Commercials R Us: Stephen Marche in Praise of Advertising

What’s the best part of the Super Bowl? The game or the ads? Stephen Marche argues for the ads, and he wants them to get more respect. This column, from Esquire magazine, appeared just before the Super Bowl in February 2012.

Read it here: Marche, "A Short Prayer for Advertising”

 

  1. Marche makes an ironic observation when he writes that “the triumphal march of advertising is also its squalid little funeral.” What does he mean by that statement? Paraphrase the argument briefly. Do you agree? Why or why not?
  2. Marche’s snarky attitude —his trademark—makes his article very entertaining. Does it work to strengthen his argument? Why or why not?
  3. Steven Johnson and Dana Stevens’s essays in Chapter 15 of the text examine the cognitive demands of some recent television programs, but neither mentions advertising. How might ads fit into Johnson’s argument? Stevens’s argument? Find examples in the essays to back up your conclusions.
  4. Marche’s main argument is an appeal for better advertising—Super Bowl quality advertising—to appear more often and more widely, and for advertising itself to receive more respect as an art form. What reasoning does he give for his argument? How is it supported? How persuasive do you find it? Would you like to see better commercials on television? Would you fast-forward through them anyway, regardless of how good they were? Write an essay using Marche’s article as your “they say” and explain your conclusions.

 

63 thoughts on “Commercials R Us: Stephen Marche in Praise of Advertising

  1. Karen Donohue-Barrett's avatar Karen Donohue-Barrett

    In his article, “A Short Prayer for Advertising,” Stephen Marche discusses the pomp and circumstance surrounding the commercials that broadcast during the Super Bowl when he states, “the triumphal march of advertising is also its squalid little funeral” (Marche 1). Initially, when thinking about Super Bowl commercials there is an underlying sense of excitement and anticipation, but at what cost? Super Bowl advertisements continue to show greater innovation and creativity, consequently raising the bar of what consumers expect at one specific time of year while also degrading an advertising agent’s abilities to a three-ring circus. In his article, Marche is encouraging advertisers to produce Super Bowl caliber commercials not just once a year, but all the time. I feel as though this plea is at odds with a previous statement Marche makes while addressing the consequence of quality advertising. Marche states, “Advertising works: Why do you think Americans are so fat and in debt” (Marche 2)? So, if advertising is a largely contributing factor to our waistlines and debt, why should we look for it to be even more persuasive?
    In the Disney film WALL-E, the population of Earth is living on a space ship due to how badly humans destroyed the planet’s natural resources. One of the most prevalent themes of the film is that everyone became insanely overweight, using hover-round carts to move since they could no longer walk, all while being bombarded by advertising. Even on what is left of Earth the advertisements are still everywhere, suffocating the viewer. I don’t want this to be our future; no one should. Instead of demanding better more effectual advertising all the time, let’s view Super Bowl commercials as something to be enjoyed but on a limited time basis. A fine dessert to be savored for special occasions, not something to gorge ourselves on until it no longer means what it used to.

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  2. Beverly Gowton's avatar Beverly Gowton

    Everyone who watches the Super Bowl expects to see amazing commercials. In the article “A Short Prayer for Advertising” Stephen Marche states “The integration of advertising into life is already nearly absolute” (Marche). For many Americans, anticipation of what the Super Bowl commercials will be over ride the actual anticipation of the game. Many viewers tune in to simply watch the commercials not for the love of the game.
    Although this thought process may seem trivial, to the consumer it is paramount. Society today can’t catch a break “Everyone is a part of the promotional machinery, and we are submitting to this machinery in every aspect of our existence” (Marche). Americans today often spend money they don’t have on items they don’t need. We have become a frivolous society, one in which there is no spending restraint and advertisers are well aware of this change. “We’ve blamed the bankers and the government for the inability of Americans to keep within sustainable limits, but everything ordinary people do, from walking down the street to sending an e-mail, tells them either overtly or clandestinely to spend more” (Marche). Unfortunately, this constant bombardment is causing us to trade in our culture of saving and become a Nation of spendthrifts.

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  3. Guadalupe Escalera's avatar Guadalupe Escalera

    Stephen Marche’s ” A Short Prayer for Advertising” depicts that “advertisement has become life, and life has become advertising.” He states that “as advertising intrudes more and more surreptitiously into every aspect of life, it loses its once-essential glamour.” I agree with Marche because I used to believe ads were there to sell a product not to force a product on a future buyer. It has lost its glamour and glory because now a days it is uncommon to not see ads because the day that occurs is the day people wont know how to react. Ads used to be scarce and free of multiple repetition and were mainly common only on paper; now it is everywhere in the media, books, stores, markets, and there is not one place where advertising does not exist. It might be true that advertisement “[is] a chance to see ourselves as we are and to confront our cravings and habits for what they are,” but it is not the way we decided future decisions or base our life around ads just because they can pull at or professional and personal strings. “Advertising can be magnificent as surely as it can be annoying.” Too much of it can begin to corrupt our minds and lead us down a dark road if we let it. Ads have more effect on us than we have on the advertisements themselves, we just have to know what ads to let into our minds and which to simply ignore.

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  4. Gabriella D's avatar Gabriella D

    Over the course of man decades, advertising has truly been a main influence in the lives of people all around the world. With the up-and-coming technological advancements such as TV, phones, radio, YouTube, and Facebook, advertising is almost everywhere. Although it appears everywhere, it may not appeal to everyone. Oftentimes the only time advertising grasps the viewers attention through forms of entertainment is during major sporting events such as the Super Bowl, in which millions of people have their eyes glued to the television screen for a solid 4 hours.
    So why don’t advertisers always use “Super Bowl Style Advertisements” as a way to display products? Stephen Marche believes that we should have more quality advertisement and that it should gain respect as an art form, in the ways that it has appeal to the people and manages to grasp their attention. In A Short Prayer For Advertising, Marche says, “It’s a chance to see ourselves as we are and to confront our cravings and habits for what they are.” He believes that advertisement should be almost transparent in the sense that viewers would not even notice if it came on and appealed to them or not because it was that good of an advertisement.
    I find his argument persuasive, but I believe that part of the problems in the world stem from this want and desire to have what we see on television. With the invention of DVR and TiVo, fast forwarding to the meat and potatoes of what you are trying to watch has become a breeze. I think that because of this, people would not stay tuned to watch advertisements on TV, because they are merely trying to watch their show. Also, if a commercial really is entertaining, and does happen to go viral, it will appear on YouTube and people can choose to view it or not view it for their own amusement whenever they want.

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  5. JMW's avatar JMW

    In Stephen Marche’s article, “A Short Prayer for Advertising”, he discusses his argument that advertising should have Super Bowl quality and that way it can less and annoying and more respectful. His reasoning for this is that it will provide us with the opportunity to sift through good and bad advertisments along with the fact that good quality advertisments give us the chance to make a connection or relationship with something or someone.
    I personally have mixed feeligns about his argument. I believe in a way he his persuasive because I think having better quality commercials would make them more tolerable and easier to sit through. However, I think most people, and myself included, would just try to fast forward through them no matter regardless. In sum, I believe he has a good argument that commericals should have greater quality in order to be a bit more respected, but in the end I don’t think it really matters.

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  6. Bee F.'s avatar Bee F.

    In Stephen Marche’s Article, A Short Prayer for Advertising, he begins to praise the use of advertisement, feeling it should be respected more as an art form. Although I agree that coming up with new advertisement ideas need a creative mind, Marche’s argument seems flawed unsupported, and unpersuasive. He automatically jumps into conclusions saying that we as Americans live off these advertisements. I feel companies need to live off advertisements to make their products known; however, I do not feel like we, as consumers, need them. Commercials are the most common form of advertisement but many people do not watch television for the commercials, if anything, that is when people take breaks: go grab something to eat, or simply go to the bathroom. I do not feel like better commercials will attract more people to watch them; it does not change the fact that we are not watching television for the ads. Yes, advertising alone requires some talented mind, I do feel like it should be appreciated as an art form because some ads out there are pretty clever and make you laugh, some ads are even so affective it makes me want to go run and grab that product, but the bottom I do not agree with Marche’s reasoning.

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  7. S.H.'s avatar S.H.

    Stephen Marche is clearly exaggerating the use of advertising and how important of an influence it is on our daily lives. He emphasizes the Super Bowl advertisements as this “ritual is by far the most important cultural event of the year.” However, the reasoning that Marche uses for his article is simply by his own personal observations and opinion, not really providing support with statistics or research of any kind.
    Although Marche seems to be against the advertising frenzy we have in this modern day towards the beginning of his article, he then switches his point of view at the end saying that not all advertising is bad because it allows us to “see ourselves as we are and to confront our cravings and habits for what they are.” I definitely agree with both sides of the argument because while I’m in the middle of watching my favorite television program, there are certain advertisements that I find completely irrelevant to the product being sold, but there are also other advertisements which I find to be inspiring and possibly beneficial to my life. Thus, I become “sold” on the product.
    Because our society is so bent on the idea of consumerism, it’s hard for people’s opinions not to be swayed regarding the purchase of “the next big thing.” However, what people don’t realize is that sometimes the products they are influenced to buy has no use for their own lives and they are just simply mesmerized by the effective use of advertising.

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  8. BSM's avatar BSM

    I disagree with Marche’s view of how advertising should receive more respect in its art form because he basically shoves in the face of all people reading his article that advertisements has already worked. I feel that when he mentioned the rhetorical question “Why do you think Americans are so fat and in debt?” I believe it is just snobby that he believes Advertisements are the reason why Americans are so fat. I don’t believe that his arguments are that persuasive for the fact being that he mentions a point and says how right he is without giving proper examples. For example, Marche mentions advertisements has always been a “bastard art form” but now it is “essential to life”. All he mentions is how important advertisement is, without giving proper reasoning behind why. His arguments are weak and on a scale of 1 to impact of how his essay affected me, it would get a clear cut no. I always see how funny or great a commercial is, but the commercial really is not the reason I would buy an item. My personal decision is what I use to by the items I want, an advertisement has no impact on my decision. I would fast forward past an advertisement despite how good it is because I watch TV for the content, not to see how much money I could waste on an item.

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  9. When the super bowl comes the ads are part of the hype. Everyone knows that ads will be spoken about after like it was part of the football game. It puts the ads on a pedestal leaving people to judge each advertisement, as Marche says, “Which are the good ads and products and which are the bad ads and products?” To Marche advertisements have become a way a life and he already said that they lead to overconsumption and debt. Why turn it into an art form? He’s not very persuasive in the sense that it isn’t really necessary to make it an art form if he already said it does its job. Go ahead and make it an art form though, it would be more entertaining to see funnier, better, and interesting advertisements but it wouldn’t really matter to the public. If it turns into this “art form” he mentions then advertisements would just have the affect that viral advertisements have. After a while people will get sick of all this talk about funny ads that they become irrelevant. The public will be desensitized to the “art form” of ads.

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  10. M.D's avatar M.D

    Marche argues that advertising is basically an evil force taking over American lives. He claims that advertising is “Toxic” and is a big factor to why Americans are fat and in debt. I feel that Marche didn’t support his claim very well. He ranted for a couple pages and gave his “I say”, but there was no proof or evidence to back up his claims. I would have been more impressed if he gave some facts, for example, if he added that 4/5 obese people say they eat McDonalds because of the advertising it promotes, I would have been more persuaded. “Better commercials” doesn’t really mean anything to me. Commercial breaks are a time to run to the kitchen to get a snack or to tweet about the show I’m watching, I never pay attention to the advertising commercials so “better” ones wouldn’t make a difference.
    Marche claims that Americans do not have the will power to say no to commercial advertisement, I disagree. Although I do feel that advertisement has become excessive, I don’t think we all run out to buy a burger on an impulse after watching two half naked girls on a Carls JR commercial. Many different ads appeal to many different people, whether or not we have the will power to put away the credit card and put down the cheeseburger is up to us as consumers. The advertisement’s job is to reel us in, our job is to simply say “no”.

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  11. NXA's avatar NXA

    Advertising is a part of the daily lives of people. In the short essay “A Short Prayer for Advertising”, writer Stephen Marche makes the point that advertising is becoming an obnoxious form of past glory. Marche points out that not only does advertising not appeal to people, due to the quality of the the ads, but it is a part of life. For explain, one form of advertising is to insert a product into a television series. “It is perfectly normal for Staples to buy plotlines on The Office rather than commercials” (paragraph 2). This shows that ads have been integrated into our lives. In some tv series, the integration is so obvious that it takes away from the show. I agreed with Marche that ads should be made better quality because they are all around us and they do influence our choices we make in the marketing world. In the Superbowl, a major part of the experience is the high quality ads that can grab our attention. With better ads, we would be more inclined to watch the commercials just like the Superbowl.

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  12. gj ENG 104's avatar gj ENG 104

    In the article “A Short Prayer for Advertising”, Stephen Marche talks about how advertising itself is an essential to today’s life but in a way needs to become more improved and creative like super bowl commercials. Marche shows just how important advertising has become in today’s society by saying that “advertising has become life and life has become advertising.”(Marche) Without advertising, there wouldn’t be a way to get people to buy or do things because most if not all people need a little persuasion to do something they hadn’t really had in mind of doing. Literally everyone is seeing, making, or listening to an advertisement, making the value of it increase. Therefore, Marche says that “The triumphal march of advertising is also its squalid little funeral.” (Marche)Because there are more advertisements in the world than ever, advertising can either get a good effect for companies or a bad effect. Depending on how creative and luring the ad is. If the ad isn’t all that great, then people are less likely to get persuaded. So, in general, the main thing that Marche is trying to say is that all advertising is great but because of the constant use of it over and over again, it is constantly in need of improvement like the overly creative super bowl commercials.
    Marche is right when he says that advertisements need to become more creative. Ads in today’s society are overly repeated and not that luring. Instead of persuading the buyer, it makes people turn the channel or want the ad to hurry up and pass over. If companies had wanted more money or more people to buy their products, then they would have to put more effort into the ads that they create. Just like super bowl ads, they need to get the buyers attention but they don’t, therefore needing improvement.
    However, for lots of people, even with the improvement to the ads, most will never care or bother to look at them. Instead, during commercials/advertisements, it’s when people go for a bathroom break or just walk away. Advertisements on bulletins or at malls are barely looked at because for the buyer, not only does it not call to them but it’s just an ad. Most people would say that advertisements are a waste of time and changing them or not would have no difference in how many views or buyers a company gets.

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  13. TBS's avatar TBS

    In “A prayer for advertising” the author makes some solid points on the mass amount of advertising present in the world today. Although I agree with his idea that there an exurbanite number of advertisers paying a small fortune in order to was a percentage of your life, I felt the majority of his arguments were not well supported and that he jumped to conclusions that had more factors than he dealt with. He said that the reason for Americans being overweight and lazy was that the majority of people are sucked into mass consumerism by advertisers. Although this is one of the issues, there are other issues that address this such as easily accessible cheap food is very unhealthy, or that due to the lack of manual labor jobs Americans are expressing feelings of physical fatigue. Although the presence of ads is overwhelming our society and changing our decision making functionality there are other factors in affect.

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  14. Brianna U.'s avatar Brianna U.

    In “A Short Prayer for Advertising”, writer Stephen Marche praises the influence of advertising on American culture. He argues that in the world of advertising, companies aim to brainwash consumers into believing everything that they see or hear. Marche claims that advertising has made a significant impact and has greatly integrated itself into our daily lives. For the most part, Marche thinks that advertising has had a great affect on our personal thoughts and what appeals to us, however he also says that it has become an unhealthy obsession that will continue to haunt our minds and actions.
    Marche uses the Superbowl as an example of a great advertisement opportunity, claiming that most people look forward to the ads rather than the actual football game. I believe that this is true, but on the other hand, I do not fall into the category of influenced consumers that Marche believes exist. Marche did not convince me any more with his knowledge on the topic. In my opinion, advertising has the ability to “stick” in one’s mind. This does not necessarily mean I will go out and try a product, and in most cases, I would overlook an advertisement because they can get quite obnoxious or annoying.

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  15. Stephanie T.'s avatar Stephanie T.

    Marche claims that advertisement is a cornerstone of American life, but his reasoning is faulty. It is true that advertising has become integrated into everyday life, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that people pay attention to it or appreciate it. Many people overlook advertisements or ignore them. He tries to support his argument with successful instances of advertisement, but neglects to acknowledge the vast expanse of uninteresting ones. Marche’s opinion is not very persuasive, due to his failure to cite other credible sources and simply glorify his own ideals. I would personally like to see better commercials, but only because fast-forwarding isn’t always an option. I do prefer humorous or entertaining commercials to keep me occupied until the end of the commercial break.

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  16. Jennifer L.'s avatar Jennifer L.

    In Stephen Marche’s article, “A Short Prayer for Advertising”, he talks about how advertisements should be a lot more interesting and creative like the commercials shown during the Super Bowl. He points out statements saying that most commercials are boring and don’t really interest most viewers. Commercials should be more interesting and find ways to grasp the viewer’s attention, but I believe that even if commercials were interesting, I would still want to fast forward through them. Commercials are the most annoying when I’m getting very into a show and all of a sudden a commercial comes on. They’re also very annoying when I have to watch a 30 second advertisement for a video that’s only a minute long.

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  17. Angelica L.'s avatar Angelica L.

    In this article;Marche claims that Advertising works. he states that it should be conisdered as an art form; which in some case , it can be. I believe that in this article, he tends to make Advertising the the most important thing that people see and care about. Also that its the only way to get us to buy any product. Throughout his article, it seems like he describes that Advertising is used everywhere by everyone; such as in Politics, entertainment, sports and etc. These types of Ads are what attracts people. However, I do not find his Article persuasive; due to the fact that i did not quite understand what was his main postion. Also the fact that he was just jumping from one thing to another. I would rather watch less Commercials

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  18. Christian Moreno's avatar Christian Moreno

    I wouldn’t like to see better ads. When I’m watching my favorite movies or tv shows, I could care less about what is being advertised. The less ads the better. I believe Marche when he says, “Ads have always been a bastard art form, looked down on by their proper artistic cousins.”, but not entirely. Marketers think of all kinds of creative things. I mean they have a lot to consider when brainstorming ideas. Marketers take into consideration the songs that are playing, the people and situations being presented. Marketers are very successful, I think that in many cases its because they repeat the commercial over and over. Now-a-days with Facebook, marketers can now target their consumers in a more effective way. Marketers and even some TV networks such ABC7 giving people incentives (such as a chance to win $100 for gas), listen to that a CHANCE not even a guarantee, and really they promote these give aways to take away some of the peoples privacy. Hundreds of thousands of people get suckered into these types of promotions. Rest assured, once you’ve agreed to the terms and conditions and have clicked yes, they only have your basic information (which includes Name,Current City, Hometown, Education, Work History,etc.), all of your likes and the worst part about it is that there is no time limit ladies and gentlemen. They can go then come back and invade your privacy to better their strategy and convince to buy their products. The more these companies spend on advertising really goes to show you how good their product is. I mean people wouldn’t invest a good chunk of money into advertising their product unless they were certain that their product is golden. Super bowl quality advertising is the perfect example. Companys such as Coca Cola, Doritos, Pizza Hut, etc spend tens of millions if not more on these superbowl commercials. I bet that has a huge payoff. I don’t agree entirely with Marche when he says, “Advertising works: Why do you think Americans are so fat and in debt?” If anything, ads may be one of many factors in the whole decision making of what people consume. I do agree that people are in debt because of advertising. Listen to any rap song out today and chances are you will hear one of these four topics: talk of money, women, drugs & partying. This talk of money, women and drugs alone is bad enough, along with poor decision making. People get into a lot of trouble over this, that includes getting into massive debt.

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  19. Sebastian Siciliano's avatar Sebastian Siciliano

    Marche’s article says that there should be better advertisements and that it should really interest the people. Everybody loves advertisements from the super bowl because they are entertaining and fun to watch, but for some reason when you are watching regular television and all these random commercials come out and then nobody wants to watch them. Marche makes a great point that advertisements tend to bore people and maybe if they were funny or had a catchy slogan then more people would be interested. A lot of people do not really pay attention to commercials simply because they do not interest them so I feel that they are a waste of money. I would like to see better commercials on television just so I could be entertained while I am waiting for my program to start.

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  20. Sam Lee's avatar Sam Lee

    Marche exemplifies how advertisements need to improve. He believes that “as advertising intrudes more and more surreptitiously into every aspect of life, it loses its once-essential glamour.” Marche gives a lot of examples of good advertisements, the Super Bowl being the best ones, and shows how advertisement is an art form. I do not find his article to be persuasive and I would still fast forward through advertisements even if they were improved. I do agree that advertisements have an impact on consumers; however, I disagree that advertisements are an art form and would make an impact as much as the Super Bowl ads. One ad cannot satisfy everyone because everyone has different tastes.

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  21. Kathy Lee ; ENG104's avatar Kathy Lee ; ENG104

    In “A Short Prayer for Advertising”, Stephen Marche talks about how advertising is not only working but also dominating the public life. He believes that the advertisements need to improve and grab the viewers attention. I do agree that advertisements need to grab the viewers attention because if I were to see an interesting commercial I wouldnt skip through it, I would watch it. Marche also believes that advertisment is a different form of art, I however do not think of it as art. Sure, people can get creative with it, and does serve a similar purpose to grab the views attention, but I belive that commercial advertisments are simply to sell the product or spread the word to the general public.

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  22. Chau Trieu's avatar Chau Trieu

    Marche makes a claim saying that everyone is part of the marketing game because the people that promote it are the players and the consumers are the objects. He also claims that advertisement is becoming an epidemic because everywhere you go you would see advertising. The article is very persuasive because it is true wherever you go you would see advertisement. For example my friend and i went to the mall the other day and we saw an advertisement for mr.popo potatoes and that made us want to go look for it and try it. Another factor that is persuasive is that advertising is becoming a toxin, it is spread out everywhere for example through TV, internet, or through people. Yes i would like to see better commercial where it is not based on sex appeal, i would like to see more originality in these commercials. Even if the advertisement is very good, i still would not watch it because it because I find it to be a waste of time. But in conclusion, somehow advertisement is sneaking into our daily lives whether we want them or not and it is making an impact on our choices.

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  23. AK's avatar AK

    In “A Short Prayer for Advertising”, an article written by Stephen Marche, Marche advocates for better advertising in our everyday life and asks for more respect to be given to advertising as an art form. Marche, however, does not give solid reasoning for his claims except for his own opinions. For that reason I do not find his article very persuasive, I feel that in order to make such an absolute claim, Marche should use some sort of statistical information or opinions from other established people to help support his claim. Although I do enjoy commercials, especially the ones on during the Super Bowl, I think that we should focus less on advertising in our daily lives. However, I do not think that this will happen because the advertising industry is so massive in this country and it helps keep up our economy. I do not see the advertising industry shrinking or lessening their amount of advertising any time soon.

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  24. Devin R T's avatar Devin R T

    Stephen Marche explains that advertising has become a cornerstone of American life. Mister Marche advocates for better advertising, Super Bowl quality advertising, in daily life. He believes that advertising plays as important role in society and its quality should match its significance. However, even with better quality advertisements, would any of us actually bother to pay them any more attention than we do now? I think not. Mister Marche downgrades the average American’s intellect to a brain-dead monkey (I’ll admit this is a bit of an exaggeration) when he claims that we do almost everything we do because of advertising. Maybe it’s because I’m a college student and I’m required to use critical thinking in my many assignments and papers, but the “all-powerful advertisement” has little hold over me. Maybe I’m just assuming that the rest of America is like me and actually thinks instead of becoming mindless zombies controlled by the television and radio and billboards. To me, this article is nothing more than a single man’s opinion. Yes, he only wants advertising to become better quality for all the time we spend watching and listening to them. Instead, I suggest he get TiVo or some equivalent if bad quality advertisement bothers him that much. Then he can fast-forward through the commercials like the rest of us.

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  25. Jonnah d.R.'s avatar Jonnah d.R.

    Stephen Marche portrays his claim through his article “A Short Prayer for Advertising”. Stephen claims that the “Super Bowl offers the possibility for a new relationship with advertising” because he believes advertising controls the people’s choices and influences them to do specific actions such as buy something we’ve seen on T.V. such as the snuggie. Marche states that “Advertising works” however he does not portray any support, instead he just states his claim and assumes his audience will agree with him. By doing so, Marche’s article is not really persuasive however it does point out some good points.
    The commercials on television take up too much time in between shows. I usually just fast forward through the commercial or I take a potty break just so i would not have to see the commercial. I think the commercials on television are a waste of time. There is only a small handful of commercials that I think are actually entertaining or ridiculous. For example, the commercials for certain medicines where more than half of the commercial talks about the side effects while the people in the commercial run around with smiling faces. Even if the commercials were more entertaining I believe people would still fast forward through the commercials anyways because they just want to watch their favorite television show or a movie.

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  26. GG's avatar GG

    In the article, A Short Prayer for Advertising, Stephen Marche discusses the influence and importance of the Super Bowl and how it is in need of better advertising. In one of his paragraphs he states, “There are people in advertising as brilliant as any who have ever been, but their visions have to be funneled into increasingly boring and diffuse modes that are cheaper and stupider.” With this statement, what Marche is trying to say is that he knows that there are great minds out there who have the ability to create good quality ads but instead of doing so they go off to produce cheap, unappealing commercials. I found his argument very persuasive. He had a point when he said that people await the Super Bowl commercial, as an example, and when the moment actually comes, it’s not what was expected at all. If they are going to bother spend so much money on ads might as well make them worth watching. I would definitely like to see better quality commercials. There are times that I am watching TV when some of the most ridiculous things come up. Even if the quality of commercials improved, it wouldn’t make a difference. I’d still end up fast-forwarding them.

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  27. Adriana Castaneda's avatar Adriana Castaneda

    I believe that just like we blame the greeting card industry for so many of the lost meanings of holidays we can blame the advertising industry for the lost meaning of the Super Bowl. A “typical” American will watch the super bowl not because they are really interested in the game, but because of the commercials. No one wants to be the person at work on Monday who did not see the hilarious Doritos commercial in the 3rd quarter. They have managed to take like Marche says “typically a pretty boring football game” and turn it into the most watched sporting event of the year. These commercials are the cream of the crop and the expectations are set very high. It is no secret that our society is becoming decreasingly more desensitized by the second, and advertising companies know what they have to do to keep America’s attention. Sadly, it really does work American’s are suckers for a good Carl’s Jr. commercial, like Marche says “Why do you think Americans are so fat and in debt?”
    Much like most of the other problems Americans face the importance of advertisement can easily be fixed by small acts of free will. If we stopped buying these products the advertisers would have no choice but to change their method of publicity. I will admit to being guilty to being sucked in by a few commercials, but that mascara really did make me as pretty as Taylor Swift. And for that exact reason is why the advertisement business is a multibillion dollar industry.
    One last thing I found very interesting was when March mentioned, “It is perfectly normal for Staples to buy plotlines on The Office rather than commercials.” I never thought that was even possible, and it truly is a subliminal message. Now I full be more skeptical of what the TV shows I watch are trying to sell me.

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  28. Michelle Tran's avatar Michelle Tran

    I agree with Stephen Marche’s article, “A Short Prayer for Advertising,” that advertisements can only be taken at face value, literally. Though as Karen Donohue-Barrett comments that it seems as if Marche is torn between the value and impact advertisements have on our everyday lives. He does not know whether to praise it or blame them for our obesity and financial problem. However, I do see his dilemma. The Super Bowl commercials played at half time can almost be considered a national past time and it is spectacular compared to the advertisements that we must bear with as we commute throughout our day. Today, one can encounter over thousands of messages sent through advertisements in a flyer, on the screens at grocery stores, inside and on an actual bus, and not to mention on the radio stations we play as many drivers sit through traffic on their way to school, work, or home. Though I am not saying that some ads are not entertaining or clever, but many ads are lacking in the art and creativity portion. They merely force their delicious looking products to the public, jammed in mail boxes and spamming email accounts, who then take the ads to save a quick buck as they speed to the establishment to grab a quick bite on their short break, but when the burger is finally unwrapped at the desk, seldom does it appear as it is presented in the pictures. I do not know about the general public, but it depresses me and truthfully, I know I deserve better. But better what? Better advertisements like the ones that are selected for the Super Bowl half time as Donohue-Barrett suggests Marche is implying in his article? Donohue-Barrett brings up an excellent point though. If advertisements become clever and sly, will the nation’s problem of debt and obesity not just grow larger, but maybe even past the point of no return? I think we just need to warp the advertisements images of the people we dream to be. You are only as strong as your name brand as Marche demonstrated with Naomi Klein who was something when people listened to her.

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  29. Reed Lechner's avatar Reed Lechner

    In “A Short Prayer for Advertising”, Stephen Marche says (in a humorous tone which i find strengthens an argument) that, in short, advertising is killing itself. The creativity and clever adverts played during the Superbowl are setting a standard that the public expects to see in all forms of advertising. These high expectations lead to the disappointment of the general public and disdain towards advertising as an art-form. I personally would like to see better commercials on TV in general and i am positive that most of the public would agree. According to studies roughly a third of people who watch the Superbowl do so strictly for the commercials.
    Some might argue that the increase in popularity of some things like tivo and direct TV are leading to a decline in quality commercials, when one has the ability to skip right over them some ask whats the point in pouring thousands of dollars into them. The Superbowl has come to be known for its funny/quality commercials therefore they are rarely skipped over, whereas commercials on regular TV have come to be known as crap. I feel most people wouldn’t be as inclined to skip them if they were all of the same caliber as the Superbowl commercials but this is not the case.
    In Steven Johnson’s essay about the cognitive demands of television it is stated that streamlined television (straight-forward and simple) requires almost no cognitive power, where as more complex television (such as fringe or lost) requires a great deal more. If commercials weren’t as streamlined they wouldn’t be forgotten so easily.

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  30. J. Bermudez's avatar J. Bermudez

    So many people watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials. I find commercials to be the biggest waste of time. I watch a television show for the actual show, not a half and hour of commercials. For an episode that is suppose to be 30 minutes long its really only 21 minutes because of commercial time. I understand that companies have to advertise their products because they are being sponsored by that company. Personally though,I find them to be the biggest waste of time. I personally record every show I watch to be able to fast forward through all the commercials.
    Advertising does control peoples lives sometimes, with certain products and how they are portrayed. If a product is advertised by a celebrity more people are willing to buy it to “look like that.” So many advertisers play into peoples insecurities/desires and make a fortune off of it.

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  31. Aaron Miller's avatar Aaron Miller

    Stephen Marche is making the plea that television advertising not only remain a significant part of American society, but that it actually grows in significance in our day to day life. Marche uses the advertisements that are present in the Super Bowl to show how television marketing can be both prevalent and enjoyable in our culture. He believes that they are in fact a form of art and should be respected as such. That our country has been shaped by advertising for a long time and we have come to a point where there is no going back from that.
    Personally there is only one use for advertising that I see, and that is to make money. Without advertising most of the programs on TV would be unable to survive. That is the simple reason why there are not more Super Bowl quality ads on normal television, it is just not cost effective to produce ones of that quality. I personally really dislike advertising of all kinds, I find them dishonest and a nuisance. Even though I feel that way I am a strong supporter of supply and demand. We as an American people want to be able to view certain things on both the Internet and on the television. If companies are able to make a profit by giving us things we do not even like, I vehemently applaud them. I just see this discussion as pure unadulterated capitalism at work.

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  32. Viviana F's avatar Viviana F

    Viviana F.
    In Stephan March article, “A Short Prayer for Advertising,” he discuses and argues about the appeal for better advertising. A good example is the Super Bowl quality advertising. To support his argument he states, “Super Bowl commercials ritual is by far the most important cultural event of the year.” It is true; millions of people watch those commercials and expect many great offers to be brought out. A couple of years ago, I remember a special commercial stating that if a certain teams win, people would be able to eat free at Denny’s. In my opinion, March somewhat persuasive me, because he states, “ Why do you think Americans are so fat and in debt?” He is trying to prove a point of how people get persuasive on food advertisement or commercials and brings attention to the people in order to buy their product. One great example is McDonalds, they have commercials that announce any size drink for just a dollar or when you are hungry and have no money there is always delicious food in the dollar menu. I believe that there are so many good commercials on television now because people do buy their product. But if there were better commercial, who knows what the world would be. Every time a commercial comes out while I am watching television, I usually tend to skip over it.
    Advertising has and always is a product and influence to people all over the world, it is just up to the people to decide to watch them or buy what is being ad.

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  33. D. Cash's avatar D. Cash

    In his article, “A Short Prayer for Advertising”, Stephen Marche discusses his views on the changing world of advertisements. With the large induction of the internet and social media, advertising has changed drastically from simple television commercials to ads that are almost constantly in your face wherever you go. He talks about the possibilities of advertising we may soon reach, such as, “The new self-driving Google car? A blast of ads as you are chauffeured. Musicians in the back of vans? Their albums are ads for their forty-city tours and forty-dollar T-shirts. The Huffington Post? The single most destructive force for intellectuals since the first Emperor of China because it convinces writers that their writing is really advertising for themselves. Poets and playwrights and sculptors now talk about brand dissemination via Twitter – that’s the level of deluded obsession we’ve attained,” (Marche 1). The idea of big brands and big advertising has become so pervasive in our lives—and will only serve to get bigger and more invasive as the years go on and technology improves. Marche considers advertising an art form, when he says, “Ads have always been a bastard art form, looked down on by their proper artistic cousins. But as social-media companies dream of a world in which the persuasion is so subtle and insidious and constant and perfectly pitched that the distinction between a brand and an identity dissolves entirely, advertising has become too essential to life to treat so casually or contemptuously,” (Marche 1). In some ways, Marche has right. The persuasive abilities that ads can have is almost like an art form—it takes a special PR person or marketer to make the most effective ads, there is no doubt about that. Not everyone could make something as viral as the Isaiah Mustafah or Terry Crews Old Spice commercials. A true viral commercial comes around very rarely, so in that sense, when one does come around, it is essentially the equivalent of a Mona Lisa or any other Renaissance era painting. Beautifully crafted in every way, and effective in driving emotions. However, very few ads are this effective, and most would probably be the equivalent to a kid’s attempt at fine art—or even just not attempting to be art at all and instead just appealing to the lowest common denominator, as most ads really are. While I’m not quite sure if I find it persuasive, I do understand Marche’s point and where he’s coming from, especially when he states that, “it serves the same function today as the great medieval trade festivals and the World’s Fairs of the early twentieth century,” (1). The purpose of ads is to spread the knowledge out about a topic or product—which is what most ads are best at doing. The potential information that can be attained about a product in a commercial is very little, but coupling that with actual research on the product at hand, and the commercial becomes useful in that it helps you learn about a product—even if the commercial itself may not say too much and may focus on glitz, glam, and flash as opposed to facts.
    As for better commercials on television? I wouldn’t care to see any commercials on television—and wouldn’t if I could. The things I am most concerned about seeing advertised aren’t advertised, and I already learn about them from reading about them online anyways, so in all, it’s more of a wash with me. I would definitely fast forward through the majority, if not all commercials if I could, just because most generally don’t appeal to me, and I could always see the ones that go viral on the internet later on if I truly want to. The huge influx of ads is one that does not necessarily interest or bother me too much, just one that I decide not to focus on, both due to lack of interest in the products, and general lack of care in focusing on the commercials.

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  34. Fabian A's avatar Fabian A

    Marche gives some examples of ads being an art form which i believe to be true because it requires a lot of creativity to make a whole thirty second commercial, it requires not only know the actions but the dialogues, reactions, and backgrounds. it needs to appeal to people and get them to do as you want unlike painting which is more of a interpretation of the picture. in painting you have to look and try and find a meaning to it as opposed to watching an ad where they tell you and explicitly try to convince you. i would like to see better commercials everywhere because some are just plain ridiculous and a waste of money. for me personally it depends on what type of commercial it is to actually watch it and not skip it. recently i have found the At&t commercials very amusing and would watch them because they are funny. i already have At&t so I’m not going to go sign up but i enjoy watching the ads. most ads i skip unless it catches my attention at the very beginning and then ill watch it until i lose interest, if it is good though then it just depends on my time and whether I’m in a hurry or not. i do like watching the Super Bowl for the commercials though because they put a lot of thought into those and they have to be great so i do excited for those probably just as much as the actual game. in my opinion some ads have gotten better and others worse since you start running out of ideas the exact same thing, thats why many company have just done the same thing or use women/sex to promote as it catches the attention of people (mostly men) to eat somewhere. other companies don’t even use anything related to what their product is but it gets the attention of the viewer so it is effective.

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  35. Eric. F's avatar Eric. F

    In Stephen Marche’s “A Short Prayer for Advertising,” he argues that advertising has become a well-ingrained part of society stating “Advertising has become life and life has become advertising.” Specifically he uses the example of the Super Bowl to support this claim, using the well-funded ads that usually appear when watching it. The author infers that creating advertisement with the same amount of work and respect as any other art form will “develop taste “it’s a chance to see ourselves as we are and confront our cravings and habits for what they are.” Marche argues that the main reason for the Super Bowl is the advertisements shown when watching it wanting advertisement in general to gain the same amount of work and respect as those used in the Super Bowl.
    In my opinion, while advertisement today is a wide spread and common form of media in society, is not the center of the main work that it is put into. The function of advertisement is to promote or create interest in individuals. Although I agree that creating advertisement with the same amount of work as those found in the Super Bowl will create more interest within those who watch it, I do not believe that creating such advertisements will overall make a significant difference to those who watch them if they were to be made common throughout all media. Regardless of the amount of effort put into advertisement, there is always the population who will know what they want rather than need advertisement to show/tell them what they want.

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  36. K.A's avatar K.A

    The reasoning Marche gives for his argument on why it should be more of an art form is because he thinks that “It is now every bit as vital to the general quality of life as architecture” in a way exaggerating a little to get his point across. He thinks that advertising has to be thought through and the creators of advertising have to be very careful with the details. Marche knows advertising works because he has observed the outcome the advertisement has on consumers. He asks “Why do you think Americans are so fat and in debt?” people like to blame others for their problems when in reality they have brought the problems to themselves by allowing ads to influence their lives as much as they do. If advertisement is all around you, it is easy to get wrapped up in it and just follow along. Marche also says “advertising has become essential to life to treat so casually or contemptuously.” Advertisements know how to target people and persuade them into giving into their products. Maybe if I were to see a commercial that grabs my attention, I may not fast forward it but watch it instead. In the past, there have been times where there are commercials that make me think that how smart the person who made it was because some could be captivating. Of course there are commercials that are boring or seem absurd but I do understand how Marche in a sense wants to make people realize while advertisement is necessary.

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  37. Ruben Perez-Berton's avatar Ruben Perez-Berton

    Advertising no matter what anybody says will always be seen by the great majority of the population as a nuisance. Marches argues that TV advertising should be respected and seen more widely as an art form. I mean c’mon, really? An art form? This is like using a museum curator to cut off a newspaper advertisement and put it up on a wall. This is just ridiculous. Yes I have to agree that advertisements do change our life’s because they help us choose products and services throughout our whole life. Marches says that advertising has impacted everyone’s life, which is true, but to go to the extent to as for better quality advertisement and made it an art form is just simply ridiculous. I would love for him to sit and watch TV commercials for hours, I’m sure that by the 25th minute he is going to realize the stupidity of his comment.
    Although advertisements sometimes do put up interesting and expensive shows for the viewer, why don’t they just show the damn product, which 99 percent of all commercials don’t even have. If you are so confident about your products then tell me some facts don’t just tell me lies and how good your show making is. Its all a some and mirrors tactic to get you to but a product you don’t need with money you don’t have. And here I thought that people have gone backwards but this is defiantly the final straw. I can finally say that there’s is a person out there that thins advertisements are an art form, I’m sorry but I have watched TV for more than 15 years, I grew up on TV and all I can say about that is just “really?. From all the undiscovered universe out there and all the cool and intricate art forms that are yet to be discovered here’s a guy who says no screw all that advertisements is where is at. Yep that’s how low we have fallen.

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  38. A. Paramo's avatar A. Paramo

    Advertising has always been prevalent in my life- time. I have grown up in the age of technology, and this brings along the ever involvement of ads. Marche writes in his article that advertisement has had an impact on people’s lives. It has always been present and always changing to the new demographic. Advertising is always being challenged to come up with the newest and most creative way to entice the audience to buy the products shown. Marche supports his argument by bringing forth examples of different advertisements and how they have gone viral on the Internet world. One of the main events Marche discusses is the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is such a huge event in this generation and is widely known for the best commercials and advertisements. I personally enjoy watching the commercials during the Super Bowl, and I will always have my favorite commercial by the end of the game. I believe that this is one of the few times that I actually pay attention to the ads between the actual programs on television. Other than this specific event, I do not pay much attention to what is being shown between the actual programs I am watching. Marche believes that each ad is a form of art and should be appreciated for its work and persuasiveness. I believe he is correct that we should appreciate the ‘art’ of a commercial. It has to take a lot of time and effort to come up with an idea that will attract many different people of all ages. The ad needs to be able to be seen to a large demographic and be able to appeal to all of them. I believe that Marche brings good points and arguments across that have somewhat persuaded me into believing in his arguments, but that does not mean I am not going to fast forward and by pass any commercial I can. I am a very impatient person, so I do not think that I would sit through a commercial if I had the chance to change it. I believe that if there really were a truly funny and amazing commercial I would take the time and effort and look the commercial up on the Internet. Other than that I would just leave the ad alone and never think twice about it. I believe that there is always room for improvement of commercials, and that this generation is always changing. Marche has good arguments stating that advertisements are apart of this generation and should be appreciated for the time and effort placed in them.

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  39. Erik T.'s avatar Erik T.

    Marche states that advertisements now are dull and boring unless it is Super Bowl time. I agree with him. When I watch television, I think to myself throughout the majority of the commercials “who thought this was funny and decided to make it into an ad?” I see the most ridiculous and unappealing ads on T.V. and I know that what might not appeal to me may appeal to someone else, but some of these commercials I know for a fact make no one want to use that company or buy that product. His argument on how commercials have just become uninspired and lame was persuasive to me because I agree with him 100%. During the Super Bowl is when the best commercials come out. I say that companies should fire everybody who isn’t creative enough to work at that time and keep the masterminds behind the Super Bowl commercials. And instead of releasing new commercials all the time, take time to make great ones and let those stick with the consumers to give you more time to make more. Some commercials I watch for enjoyment because they are either funny or just ridiculously stupid. I consider myself a creative person who could probably come out with better commercials than most of the ones I see on T.V..

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  40. alejandro's avatar alejandro

    “Do you want to lose weight, safely, quick, and affective? Try this! Simply sprinkle on your food and you will be losing weight right away, you will not have to watch what you eat anymore, you can eat whatever you would like.” Has anyone else NOT heard this on television, or the radio? Its this product called Sensa, it is supposed to make you lose the weight you wish you could lose by sprinkling this salt like particle into your food. Well let me have some of that! You hear it all the time, “use our product to lose weight, look great wearing this, or you have never seen anything like this before” In the article “A Short Prayer for Advertising “ written by Stephen Marche he exaggerates on how advertising is needed n our daily lives. In this case he uses the biggest day of advertising, which is when most Americans are sitting watching the Super bowl, because advertising companies know people are watching. Advertisers are smart in a way they make the smallest thing appealing, they are there to make their money by taking ours, we are the dumb ones for falling for this type of advertising.

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  41. Anthony Bendezu's avatar Anthony Bendezu

    Arguments are getting bigger and better every time. From fast food restaurants to personal items, advertising is increasingly becoming part of our culture. “You don’t have to occupy Wall Street to understand that this development is toxic. Advertising works: Why do you think Americans are so fat and in debt?”(Marche) His writing is persuasive in the way that he uses ads to make his point. When talking about Old Spice, “it was a flash of genius, but it also required hundreds of iterations on YouTube with the quality of gonzo pornography”. (Marche) I actually would like to see better commercials on TV, even though this ads are gaining popularity, it comes to a point in which they become to similar. Personally, I do not watch ads in YouTube or in other websites. I have to watch them while watching a TV show anyways. If I think a commercial is funny, I’ll watch it one more time, then it gets old, but if I do not like it, I usually just change channels.

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  42. mykayla k's avatar mykayla k

    Marches reasoning for wanting better advertising to appear and receive the respect he feel it deserves include the fact that advertising is essential to life and that it allows us to confront each craving and each habit we have. He feels that the Super Bowl allows for quality advertisement and feels like the rest of the world should do the same.
    For me it wasn’t really that persuasive, I feel that advertisement today while different than it was years ago still has some well thought out advertisements. Now a days the dumber an ad is the more people talk about it and the more people give attention to the product, for example Carl’s Jr. has very sexual ads that seem to focus more on the women than the burger, but these are the things that get the attention of men for obvious reasons and the attention of women because they feel it is not appropriate for television. I would like to see better commercials as in more meaning or more relevance to the product and not random junk. Either way I would fast-forward through them because I just want to watch the show on television. This is exactly why I record my shows, no ads.
    MJKennedy

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  43. Larry Leung's avatar Larry Leung

    In the article, “A Short Prayer for Advertising,” by Stephen Marche, he discusses about commercials and how they affect the audience. Marche states that “Everywhere else, advertising has become life and life has become advertising.” (Marche 1) I agree with his standpoint in which life today has become advertising. Many multimillion, trillion, dollar companies have either commercials or flyers that help them advertise their business. Marche also states that, “the triumphal march of advertising is also its squalid little funeral.” (Marche 1) Many, because of its creativity and originality allowing the consumer to contemplate whether they should buy the product, enjoy super Bowl commercials. I believe when Marche states the “squalid little funeral”, he means that since there is so many advertisements out. Once another is played after, the previous one slowly decays from everyone’s minds.
    In Marche’s article, his arguments are strengthens by his examples. Although I don’t particularly watch television or the Super Bowl, commercials for advertising do not faze me. There are more and more advertisements playing everyday, I believe that the more ads that are shown, the less people will start to care.

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  44. Lindsey L.'s avatar Lindsey L.

    In Stephen Marche’s article, “A Short Prayer for Advertising,” he discusses the appeal, quality, effects, and popularity of Super Bowl advertising. Marche says that “the Super Bowl commercials ritual is by far the most important cultural event of the year…” He wants this Super Bowl quality of advertising to be a template for all kinds of advertising. Marche says, “The Super Bowl offers the possibility of a new relationship with advertising, one that’s different from the game of hide-and-seek we usually play.”
    I find Marche’s article to be persuasive; he has clearly given valid reasons why advertising is important and should be respected as art. Marche states, “[Advertising] is a chance to develop taste.”
    Personally, I would like to see a better quality of commercials and other forms of advertising. I would be more attentive to the commercial if it was creative, witty, and a form of art, instead of simply another advertisement. In my opinion, commercials wouldn’t be as annoying if they were better quality. A good quality commercial, like a Super Bowl commercial, would be exciting to watch; I would pay attention to and enjoy the advertisement instead of being annoyed.

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  45. Sang Bum Kim's avatar Sang Bum Kim

    Stephen Marche claims in his essay, A Short Prayer for Advertising, that advertisements today are dying in quality and does not interest people anymore. Therefore, advertisements should improve in its quality and make it as interesting as possible. He gives examples of advertisements that went viral and how stupid they were.
    I personally disagree with his stance. Companies are doing extremely well on poking on people’s interest. They already are providing so many advertisements that I sometimes do want to watch. Some people watch the Super Bowl just for the advertisements between the game. I think movie trailers are really interesting. They are so great at making a sloppy movie into a great movie by using the trailer. Cool sound effects and computer graphics make people watch the movie. Most of time, people are disappointed with the movie when they actually go to the theater. However, the important fact here is that the advertisements of the movies made people go and spend money to watch that certain movie. Therefore, I believe that advertisement industry today is excellent and only improving to be better.
    Marche points out that typical ads today are unsatisfying in terms of quality. I do agree with this point. I do find some advertisements really pointless and stupid, but I am sure that some people find those ads very interesting.

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  46. A. Soto's avatar A. Soto

    In Stephen Marche’s “A Short Prayer for Advertising,” he argues that advertising is losing the meaning of its purpose and it’s becoming more essential in our life. He supports it by showing how much money a company is willing to spend on an advertised commercial to be aired during the Superbowl which is about $116,666.67. He also supports his argument by showing certain commercials that are a little over board. I find his argument very persuasive because commercials are getting more bizarre everyday, especially during the Superbowl because companies know how many people are watching it. Half of the people that watch the Superbowl talk about the commerials and not the actual game. I find these commercials entertaining because they’re funny to watch and let’s be honest, those commercials do sell. If the commercial is entertaining I’ll watch it and if not I’ll skip them. Some people are brilliant with the commercials they come up with because if they’re entertaining and persuasive that company will successfully sell it’s product.

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  47. Bianca Pescina's avatar Bianca Pescina

    Stephen Marche main argument is an appeal for better advertisements, “Super Bowl quality advertisements”. He believes that advertising really does work and can be used in a better way, with more quality so it can be looked upon as an art form. “Socially as well as personally, advertising is going to dominate public life with ever-greater ferocity”(Marche). What he’s trying to say is that ad’s are everywhere, there is no way of escaping it and because of the fact that there is no way to avoid them, advertising companies should instead try making their commercials even more effective by coming up with better ways of showing them to the public. The ads that we see when we watch the Super Bowl are always fun to watch because they all have a slice of comedy attached to them as well as celebrities that we are familiar with, so they don’t necessarily come off as those everyday cheesy commercials we see that are mind numbingly stupid and have no sort of impact on its viewers. If all advertisements were well put together as they are for the Super Bowl I think they’d catch more viewers’ attention.

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  48. nraguilera's avatar nraguilera

    In Stephen Marche’s article “A Short Prayer For Advertising”, he gives his opinion on how advertising has become of less value to consumers due to a lack in the quality of advertisements. If commercials were more stimulating like the ads played during the Super Bowl, more respect would be given to the advertisers. In relation to this, he also brings up the point that poor advertising is causing people to make irresponsible decisions, which could eventually lead to national debt. In saying, “A world of hyperadvertising in which advertising dominates the basic functions of living will obviously be a world of hyperconsumption. We’ve blamed the bankers and the government for the inability of Americans to keep within sustainable limits, but everything ordinary people do, from walking down the street to sending an e-mail, tells them either overtly or clandestinely to spend more” (Marche), he states his point that it’s the consumers who are to blame for giving in to such poor advertising.
    In my own opinion on the effect of advertisements, I agree with March in saying that due to the poor quality of advertisements we see each day, consumers are becoming more inclined to make bad decisions on the products they buy. I personally love watching the Super Bowl not just for the game, but also for the great advertisements. This isn’t just me though. Many people I know are not fans of watching football yet they choose to watch the Super Bowl just for the funny commercials. If commercials on daily television were more like the Super Bowl commercials, people might be more convinced by the actual quality of the products and have more respect for the advertisers.

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  49. tjsalverda's avatar tjsalverda

    In his essay “A Short Prayer for Advertising,” Stephen Marche explains how modern advertising has become such an important part of our normal life. We’ve all seen examples of the advertisers’ creativity on posters, television, radio, or other forms of high-tech entertainment. They are really good at what they do; they play with consumers’ emotions to trick them into buying a certain product.
    His main argument is that Super Bowl advertising should appear more often and be respected as art. I think this is true, as there are very creative uses of art to trick human minds. He says: “It’s a chance to see ourselves as we are and to confront our cravings and habits for what they are. Advertising can be magnificent as surely as it can be annoying.”(Marche 7). He supports this with various vibes with which companies have had good success in advertising. This is somewhat persuasive, but doesn’t fully convince me because other ads have had vibes based on celebrities just talking good about them. I don’t wish to see better ads on TV, because I would fast-forward through them anyway, even the really good ones. With today’s technology, ads have become even more prevalent in our lives. It’s becoming ridiculous how many show up, even during our most-watched shows. Why watch those ads that are not persuasive?

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  50. Kyle Kiefer's avatar Kyle Kiefer

    In the article ‘A Short Prayer for Advertising”, the author, Stephen Marche explains his claim of how advertisements should be of a higher quality and should grab the interest of the view. Essentially, he is proclaiming that all advertisements should have a quality equal to that of what is shown during the Superbowl, as advertising should be considered an art form instead of an annoyance. As advertisements dominate American life, the citizens should not be forced to sit through sub-par jingles and humorless acting. He mentions Advertising has become too important to be left to Google and Twitter and Foursquare. It is now every bit as vital to the general quality of life as architecture, possibly more so.
    “Advertising has become too important to be left to Google and Twitter and Foursquare. It is now every bit as vital to the general quality of life as architecture, possibly more so.” While I would like to see an improvement in the quality of advertisements, I would likely fast forward through them all the same.

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