Psychology of Advertising: Super Bowl Advertising Reaches New Heights

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Super Bowl Advertising Reaches New Heights

In the 1950s Dinah Shore simply invited us to "See the USA in a Chevrolet." This was an example of a classic celebrity endorsement. A famous and well regarded person spoke on behalf of a brand.

Today, during the 2014 Super Bowl, we saw this concept of celebrity endorsement rise to new heights.

In the 2014 Chrysler Super Bowl commercial Bob Dylan, the risk-taking, visionary, intellectual, folk-rock icon reminds us what our nation is. Dylan spoke about originality, conviction, accomplishment, and legacy. With a driving rock beat, he honored "the heart and soul of every man and woman working on the line."

This commercial goes so far beyond celebrity endorsement as to redefine what endorsement advertising can be. In this commercial, Dylan not merely endorses the brand, so much as he embodies the brand. Dylan, through all his work, has shown that he has a unique and incisive capacity to see what America is and what at its best America can be.

For the third year in a row Chrysler has won the Super Bowl advertising sweepstakes. Advertising quality is a leading indicator of a company's core values, managerial strength, and prospects for the future. This is a company to watch.

Copyright © 2014 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

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Important Readings For You

Eighmey's journal articles on Internet advertising place him among the 10 most widely cited on the subject. His path-making article "Profiling User Responses to Commercial Websites" (see Journal of Advertising Research, March 1997) has been cited in more than 783 scholarly articles and books.

For a conceptual and data-driven analysis of youth values and the propensity to act on values, read Eighmey's article "Why Do Youth Enlist? Identification of Underlying Themes" in Armed Forces & Society, Vol. 32, No. 2, (January, 2006).

Read "Harlow Gale and the Origins of the Psychology of Advertising" in the Journal of Advertising, December 2007 for historical perspective.

For the big picture read "The Psychology of Persuasion: Perspectives for Theory, Research and Application in a Diverse World." A book co-authored with Osei Appiah and published by Cognella, 2011.

For 450 print ads that bring to life Advertising and American History, scroll down to the link featuring the original ad for Oreo cookies. Why not check out all the other links, too.