Costs for a spot during Super Bowl prove that we may see the most grand, compelling, and creative ads of the year. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. For this assignment, I have chosen to analyze a Super Bowl ad for the new Hyundai Elantra. The video features Johnny Galecki, one of the stars of popular TV series The Big Bang Theory. He stops on the red light in the new Elantra, near a woman, who is also driving the new Elantra, and tries to flirt with her. The woman coldly neglects him right away, but he follows her anyway, trying to continue the conversation. Her one-word responses rhyme with Galecki’s last word, summoning sudden corresponding events: explosions on the road before him, a rambling comedian Richard Lewis on his back seat, and then a ramp leading to a line of rings set on fire, similar to the ones one may see on dangerous stunt shows (HyundaiUSA, 2014).
Frankly speaking, the ad is a mess. First of all, in my opinion, the creators used Galecki improperly. People mostly know him as a geek from the series, the type that does not usually attract too much women. Though he is ignored by an attractive lady in the ad, he looks like an average man above thirty, definitely not a geek. Therefore, almost anyone could have been used for the part. Appearance of Lewis is also questionable – Hyundai should have picked someone more famous for ad’s length. Secondly, creativity involves chaos and frequently defies logic in the name of fun, but it always should lead to a more or less coherent message to the potential customers, appeal or relate to them when used in making ads. Yet, Hyundai’s ad just bombards the viewer with unexplainable events that are foremost confusing than anything else for its thirty seconds run. Most importantly, they do not present the product: average people who may consider buying Elentra do not face a danger of explosions on the road, perform stuns or would consider doing them on Elentra, not mention these sequences are CGI. In this light, it is very hard for a driver to relate to the video, because the drive-by flirt is enormously exaggerated.
All in all, the ad is a misfire. It may try to be as creative as it can in thirty seconds, but just ends up flooding your eyes with a set of incoherent sequences which would end up a forgettable rather than funny, appealing or somewhat interesting.
References
HyundaiUSA. (2014, January 27). Nice [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWiPEe-RiCM
