Cultural Interpretation
I wrote this analysis for an Anthropology assignment. I have so far enjoyed ANTH 100 with Dr. Paula Pryce and would recommend everyone to take this course during their time at UBC.
This analysis does not use scholarly sources and is by and large my own interpretation of the advertisement.
Please watch the video before reading further
Description
This 30 second commercial was released at the first Super Bowl kickoff on Sunday, Feb. 5th this year. The ideas that this commercial largely relates to are tradition, progress and race.
Airbnb is a peer to peer rental marketplace that allows homeowners to rent out whole or part of their property to travellers for short periods. Not only is it more affordable for the travellers but also more human. Living in someone else’s home, in many cases with their families and pets, not only gives travellers a sense of belonging in a foreign land but also allows for exchange of culture as a complex whole as we know it. Travellers get the opportunity to become cultural participants and immerse themselves with the locals.
The commercial includes portraits of Airbnb employees and was targeted towards Donald Trump’s travel ban on refugees and muslims from 7 different countries.
This ad assumes that its audience is aware of the widespread anti-immigrant rhetoric in the United States and tries to address the same by referring to the value of acceptability that is arguably one of its key strengths since the Declaration of Independence.
It also sends a strong message for equality, one of the core values of the US . Being a nation of immigrants, it is rather ironic to have reached a point in our lifetime where people have to be told to accept diversity.
Analysis
Tradition
With the rise of xenophobia in the United States, evident in its political leadership, Airbnb took this opportunity to convey a message at a traditionally American event. Super Bowl is the most-watched, one-day sporting event in the world. It is the annual championship-deciding game in the National Football League (NFL) and sees the America’s top two teams go head-to-head to compete for one of the most prestigious titles in sport.There’s no bafflement as to why Airbnb chose this event for its commercial but what is surprising is that it chose to address an issue which to a great extent has become political one. As a privately owned multibillion dollar startup, Airbnb was rather bold in releasing this ad at this event. They could have chosen to show an ad depicting a more idealistic traveler’s journey similar to their ‘Never a Stranger’ commercial. given that ad space costs $5 million for 30 seconds.
Traditionally, the ads aired during the game have predominantly been American brands ranging from automotive to alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. They have also been representative of the American value of materialism. This year, not only Airbnb, but Budweiser too took a bold step in their ad “Born the hard way” where they depict a german man’s struggle to come to the US and how he met his future business partner over a beer.
Tradition, as I interpret, is contextual and ever-changing. One cannot ignore the present challenges of society and pretend to be completely ecstatic inside the football stadium. The harsh realities of what’s happening in the US has left many people in shock and despair. When those in charge of guarding the values of a nation fail, its people rise to defend them.
Airbnb and Budweiser’s commercials are iconic examples of traditional capitalist values that the US embraces.
Progress
This ad is very relevant to present times where rising nationalism is being observed globally evident from Brexit, Le Pen’s agenda in the French election and Donald Trump’s presidency. This ad refutes the idea of unilateral social evolutionism and forces us to think in culturally relative terms.
It is also worth noting that the location of the game this year was Houston, Texas, a predominantly republican state and to release this ad there is a strong message of progress.
In the ad, the scene depicting “who you love” shows half faces of a pink haired woman and a sikh man. This is representative of today’s multicultural and globalized world where religion, ethnicity and gender doesn’t need to be the same for people to love each other.
LGBT rights in North America are a profound example of this.
In the ad, I find the last sentence is very powerful-
“The world is more beautiful the more you accept”.
Progress, as I interpret, is accepting diversity beyond the physical differences. It is accepting differences in thoughts, opinions and being open to being challenged on those grounds while living in harmony.
This ad asserts that diversity is essential for progress as monotonicity of the human race not only makes us less innovative as a whole but also less interesting.
Race and Ethnicity
Tracy E. Ore Associate Professor of Sociology, Saint Cloud State University, describes race and ethnicity as follows:
Race: “a group of people who perceive themselves and are perceived by others as possessing distinctive hereditary traits.”
Ethnicity: “having cultural traits such as language, religion, family customs, and food preferences.”
I state the definitions because the two can often be confused with one another.
The ad portrays different ethnicities and races by depicting portraits of both men and women of varying skin color, eye color, age and appearance.
The ad starts with the following words- “We believe no matter who you are”. The ad spends 3 seconds on the portrait of a black man and with the following words- “who you are”(pictured above). I found this to be the strongest message in the ad. If we think about it, Airbnb spent $500,000 (businessinsider.com 4) to convey the harsh realities of slavery and the differential treatment that African Americans still face in parts of United States. This simple shot forces its viewers to think deep about a plethora of racial issues embedded in their society.
It was also Interesting to observe that “who you worship” appears with an image of a Sikh man. The sikh man’s appearance conveys that he follows a minority religion in America. For all other face shots of men and women, it is difficult to identify their religion just by their physical characteristics.
As Boas and his student Montagu argue, there is no close relationship between race and culture. The AAA statement on race tells us that intra racial genetic variation supersedes inter racial genetic variation. Debunking the hierarchical classification and biological notions of race, anthropologists have asserted that the differences exist because of history, politics and other socio economic circumstances.
Conclusion
It is important to have meaningful media that contours the world we live in rather than superficial utopia. Airbnb’s ‘We Accept’ commercial does exactly that.
