier and stupider than the preceding one.
The spots that stand out today are witty and serious – or at least with serious subtext, such as the Chrysler/Detroit spots over the last few years. Witty might be the Volkswagen/Darth Vader spot – although my take was that it wasn’t completely convincing. A seven-year old nowadays would probably have to teach his/her parents about computer-enhanced keys – and certainly whatever other high-tech doodads are integral parts of the dashboard. It’s reverse-ageism. For better or worse, kids aren’t stupid and amazed by much anymore.
Taco Bell. Forget the older folks acting silly and stupid, and look at it this way:
Taco Bell is a chain of inexpensive drive-thru and sit-down restaurants. Its four selling points beyond the price: Fast, reliable, family-friendly, clean. Fifty years ago few people thought a Mexican restaurant chain could be positioned as clean, reliable, or with any sort of publicly perceived quality control – outside of Southern California. They were wrong.
The takeaway from this spot: The customers who frequent Taco Bell are filthy degenerates who eat, slobber and spill food and wrappers all over the parking lot, and wouldn’t think twice about leaning on or spilling food on your car. It’s a dingy, dirty hangout. Police keep a watchful eye on the place.
The biggest advertising sin: This spot will not sell even one taco.
Posted by: Chuck Nyren | February 02, 2013 at 02:38 PM
Enjoyed this article and agree with it 99%! It reminded me almost exactly of a TV ad that Coke did a few years ago - guy in a retirement home tries Coke (the drink!) for the first time, then breaks out and engages in a series of behaviours involving tatoos, sex and so on. But then, we all know that plagiarism amd ageism are not exactly new to the advertising world!
The 1% of disagreement is this. Perhaps the ad is inviting us to question stereotypes of older people (and by association perhaps steretypes of fast food).
We don't have Taco Bell over here in the UK, but (amusing if irrelevant aside) some 25+ years ago, my then agency worked on launching TB into the UK (it didn't work, as we are fitted with taste buds over here). The first outlet was in central London, on Leicester Square. And because it was designed from the US, without knowing the location, it faced onto an alleyway, with a brick wall facing Leicester Square - one of London's busiest pedestrian areas! Bit of a missed opportunity!Perhaps their view of older people is based upon similar levels of research!!
Posted by: Rhcadvantage | February 01, 2013 at 03:03 AM
Let's think about this for a second. Taco Bell depicts seniors as outrageous and narcissistic. And we should feel uplifted by this marketer's generosity for even including them in their ads? At least Taco Bell did not show seniors in rocking chairs and looking clueless. What a gift!
This, to me, is one measure of desperation that many feel to see older adults included in mainstream society and represented with positive metaphors and images.
I'm not grateful. Taco Bell's depiction is not good enough.
McDonald's did a better job portraying older adults engaged in mainstream society over 30 years ago.
Posted by: Brent Green | January 31, 2013 at 08:21 PM
I agree and disagree. When I first saw this commercial yesterday, I thought it was "refreshing" in a way. Definitely meant as a parody, these seniors are not confined to their usual expected behavior of sitting in the rocking chair, on the balcony, staring into nothingness. I don't think that this is any worse than the legendary "Where's the Beef" campaign or Betty White's "Off Their Rockers" show from which this campaign was undoubtedly inspired (see the other ad in the series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PstMBnLvOBg, I expect this one should have you even more outraged).
I agree that our culture's ageism relegates anyone over 60 to the dustbin. I am angry at that. But I am also disturbed that 95% of all cleaning product ads feature housewives only. And I'm upset that 90% of men represented in ads or sitcoms appear to be bumbling incompetents. And I'm saddened that minorities are underrepresented in every media.
But at least, these seniors were mobile. Or should I say, rockin'!
Posted by: Anne-Marie Kovacs | January 31, 2013 at 07:51 PM
Well put my friend! You set the context and clearly nailed these clowns that simply do not get it. Maybe Taco Bell is writing off everyone over age 60 as not worthy of doing business with anymore. Ageism is alive and well. I hope the message that comes through is that eating Taco Bell causes narcissism and psychotic behavior and should therefore be avoided.
Posted by: G. Richard 'Dick' Ambrosius | January 30, 2013 at 01:51 PM