The commercial we all wanted to see during the Super Bowl didn’t air during the game. Instead, it aired 30 minutes BEFORE the game. Yeah, how many people view the pre-game program AND watch the commercials? Most people assume the supposedly hot (some weren’t) commercials will air during the game — not before or after. So they’re more likely to take breaks during pre-game show commercials.
Nonetheless, you can catch it on YouTube and Pepsi’s special page devoted to the making of the spot and more.
And as usual, many Super Bowl commercials didn’t have captions. Ironically, this included Pepsi’s other commercials. These companies spend millions for their ads, but can’t spare a small amount for captions? Pepsi sent mixed messages with its ads.
I’m also disappointed to see the letter from AG Bell Association [pdf file] for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The letter to PepsiCo’s Communications expressed concerns with the deaf stereotype presented in the ad.
I communicate orally and don’t use ASL (please don’t chide me — keep reading), yet I loved this commercial and showed it to everyone I know. ASL makes a bigger impact in an ad than deaf people who speak.
Besides… every race, religion, disability, difference, etc. etc. has diversity within its own groups. This ad was simple, powerful, and funny. Let’s not make this a deaf vs. Deaf war and instead show our support with one big cheer.
Deaf Pundit posted a letter to PepsiCo that rebuts AG Bell’s letter.
By the way, Project readOn has created a Super Bowl XLII commercials page. So don’t go to the commercial’s official MySpace page, which don’t have a drop of captions. Furthermore, the page doesn’t work on Firefox.
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Project Readon only showed 10 superbowl ads while myspace showed all of the ads aired DURING the game… *shrug* I know the difference is captioning itself..
it does work on firefox, you might have to reload 1 or 2 times till the black background show up before playing the video.
Boult, I did try reloading — but then again… it could be a very busy page.
Also, I believe Project readOn is adding more and trying to do it in order of popularity. Just my guess.
Meryl, agreed.
It was truly ironic and hypocritical of Pepsi and other advertiser to not caption their commercials.
I’m glad you and others recognize that there is diversity within each group. It’s very gratifying to see individuals like you acknowledge that. 🙂
I was looking forward to watching the deaf commercial and watching the reactions of the people with me. I am an ASL student, my teacher is deaf he was the one that told me about the ad. He told us what a great thing this was for the deaf community and was really looking forward to it. I think it was a great disapointment for many people, for which the ad would have been very meaningful.
Thank you, Meryl. I loved the message here.