Doritos For The Win
The first Superbowl advertisement I am discussing is Doritos 2015 ‘Middle Seat’ commercial. A man has an empty seat next to him on an airplane so he is choosing his seat partner wisely. He turns many people away by doing gross things such as clipping his toenails. He then sees a pretty lady that he wants to fill the empty seat so he stretches and shows off his bag of Doritos to her, she is enthused and sits down next to him, accompanied by her child. The guy is bummed because he didn’t notice she had a kid but the pretty mom ends up falling asleep and he and the kid hang and eat Doritos together. The ad’s target audience and tone is humorous and they are targeting kids as well as adults. At first Doritos is trying to say ‘hey guys you can get a girl with Doritos,’ but then when she turns out to be a mom and then falls asleep, the brand proves you can still enjoy your Doritos even if you don’t have the girl. The company is identified as the man attempts to “win the girl.”
This Doritos ad does tell a story and have a structure. It begins with the man and his open seat, starts to rise as he turns away numerous seat mates in search of the right one, then the climax is reached when he sees the girl, wins the girl, and it turns out the girl has a child. The story falls after that, the mom falls asleep and the man is left alone with the kid and his Doritos — the story is resolved.
Just because I’m on a Doritos commercial kick, I choose next to look at Doritos 2014 ‘Time Machine’ commercial. It’s my favorite one, personally I find it hilarious, and I think Doritos keeps a constant humor theme throughout their commercials that targets both adults and kids. So the commercial: Jimmy asks Mr. Smith if he wants to try out his time machine that runs on Doritos and Mr. Smith gladly accepts. This is the beginning and the rising action of our story. Mr. Smith then gets into the time machine and feeds the bag of Doritos (this is when the Brand is identified) he is holding through the ‘fuel hole.’ Jimmy is on the other end with his dog taking these Doritos and now enjoying them. Jimmy sits there eating Mr. Smith’s Doritos and moving the Time Machine box so Mr. Smith thinks it’s working. We then reach our climax when the man who owns the lawn Jimmy is standing on runs out and yells at Jimmy to get off. Jimmy runs away with his dog and the Doritos and the old man goes to check out what is happening in the cardboard ‘Time Machine’ box. Mr. Smith steps out and believes the old man is Jimmy from the future and our story is resolved.
I typically believe Doritos does a good job with their commercials, keeping their audience engaged the entire time through strong narrative. I have seen a few that I haven’t enjoyed as much, but I believe that both these commercials have a well-build narrative. I think that the Time Machine ad is catchier, and people will be more likely to share it because the kid Jimmy is a larger part of the story than the kid in the other one and he adds a different element. Both are funny and appealing but the Time Machine one is very effective on all angles and I personally believe it is more humorous. This commercial also shows the appeal of Doritos to kids as well as adults on a more extreme level than the first one does.
