The Super Bowl commercials for hybrid cars this year won’t go down in history as fan favorites — and they probably haven’t registered in viewers’ memories even days after the big game as they could be kindly called a bit on the dull side. As usual, a beer company scored the most advertising points using the proven method of humor to record a hit with television viewers.
However, taking a sociological view, it is interesting that the predominant automobile advertising focused on energy saving models, rather than toughness or largeness or other manly traits.
Perhaps it is a sign that companies realize the Super Bowl doesn’t have a strictly macho audience anymore. This was proven by Dove skin products, which promoted self-esteem for young girls who might think they should be thinner, prettier, even blond, in a commercial that didn’t even try to have a smidgen of masculinity to it.
Then again, it seems to be a clear sign that gas mileage is going to become the new standard for measuring desirability of automobile models in the years to come. At the Super Bowl gathering I attended, talk of miles per gallon — even before the commercials aired — rather than performance, handling or luxury dominated the brief conversation on cars Sunday.
Perhaps President Bush sensed this change when he made the surprising announcement in his State of the Union speech Wednesday that "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world." His solution is to replace more than 75 percent of oil imports from the Middle East by the year 2025.
However, digging deeper into his proposal, one finds that about 60 percent of the oil America uses is imported and less than one fifth of that comes from the Middle East, so his proposal isn’t nearly as radical as it sounds. It is admirable of him to push for ethanol as a way to replace that imported oil, but he still isn’t addressing energy conservation and the environmental effects of our gluttonous way of life.
Many people have been waiting for Bush to address our energy dependence ever since 9/11. There was hope that he would lead a “war” on foreign energy dependence or create a campaign to chart our own energy future with homegrown energy sources.
Of course, Bush — notwithstanding his ties to Big Oil — isn’t big on government intervention, at least in the private marketplace, so any campaign of his would not involve the mandates and restrictions some environmentalists would like to see.
Then again, maybe the direction needs to come from the bottom up to make a lasting change in our habits. States such as Minnesota have been successful in integrating ethanol into the gasoline supply. And, consumers are talking about energy efficiency at a level not seen since the 1970s.
Kermit the frog may not be able to sell viewers of the Super Bowl on a hybrid car, but escalating gas prices definitely gets consumers asking about energy conservation options in the vehicles they are looking to buy.
The marketplace is quite a powerful tool to bring about change in the United States. In fact, it is as much an American tradition as Super Sunday has come to be for people who get together to gather around the television to watch football and the commercials that signify the changing values in our country.
