Page 143 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

132 • Sport, Media and Society

work, emotion, humility, determination and perseverance. The appeal of the spot also
mirrored the themes of the sporting event—striving for perfection—and the emotions

associated with triumph and success after hard work and sacrifice. Kelley and Turley
(2004) suggested that the infusion of emotional appeals within Super Bowl advertise-
ments succeeds in part because of spectators’ expectations of experiencing emotional
and affective feelings during the game. The narrative of the advertisement intertextu-
ally referenced the themes, emotions and values associated with sporting spectacles,
without making explicit reference to either the fi lm Rocky or the game itself.
Rocky (1976) and its numerous sequels have been used in a range of advertise-

ments, and the films maintain an ongoing and powerful presence within US popular

culture. Elmwood (2005: 56) suggested that the Rocky films provide a particular
understanding of US national character through recalling a ‘Revolutionary heritage’,
with its ideals of civic engagement and democracy, while simultaneously underplay-
ing the presence of societal tensions around race and gender. These absences are
also echoed in the Budweiser advertisement. The spirit of meritocracy in the adver-
tisement obscures evidence that mobility in the United States is lower than in other
comparable industrial nations (‘Land of Opportunity?’ 2007). It also underplayed

the well-recognised difficulty of achieving social advancement through sport (Nixon
1984). Ironically, Hank’s achievement was symbolically portrayed by being har-
nessed to the wagon along with the rest of the team, which, in another context, could
be associated with Marxist critiques of capitalism and issues of ‘alienated labour’
and worker exploitation. Instead, the mythology of the American dream is associated
with the ‘Great American Lager’ in a feel-good story of achievement reinforced by
its positioning within the spectacle of the Super Bowl.

CHAPTER SUMMARY
• Advertisement is an omnipresent feature of advanced capitalism, and we
are increasingly asked to understand ourselves within the discourse of ad-
vertising
• Sport offers a compelling resource for advertisers because of the meanings
and passion that consumers already invest in teams and players
• We can only understand what advertisements mean by unpacking the ways
they make things mean something to us
• Advertising involves translating one system of meaning onto another, con-
necting products with desirable people, objects, lifestyles or a social world
• Meaning is made through absences in the narrative of advertisements, and
the consumer completes the circuit of meaning by ‘getting the joke’
• Sport and sport events may not be explicit in the narrative of advertise-
ments but are often referenced intertextually, invoking the host of associa-
tions that circulate around sport in society