What a fabulous way to begin the month of February with the 2015 Super Bowl. Whether you were shouting for the Seahawks or the Patriots, you probably all noticed the huge advertising campaign that has been a tradition to the game for the past few decades. This year the ads were especially popular, and the commercial slots were sold out two months before the game even began. With a $4 million price tag for 30 seconds of air time but only catching a glimpse of a company’s product, we might ask: Is it worthwhile? Or is it even beneficial for the public? Or simply entertaining?
Even before the game, the Internet was a battlefield for big corporations to raise awareness of their campaigns. This reminded me of the 2014 “Old Spice” tactic of not buying the actual ad space during the game; instead it bought the top ad space from Google, which allowed it to appear on the first page when a Google user searched for Super Bowl ads. This smart move not only saved the company millions of dollars, it also fooled the public that “Old Spice” was in fact in the game and won the company widespread popularity and news coverage. This year, prior to the game, Coca-Cola released a series of preview ads that caught my attention.
The main theme linking the series of commercials is cyberbullying-—a very serious yet relatable issue that most of us have experienced. In fact, researchers Sameer Hinduja (Florida Atlantic University) and Justin Patchin (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire) have found, among 2,000 middle school students in 2008, about 10 percent of students have experienced cyberbullying in the previous 30 days and 17 percent had experienced it at least once in their lifetime. That is to say, one-in-six people have recieved threatening and intimidating words from someone they may not have even encountered. The study also shows that older children who are Internet users are more likely to be affected by cyberbullying than younger children. Yet our emotional stability that increases with age does not seem to counter the harm a text message can do to us. When we look at the bigger picture, things are even worse. The National Crime Prevention Council reported in 2011 that half of American teens think cyberbullying is a serious issue for them.
The Internet is supposed to connect people, not break bonds. Fortunately, Coca-Cola’s ads disseminate the idea of attributing positivity online through its two statements—“The Internet is what we make it” and “It is our world web.” The company also aims to spread the power of happiness as it has always done in its recent advertisements with #MakeItHappy. Unlike most other companies, personal examples are a major element to Coca-Cola’s persuasive message.
Danica Patrick, the first female NASCAR driver to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole in 2013 and the highest finish ever by a woman in the 2009 Indianapolis 500, was also used by Coca-Cola to demonstrate how famous people are also targets of hate speech. We may be familiar with those scenes in television dramas, especially when envy plays a part, but the prevalence in real life is concerning.
With such a great female role model can be both a model and compete with men in the male-dominated arena of NASCAR, should we not use her as an example to encourage ourselves to chase our dreams despite what others may say? Should we not prove that women are as capable as men? Should we not realize the possibility of co-existence of multiple social roles without sacrificing any aspect of our identity? Yet, some of us are adding to the burden of others, when they have done nothing wrong but to be their true self.
Furthermore, Coca-Cola does a great job incorporating different minority groups in the cyberbullying discourse. Homosexuals, racial minorities and children from lower socio-economic background are all included in this series. Simple features such as the way people dress, their sexuality and their ethnicity can all be triggering elements of hate speech, which inspired, rather bitterly, Trisha Prabhu to invent the app Rethink. Rethink sends an alert encouraging people to rethink their actions before they send out words that have negative connotations.
Although it is rather unlikely those people who most frequently participate in cyberbullying will download such an app, it nevertheless can reinforce positivity even among the few users who do download it. Then through proper discourse and social influence, we hope the habit of rethinking written word can become a culture, a social norm or something your friends would encourage you to do. This chain reaction can be proven by Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, where he predicts the norms we learn do not come from explicit learning but from the social environment, which includes mimicking what your peers do. If social encouragement and stronger friendship bonds are the positive outcome, then more and more of us can realize that hate speech not only harms the other person but, ultimately, it prevents you from enjoying the happy moments in life.
It is what Michael Sam did, in response to hateful remarks from a bigot, that should serve as the guide to handling Internet hate. Sam responded saying, “though you hate me so much I still love you.” Sam’s response stopped another spill out of aimless hate speeches.
We should also look up to Robby Novak, the Kid President, to embrace every hateful message with a smile just like what he is known to do in his YouTube videos. Then with these kinds of responses we are able to prevent the spread of cyberbullying or intensify the battle online. Gradually this norm shall spread and prevent even triggering hate speeches, which Coca-Cola does a great job in delivering such a message, that together we can make the Internet a happy place.
All in all, this series of Coca-Cola ads has stepped away from the effort of big corporations to catch the audience’s eyes by meaningless dramatic storylines. Rather, the message it delivers is worth the $4 million even if it touches just a little part of every audience member’s heart.
Do you agree with Jacinta? We’d like to hear your perspective. Please send all feedback to opinion@daily cardinal.com.
