Don't get me wrong, when I first saw this commercial I thought it was very cute. Honestly, it does a very good job at playing to one's emotions, which is a common tactic in advertising. One of the many clever strategies companies use to get us to buy their stuff.
However, after I had seen it for about the tenth time, I realized something: this is exactly what us as a society views as normal. We are told that a career, marriage, white picket fences and children are our ultimate goals in life. If we progress through this journey called life without achieving these goals, we are different. That's just the facts. This, to me, fits into what Marxist philosopher Antonia Gramsci termed cultural Hegemony.
To first understand this term, we must first understand culture. Put simply, culture is a community large enough to sustain itself, and has had thoughts and behaviors passed down over time. Hegemony, according to Gramsci, is a concept in which everyday practices enforce a dominate group. According to him, parts of a culture should not be seen as "the norm" or "inevitable". This all is merely a system of coercion and consent.
It is a system of rituals we fall into that promotes an idea of "normal" In this commercial, the main male character gets married, has kids, and has a house in the suburbs, all the while trying to push away those rituals. He has a suburban house with a white picket fence, and a wife that is shown doing laundry, filling in the role as a wife that does the housekeeping. As he grows up, he looses his want of partying or being different, and settles down. His final point of maturity is at the end, when he finally accepts that he is a father and husband with a stable suburban house. He is secure and middle class man.
He eventually accepts these choices, and his happy with what he has accomplished. He finally fulfills his "role" as a white American male that achieved his American dream. His family is shown as happy and a "normal" one.
Okay, I get what your are thinking. Why am I getting so deep on a simple State Farm commercial? Well, because the media is all about people. It has to appeal to the people. To do this, it often avoids showing values that are different.
According to James Lull in Gender, Race, and Class in Media Second Edition, Ideas outside of the norm typically appear on low budget media forms that are not as well known. This leaves T.V. and commercial media, This means that mass media helps contribute to the idea that those that do not fall into the "norm" must conform.
This commercial shows what a "normal" American's life is supposed to be. Men should be fathers and husbands. Women definitely should be mothers and wives. Kids should have both parents. Parents should be married. Families should have a cute suburban house with a white picket fence. All those practices in between enforce a dominant group and idea of normal.The problem is, not all families are like this. Some deal with divorce, poverty, and broken homes.
So, what about the rest of us? If one grows up, and doesn't achieve these things, especially marriage and children, they are seen as sad, lonely people. I have experienced this even at my age. When I tell people that I have no desire of having children or getting married, they often are appalled. Those things should be my goals, right? According to this commercial, however, we will all eventually fall into these roles in the dominant American middle class white picket fence culture.
We are told to fulfill these roles and fall into these practices from a very young age, or else our lives will not be happy ones. The man in this commercial finally achieved ultimate happiness after he had achieved being a husband and father, fulfilling his role as a man in America.
This commercial shows the typical "American Dream", but isn't it possible to achieve a different dream that's just as fulfilling?
I believe this commercial fails to show how most families are in America, and further promotes an idea of the "normal" American family. However, I give it credit in using its sweetness to appeal to peoples' emotions. However, I feel that it fails to appeal to people that are not like the family portrayed in this commercial.
