Our Commercial Culture: Audi Ups The Ante
Most commercials you'll be subjected to on any given day will probably bore you, or maybe make you chuckle a smidge. Very few make the effort, or have the ability, to grab you the way this new spot from Audi does. More fine art than advert, this is a commercial you'd be glad to be forced to watch.
That is one massive pile of drugs, man. Oh, wait...
Is there an embedded cultural message here that can be parsed out of these bunnies, flying woman and falling chairs? Probably not, though you could make one up pretty easily. All of this imagery can be found in much of contemporary art, and more than likely that's where it's been appropriated from -- and analyzed as art, there is really quite a bit going on in these few seconds in terms of composition: contrasts, power structures, framing, references to art history, the zoetrope in particular.
And of course, these scenes represent things that people want in an automobile: power, agility, grace, attraction and abundance (hence the bunnies, in case you were wondering where those fit in to the whole crazy idea), to name a few. But really, who needs a message when you've got a forty foot speaker? This commercial speaks for itself while saying very little: namely, "Here's a bunch of badass shit set to some equally compelling music. Oh, yeah and Audi cars are sweet." Everybody wins.
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