"Sorta Mom" is a commercial advertising insurance services of Esurance company. It was released during the Super Bowl championship season in 2015 on several social media platforms, including YouTube video-sharing platform. It can be found by following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIey1MTsS9w .
There has been much discussion about this commercial as it touches upon the issue of gender and stereotyping on the basis of gender. It portrays a careless and even reckless woman who stops by a school to pick up a child (see figure 1). However, she does not even care that this is not her child, stating that, "I am sorta your mom". Lindsay Lohan, starring as careless mother in this commercial, knocks down a bollard while parking and damages some parts of her car. This commercial advertizes MyWay Coverage, which is a special type of motor car insurance.
Figure 1
Snapshot from "Sorta Mom" Commercial
Source: Esurance Sorta Mom Official Ad. (2015, February 1).
Using YouTube video-sharing platform is a really good fit for my client's service for several reasons. In the first place, this commercial was released during the Super Bowl championship season and a lot of people are likely to watch the repeat of matches and play-offs on YouTube. Taking into consideration that this commercial was ranked among 50 most popular commercials during the season of Super Bowl XLIX, many people were exposed to it. What is more, people who are fond of sports or engage in sport activities tend to earn high salaries. Therefore, these individuals are likely to have cars and need some kind of motor car insurance. Another advantage of using YouTube platform is that people can watch this particular commercial and other materials for free, which enlarges the audience being exposed to the commercial.
In the meantime, utilizing YouTube platform for advertising is also associated with potential risks. First of all, YouTube offers its viewers to watch related videos. In the majority of cases, these related videos would be commercial of insurance services of the company's competitors. What is more, when an individual is exposed to vast quantity of resources and information, he/she is likely to forget about 90% of the information received.
It also should be noted that there are some other issues, including ethical, related to the use of this particular platform. One of the ethical issues is that YouTube is blocked in several countries for several reasons, including violation of copyright laws and other regulations related to protection of intellectual property.
One of the most controversial issues related to this commercial is the issue of gender and stereotyping on the basis of gender. In the first place, this commercial implies that all women are terrible drivers who do not care about safety on the roads. Although the way Lindsay Lohan parks and drives was supposed to funny on purpose and aimed to attract attention of and stick to memory of potential customers, it might be considered as offensive by many women who are really good drivers. Therefore, it is quite difficult to decide whether this specific issue was a good fit for the client's service. On the one hand, it helped make the commercial funny and laughable and eye-catching at the same time. On the other hand, it elicited negative emotions of women who drive and their disapproval of this commercial and the company and its services taken as a whole.
Another thing specific issue which might cause disapproval of working mothers is the fact that the woman in the commercial is portrayed as a careless mother who is not capable of managing anything in her life. Women might also be offended by the statement Lindsay Lohan makes in this commercial, "Hey, I am sorta your mom. We are both 25 to 35 years old. We are both women on the go, and we both clocked a lot of miles". This might with good reason be considered as stereotyping. Moreover, this statement might be regarded as offensive to mothers who are older than 35 years old. Taking everything mentioned above into consideration, this aspect seems to be not great fit for the client's service, although it might bring joy to some men and gender-biased individuals.
Another specific issue which should be taken into account within this context is Lindsay Lohan, starring as a mother in this commercial. This celebrity is well-known for her unsavory reputation as well as wrongdoings related to alcohol, drugs, and other substances. Considering that the fundamental concept of this commercial was to portray a terrible driver, this particular fact might be considered as a good fit. In the meantime, portraying Lindsay Lohan as a mother might be offensive to a certain degree to mothers who exert every effort to provide for their children and make their life worth living .
If I had the opportunity to re-do this commercial in the future, I would definitely try to avoid stereotyping on the basis of gender. The fundamental reason behind that is that stereotyping typically triggers disproval of consumers, even if it is concealed by humor. In the new commercial would portray not only a woman, but also a man in order to avoid gender issues. Nevertheless, I would hold to the main concept of this advertisement, which makes it memorable by virtue of humor.
I would stay with YouTube video-sharing platform as major social media for this commercial. However, I would also use other platforms, including Facebook to attract attention of young audience and raise awareness regarding services that the company offers. Facebook is considered to be one of the most powerful tools of information sharing and dissemination. By using Facebook as a platform for advertising of the above services, we would enable potential customers share information about the company and its services by sharing links to the commercial.
Generally speaking, "Sorta Mom" commercial may be regarded as quite controversial. Therefore, if I had the opportunity to re-do this commercial, I would exert every effort to avoid ethical and other issues which might arise due to inappropriate, unacceptable, or ambiguous content.
Bonus Questions
1. What I liked most of all about this class is its practical value. In my opinion, working on and solving real-life cases and examples is of paramount importance to any student who wants to be engaged in this field. I really liked that the instructor managed to establish friendly and cooperative relations and atmosphere in the class and that all students have equal opportunities. The fact that the instructor was always ready and willing to assist students when they had some issues also will make this class and the instructor retain in my memory for a very long time.
2. It seems to me that it might be useful to give students more group assignments in order to teach them interact effectively as a part of the team. Probably, adding more visual elements, such as slide-shows and other presentation, will also help provoke students' interest and, as a result, improve their academic achievements in the future.
References
Esurance Sorta Mom Official Ad. (2015, February 1). Retrieved June 18, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIey1MTsS9w
