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Secondary Source Integration
After a noted absence, M&M’s appeared on the Super Bowl commercials for the first time since 2014. The Super Bowl attracts over 100 million viewers according to recent statistics. The game, as well as the advertising, excite the people. Brands often bring out the very best and most distinctive advertising they have. For individuals who have watched Super Bowl advertising for long, it is clear that the brand brings our new and fresh content. The list of Super Bowl commercials this year included M&M’s human form (YouTube, 2019).
The 30-second Super Bowl commercial is about how M&M’s spokescandies cope in a world where people want to eat them. The advert opens with the iconic Red walking alongside Ms. Brown down a busy sidewalk. Red discovers a “lucky” penny and makes a wish to become human so as not to be eaten. His wish comes true, and he becomes the human form of Danny DeVito. After his transformation, Red (DeVito) confirms that people no longer want to eat him and claims he is the luckiest candy in the world.
M&M is a brand that has been in the market for a long time spanning several generations. The creators of the ad aimed to appeal their fans from different generations by casting stars Danny DeVito and Todrick Hall. DeVito is an attraction of people of an older generation, mainly born in the 1980s and early 1990s that are very fond of him. On the hand Hall is a YouTube star and most of his fans are the young generation, mainly born in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Cohen (11) indicates the need for brand personification while promoting products. The author notes that brand personification entails an individual created to personify a certain brand. In other words, brand personification creates a character who becomes the spokesperson for the brand. In the commercial, brand personification of Danny DeVito and Todrick Hall causes them to become the ambassadors for the M&M brand. Brand personification assists in reaching different audiences. As indicated, DeVito appeals to the older generation while Hall to the younger generation. M&M appreciates the need to promote its brand across all the age groups. Using the two characters allows the commercial to reach a wider audience that includes both the old and the young generations. This maintains brand loyalty for the older generation while attracting new consumers among the new generation.
Furthermore, brand personification has encouraged consumers to connect emotionally with the M&M’s brand. Delbaere and others research by anthropomorphism where they seek to establish the inclination to attribute human characteristics to objects. Their experiment reveals that images in an advertisement that metaphorically show a product depicted as human behaviour triggers anthropomorphism. This then elicits emotions and causes positive brand personality (Delbaere et al. 121). Comparing an object to a human being forms a metaphor which makes it possible to transfer some of the attributes associated with human beings to the object. Personification is an effective metaphorical expression. The shared experiences to humanness offer an opportunity to express various ideas by comparing objects to living entities like humans. The M&M commercial has employed personification effectively to promote positive brand personality of the product.
For a candy that was introduced more than 75 years ago, personification has maintained the brand remarkably contemporary. Though animating and personifying the brand, M&M has been in a position to keep its character at the centre while interacting with the consumers. The personification of the brand engages and entertains that consumer. As brands age, it becomes challenging for companies to figure out their place in modern contemporary consumers. However, through brand personification, M&M seems to have figured out how to remain in the heart of consumers. Delbaere et al. (123) indicate that the brands that are featured in commercials with personification are likely to be more loved compared to those containing no personification. Indeed, the use of personification in M&M’s brand has allowed more consumers to resonate with the product which has enabled the product to maintain a huge customer base. Without personification, it will be impossible for the commercial to attract as many consumers as it has done by employing the technique. In other words, the success of the advertisement can be largely attributed to the decision of the promoters to employ brand personification.
The ad is cast in the middle of the city, the dialogue, movements the characters, people and cars accompanied my matching audio is a perfect portrayal of the city streets. However, the creators of the ad use irony but not as expected. There are two instances of irony in the a...