I watched the Superbowl today. The Superbowl is the finale of the biggest American Football cup and this year it was between Indianapolis and Chicago. While the game was quite exciting once I figured out the basic rules, what really captured me was the all-out craze surrounding the game. I think this is one of the most watched events on TV, so the commercial breaks are the most expensive you can get. To get the maximum bang for the buck, the advertisers try to out-do each other with cleverness and funnyness, and the whole showbiz side of the game is an important part of pop culture. I thought Coke had some excellent, funny ads, with one that poked fun at the excellent Grand Theft Auto games. I kind of wished there was a computer game based on the premise they showed in the ad, even if it was just a joke. Check 'em out:
The "cocal cola computer game" ad, and the "how they make coca cola" ad.
While watching all this and enjoying some of the excitement around all this, I experienced something of a revelation about branding, about the power of media properties, about the post-modern mind. I can't put my finger on it, but now that the game is over and I've relaxed a little, it puts some of what is going on in Asia right now into perspective. Here in the West, we are chasing the ultimate, perfect experience. In the East, they are pulling hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, re-building civilizations after hundreds of years of oppression, and winning against death, starvation and catastrophe.
Umm... it's tempting to think one is better or more useful than the other. More wise to accept both are on the same axis of the same story (upwards). Even more wise to accept that I don't fully understand the significance of all this and just keep on experiencing. Good idea to come here to the US, it's already starting to mess with my head.
P.S. I'm going to go downstairs and buy a coke.
P.S.S. I just bought a bottle. Unfortunately they didn't have the glass bottle, only the plastic one. Damn, I just can't relate to plastic in the same way, it has gotta be glass :0(
