Americans typically turn to sports for entertainment, and we often expect our entertainment to provide us with an escape from reality. If you were hoping the 2017 Super Bowl would give you that escape, however, you were probably let down.
The state of our country’s politics is the kind of disaster that hurts to watch but nevertheless makes you feel that you cannot look away. Unless you actually did look away from your television last night, you saw Coca Cola’s revival of a 2014 ad featuring a multilingual rendition of “America the Beautiful,” Budweiser’s narrative about its immigrant founder, and Airbnb’s declaration of multicultural acceptance.
Departing from attempts to use humor or sex to attract attention, these issue-driven ads turn cultural talking points into corporate selling points by aligning the companies that create them with views that seem popular among consumers.
Of course, many of the executives who decide to run these ads might agree with the message they deliver and feel the ads accurately represent the company’s values, but it’s suddenly become very popular to say that you love women and immigrants, and you have to wonder if some of this support is disingenuous.
For example, I enjoyed Audi’s portrait of a young girl who defies gender stereotypes and achieves her goal of winning a cart race. I did not enjoy learning, as Forbes reports, that none of the six members of Audi’s executive team are women and that its board of directors is only 16 percent female compared to a 20-percent average among Fortune 500 companies, which by the way is also terrible.
However, if I had to choose an idea for the public to confront, I’d rather everyone be reminded of the reality of gender inequality than continue on in the commodification of female sexuality when yet another model in a bikini — or less — eats a Carl’s Jr. burger.
What I really want is a company that takes actions to match the supposedly socially aware commentary in its ads. Enter Airbnb, which had a simple yet striking celebration of diversity matched by its commitment to provide temporary housing for people affected by Trump’s discriminatory immigration policy.
You might remember that Airbnb had trouble last fall with complaints about how its hosts treated people of color and since then it has instituted a feature that allows guests to book lodgings instantly without host approval to prevent discrimination based on the guests’ identities.
Now Airbnb has pledged to offer free and subsidized short-term housing to 100,000 “refugees, victims of natural disasters and aid workers” in the next five years and to donate $4 million to the International Rescue Committee in the next four years, according to the New York Times.
When Airbnb says it believes “no matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love or who you worship, we all belong,” I believe them. Even if critics argue this ad bears significant resemblance to a previous one released in response to last year’s controversy, Airbnb’s reforms and promises demonstrate a level of commitment that sufficiently backs up the message its ad projects.
People will take just about anything good in this world and try to use it to turn a profit, and I’ve accepted that. It’s up to us, though, to make sure that the ideas in these ads become as mainstream as the ads themselves.
