Dodge Charger Commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyW0TWOVJtM


Mass media is done in many different ways, but one of the biggest in today’s age is commercials! Some think of certain ones as bologna, while others are going “Yeah! I want to buy one of those.” Well as technology is getting better so are commercials and the affect they have on their viewers. Not just to sell the product, but to bring “cultural reinforcement” to people, as Robert Scholes explains in his article “On Reading a Video Text.”
Robert Scholes piece “On Reading a Video Text” is basically the breaking down of a commercial. its true meaning, and why it is constructed this way. His example is about baseball and the hard times of an African American making it to the major leagues. The ending is the man getting a beer from the manager who had given him a hard time showing that the American way works, and that this is the American beer. This commercial gives us the freedom to make these sorts of inferences ourselves Scholes points out. The messages they usually send in commercials are for a big group, and are usually part of the American culture (or whatever country the commercial is in) which everyone should understand. Today’s way of showing the culture we know and understand may not be the same as it used to be. Scholes reminds us “it is important to realize that many Americans aren’t without culture; they simply have a different culture…What they really lack, for the most part, is any way of analyzing and criticizing the power of a text like the Budweiser commercial.” People such as William Bennett and E.D Hirsch are “bewaling our ignorance of culture” thinking we have lost touch with our culture. Scholes commercial and statements show that we still have culture we just recognize it in different ways.
A “Dodge Challenger Freedom Commercial” is another great example and supportive commercial to his belief of the culture within our commercials. Even though this commercial is a little more obvious to our culture and countries past you can easily see what the makers were trying to say if you really break it down as Scholes does. The Dodge Challenger commercial starts with an olden day British soldier running back to his line of men looking very distraught. He then goes and tells the captain what seems to be some sort of warning or heads up. Things then tense up, when all of a sudden out drive a bunch of the Dodge chargers with American flags on them, being driven by officers of the American Army (also in olden day uniform). Portraying something of a battle in the American Revolution, the British go off running and the Americans “win.” The commercial ends by saying “Here’s a couple of things America got right, cars and freedom.” If you can’t tell what cultural reinforcement they are going for, it is that we are American. Any American would understand this, even say an immigrant, we are all well aware of the ongoing war America fought against England for our freedom. Not only is it reminding us that we are American and to be proud of it, but that we should be proud of the countries accomplishments. These accomplishments, to the makers of the commercial and owners of Dodge, are our cars and freedom. Dodge is clearly an American company that makes cars. They want us to believe that a real American should be driving an American car like Dodge.
They have, to some people, a great ad! This is for people that are a hundred percent proud of the American way, of course there are many of us who are not. When I see ads like this I think well why couldn’t you have gotten other things right, that are more important than cars! I would just hope that there are other things we can be proud of when it comes to our country, I wonder if that thought ever crossed the minds of the makers of this ad. Maybe I’m not a good American for thinking like that, but to me this commercial is rather dense. I don’t think that all commercials should have to be about being an American, and that we are the best. If you tell me your company donates some amount of money to a great charity that will make me want to buy your product, not the fact that it is an American product, one of two American accomplishments? I guess this commercial isn’t one that I can say “yeah that reinforces my beliefs!” but I’m just one of billions!