Aaron Paul's critically acclaimed role of Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad is how people generally know him
Commercials are one of the few things in life I find really annoying. They exist for the sole reason of companies trying to sell products or imprint messages with mass marketing. Not to mention, it's usually an interruption to something, which is just inconvenient in itself. But one commercial with Aaron Paul has recently been making me change how I feel about them. For those of you who don't know which commercial I'm talking about, I'm talking about his one for XBox 1, where he plays TitanFall. It hasn't convinced me to get an XBox 1 (though he makes it seem awesome) because of the price and how little I play games, but just seeing him and his Jesse Pinkman persona on TV again is great. He's a humble and hardworking actor, with lots of similarities to me, I think, in his determination and belief in life, which is why it's so great to see him succeed. It's all very well deserved, so if you haven't checked it out, go watch it. It's pretty hard to miss.
Jesse getting to relax now that there's no more Heisenberg around
In my Sociology class, we talk about people for the most part, but on Tuesday, we broke the norm when we talked about the Super Bowl. I honestly had no idea why we were wasting time on it because the game was disappointingly a blowout, but we focused on something other than football. We focused on the commercials, two in particular. One was the GoldieBlox commercial about girls being able to play what they want, which I thought was awesome being a Gender Studies minor. The other one though, was the "America The Beautiful" Coca-Cola commercial. I wasn't surprised by its content since Coca-Cola always has interesting commercials, like their Simpsons one, but I was more surprised that it was receiving controversy for the reasons it was.
One of the obvious reasons the commercial was receiving controversy was because it had a homosexual couple in it with their daughter. I can understand the shock seeing it since we aren't used to seeing homosexuals in commercials, but it isn't a big deal. Homosexuals are people just like everyone else, and they just want to be accepted. No matter what your beliefs are, I think you have to at least respect that. The other reason it was controversial, which I didn't understand, was because it had different people singing "America The Beautiful" in different languages. It was a beautiful and patriotic thing, but a lot of people didn't like it because they think we only speak English in this country, or they believe it's hypocritical. I think disliking the commercial for the first reason I stated is ignorant since English isn't the official language of this country, and there are lots of different people who live in our country. But I understand the thinking that it's hypocritical. The commercial paints America as something idyllic, yet we all know it isn't like that. There's still racism, and the very homosexuals in that commercial can't even get married in most states, which is a shame. Not to mention, Coca-Cola is the one that made the commercial, so while it's great and sends a message, we all know they just want to sell soda. I understand being angry, but at the end of the day, it's just a commercial. There are more important things in life than that, so let's just enjoy it for how beautiful it is.
The Coca-Cola commercial. Do you think it's controversial? You be the judge...
On TV, they have commercials featuring Hilary Duff and Wanda Sykes confronting people who use the word "gay" when they want to say something is bad or stupid. To some, the commercials may be lame, but I like them and commend them for spreading an important message that people shouldn't discriminate against others. You'd think it would be something obvious, but it's something around us all the time.
With that in mind, I have to talk about Kevin Durant. I know you're probably wondering why I'm talking about an NBA player with this topic, but it has to do with something that occurred with him over the week, when he was posting pictures of his new fiance on his Instagram when a person commented on it saying "she looked like Rondo", a comment he obviously didn't like. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but there comes a time when someone has to realize when to not say anything. A celebrity or a person posting personal stuff online is doing it to celebrate happiness or to share with friends, not to be attacked verbally by someone's opinion. One person's opinion may not matter in the grand scheme of things, but it's always hurtful when someone criticizes someone you care about whether it's a family member or significant other. You wouldn't want it done to you, so like the ads that say knock off saying something is "gay", don't be rude to people on social media. That's just bad taste and a reason why I don't have a Facebook anymore.
When it came to Super Bowl commercials yesterday, I didn't see most of them besides the Paul Harvey "God Made A Farmer" one, which was inspiring and risky. As much as I enjoyed that though, it still doesn't make me feel as good as my favorite Super Bowl commercial, which is also one of the most famous. It's the Mean Joe Green Coke commercial. Been parodied numerous times, but the original with it's simplicity and sweetness will never be copied.
