Advertisement Review: Volkswagen 'The Force' commercial - Star Wars Super Bowl

Creative students were shaking in their boots all over North America this year when the commercial line-up for the Superbowl was released, for two reasons:

1. Many of the commercials were a result of public input. Your average Joe was given the opportunity to send in ideas and watch them come to life... and they did. If creative ideas from the general public are good enough to be given Superbowl status where does that leave those of us that work to make it into the industry, let alone dream of developing a Superbowl spot. Let's just hope this degree is good for something when we are done.

2. Ads such as the one above. This ad was not only dubbed as the most memorable and best ad of the Superbowl, it went viral. Every time I see an ad as good, or as close to as good, as this one a bead of sweat drips down my forehead. 'Will I ever think of something that good?' I'm sure going to keep trying.

The thing that makes this ad so amazing is its subtle and simplistic nature, making it impossible to see anything but genius.

The first noticeably superior concept that this spot possesses is its strong entrance. Many ads start off slow and continue to be slow until a punch line at the end, others simply glide through and use the 30 seconds to fit as much information as they can in, this ad breaks all story telling rules: It is a continuous climax with a hyper-climax at the end; this is how all commercials should be. Why waste time building people up when you only have 30 seconds to get your ideas across?

The Breakdown:

Everybody alive has heard of star wars and I could confidently say that its theme song is one of the most memorable and recognizable tunes to this day. Deutsch Inc. LA capitalized on this and opened the ad with a symbolic white hallway, Darth Vader, and this song... an ensemble that every viewer can feel a part of.

The ad then moves right into the big idea: using the force. The kid has clearly just watched Star Wars and has been inspired to become a Jedi himself (Fun Fact: the 6 year old actor has never actually seen the movie because it is 'too scary').

Moving throughout the house he does his very absolute best to lift, move, or even just start all of the exciting things he can find, even the household dog. The dog is the first of four important 'looks'. Opening his eyes and 'raising an eyebrow' as if to say "good try kid".

Moving on he passionatly throws his hands forward at the washer and dryer and then at his sisters doll, the second of the four looks. The dolls blank stare and unmoving features further suggest that "this is not happening", disheartening the child, and the audience, further.

Darth then makes his way down the hallway. After another unsuccessful attempt on the dog he moves onto the sandwich - Que the third look. After a wiggle of his fingers and a fierce look of pure will on his non-face (a measure of success on the actors part) his mother pushes him the sandwich. Her face is the last of the build-up looks as she stares "eat your lunch and stop this nonsense... it will not work'.

With all of Darths hard work, and the non-supportive 'family members' throughout the ad, the viewer is sucked in emotionally and begging Deutsch Inc. to give the poor kid a chance.

At last. Daddy's home.

This was it. The big chance: the car. If he could make something happen on this car it would be the greatest success anyone has ever known.

Running past dad, cape trailing behind, hands out as if to say 'not now! I have business to attend!'. He finds himself in front of the car; the daunting, beautiful car. One wave of his hands and the car doesn't budge. But the child knows this would not be an easy task, he must focus; zooming in on his thoughts and his every dream. The music nearly stops. The child and the audience are both drawn in... until...

IT STARTS! The car has started! Darth Vader has done it! All of his hard work has paid off!

- a quick shot to the real magic and a smile from the viewers for the greatest dad ever -

And then it happens, the hyper-climax of the entire ad, where all of the frustration and work has lead to... the fourth look.

Darth stumbles back, looking at his parents: "DID YOU SEE THAT?!" He then looks shockingly back over to the car {insert words here of what that child could possibly be feeling/thinking right now... I certainly couldn't think of anything sufficient enough in the English language to give justice to the 'fourth look'}

(I looked everywhere for a mini-clip of this last scene on repeat but couldn't find one)

And there it is. The four looks that make up the greatest commercial of 2011, if not of all time.

Thank you for visiting my page. I hope that you learned a thing or two and that I was able to spark some interest into the depths of advertising.

If you would like to see more of my work or are interested in hiring a freelance writer for your next project, please visit my website at www.smakmedia.co.