Today’s guest post comes from Shelby Cobras of Illogical Contraption.

Anyone with a sixth grade education should probably already know who Joseph Campbell is. An American mythologist, anthropologist, and author, Campbell was the first to define the perameters of the “Hero’s Journey“, a basic plot outline that most epic tales passed down through history follow. If you are not yet familiar with the “Hero’s Journey”, do not despair. This post will educate you.

The “Hero’s Journey” is a well-accepted phenomenon, an equation that applies to such disparate tales as The Epic of Gilgamesh, Star Wars, Conan The Barbarian, and… a cat food commercial?

Indeed. And not just an example. One of the BEST examples.

Although I wasn’t on the podcast this week, I’d like to use this space to follow up on that creepy, misogynistic Dodge Charger ad.  You know, this one:

A lot of people had a lot of interesting things to say about this, but I was most taken by a point that Lee made about how this spot tries to sell something we generally consider lame.  I don’t mean the car—I mean the behavior.  The compound protagonist is a man going through mid life crisis, who tries to recapture his lost youth/freedom/testicles by driving a muscle car.  The motto at the end was “Man’s… last… stand!” but it might as well have been “Compensate… for… something!“ This is not, generally speaking, behavior that your audience is going to want to emulate.  Even the guy who is interested in buying a muscle car to compensate for something probably doesn’t want to think too hard about his motivations.

Are we to understand, then, that the add is targeting mid-life crisis sufferers who are so far gone that they just don’t care anymore?  Or is it targeting aging hipsters who think that the crisis-of-masculinity is going to be the next trucker hat, making this the first ironic muscle car?

Here at Overthinking It, we’ve been talking about a disturbing trend in advertising for several years. We saw several (nine, to be exact) instances of this in last Saturday’s Super Bowl. Here’s an example:

Advertiser: Doritos

Message: “Eating Doritos will get you shocked by a dog.”

Huh? Why is this a good thing? How is this supposed to sell Doritos? Well, we’re not really sure, but we’ve coined a phrase that aptly describes this perplexing phenomenon:

“Bad Things Happen To You When You Use Our Product.”

Let’s explore this trend further with some more examples.

Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and John Perich to overthink Super Bowl XLIV, especially its downtrodden, misogynistic commercials and its geriatric halftime show.

→ Download Episode 84 (MP3)

For the second time, we were livestreaming the podcast recording on Ustream (on the Overthinking It Podcast Page, where it will return next Sunday at 9:15pm ET/6:15pm PT).

Want new episodes of the Overthinking It Podcast to download automatically? Subscribe in iTunes! (Or grab the podcast RSS feed directly.)

Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.

Mr. Suatz is the Most Interesting Man in the World.  We know this because a beer commercial tells us so.  Mr. Suatz tells us as much, himself.  After we watch his exploits in the Dos Equis commercials below, we can also form our own opinion as to whether or not he is worthy of his moniker.

So, let’s overthink this.  Is Mr. Suatz the Most Interesting Man in the World or not?

While we’re on the topic of commercials, I thought I’d bring up one that particularly bugged me.  You’ve seen this one before.  The Glade candle commercial.  Or should I say the Glah-day candle commercial?  You know, this one:

I know.  Everyone likes this commercial.  So cute, right?  Can’t you, like, totally relate to the Glah-day woman?  Wouldn’t you like to be her friend?

No.  You’re wrong.  This is a dumb commercial.  And I’ll tell you why.

You all have seen this commercial, right?

In case you can’t listen to this while you read our blog in your cubicle while you’re supposed to be working (for shame!), I’ll give you a rundown.  A chef is lamenting, in song, the effect that Bertolli brand pasta sauce has had on the restaurant business.

I make-a lasagna
I take all day
My tables are empty anyway…
[a cry of rage and despair] Bertolli!

When I saw this commercial, it immediately reminded me of a similar one from a few years back, advertizing Barilla pasta.  There’s no video of this one, unfortunately, but I remember the lyrics:

Love is grand
and love is good
but to Italians love is food
Barilla!

Both sets of lyrics are sung to the “Habañera” from George Bizet’s Carmen.

What are these commercials trying to do with this music? Click through, dear reader, click through!

One of the videos that made it into our Super Bowl ad roundup was the Conan O’Brien ad for Bud Light, in which his agent/manager/ambiguous guy in a suit convinces him to make an embarrassing Bud Light Ad  by assuring him that it will “only be seen in Sweden”.

The message of this spot seems to be “Drink Bud Light because it is a beer for awesome-non-Eurotrash-American Dudes!” In the world of the commercial, the only way that the effete Swedes could be convinced to drink Bud Light is with fire, mesh tops, and cheesy techno.  But does anyone really still hold this view of Europeans?

Usually when a commercial makes me spit coffee all over my laptop, it’s because I find something hilarious or disturbing about the subtext.  This one is less subtle.

Not that there aren’t questions.  Are we supposed to think that their hair product is a turd?  A… a marital aid of some kind?

Playing the video back and freeze-framing it, it becomes clear that the vent in the kangaroo costume is on the stomach, not between the legs, which means it’s the pouch, not the vagina or anus.  That answers the question of what the product is supposed to be (it’s a baby kangaroo, or “joey”), and also the question of how the hell it got past the censors.  But it raises another question.  Why did I *think* it was a vagina to begin with?  I do not have a dirty mind!  Shut up!  You shut up!

[For a shot-by-shot analysis of why Stokes thought it was a vagina, click and read on.]

My Friends,

Obviously, the presidential election is our focus right now. But there are other races going on too. Races that deserve our attention. I am, of course, referring to the current battle for the heart and soul of McDonaldland.