You've Got to Get Yourself Some Marble Columns!

Alternate video URL: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/#mea=94844

This is a video from Saturday Night Live of a spoofed commercial for marble columns. I found this particularly interesting because it mocks the usual methods of persuasion in typical commercials.

First and foremost, this video ridicules and exaggerates the fact that people are so material-based. The video makes it seem as if anyone could simply own marble columns and feel that they are very superior. Scarlett Johansson portrays this fact with the line, "People are going to look at you and go, 'Who lives there? The Pope?' " The video also describes some very regular day-to-day events, like eating breakfast and sleeping, that could be enhanced simply with the presence of marble columns.

This is certainly very reminiscent of today's society. For some people, it seems as if the possession of certain "classy" items would make them more high-class. This is also why most commercials are successful: they like to play on the human desire for power, and thus persuade them to buy material products. An example of how this commercial portrays this is when Jason Sudeikis says "Nothing says I have money and power like marble columns". He even establishes authority for what he is saying: "How do I know this? Because I have been selling marble columns to rich people for over 10 years! I'm talking millionares!"

The video also makes fun of the fact that commercials always try to hard-wire concepts into your mind by repeating a line (or several lines) over and over again. Just like the "Head-On" commercial which keeps repeating "Head-On, apply directly to the forehead", this commercial keeps insistently repeating the line, "You've got to get yourself some marble columns!". This video amuses us by using an emotional appeal to the audience, since most of us would usually we usually agree that commercials like the one for Head-On are quite annoying and ridiculous.

We are entertained by how everything sounds stupid, and by the sarcasm employed through the cheesy examples of how marble columns could enhance any place. We are also implicitly informed that we should be wary of commercials that attempt to use bandwagon or other approaches in order to persuade you to buy material items.