Ideological Criticism of AT&T

The commercial begins with a luscious orange silk material scrolling down a monument and a song playing. It then progresses to cover the Hollywood sign in the mountains, to inside a sky rise and switches to looking at the sky rise from the outside. It shows people looking at the skyrises being covered from the sidewalks. It then goes to giant archways where people are on top scrolling down the fabric to cover it.

From there a car is shown driving in through the mountains and the terrain is being covered by orange and it shows the Las Vegas sign and then pans out to the city. It ends with a bunch of people running down the beach holding the orange fabric and covering the sand and then as they get to the water it cuts out to a picture of America from an outer space view. American is covered in orange and then text appears along with a voice over stating, “97% of Americans use AT&T.” Then, the word switches to say Rethink possible and the music quiets. All of the people in the ads look amazed and calm. The music being played throughout this commercial is acoustic and calming also. It is very easy to watch and brings a sense of calmness as you take the commercial all in.

There are many elements within this commercial that can be critiqued. A few of these elements come off stronger than the others and its effect is interesting also.

• Before they even tell you the statistic, this commercial makes you feel like everyone in the country uses AT&T. This alludes to the fact that they are the best. AT&T manages to do this in a non-arrogant way. They make it seem like everyone is really happy about how they are taking over the world. They do not come off as arrogant because it is not like their slogan or company is directly telling us, we actually told them they are the best.
• Covering everything in orange and having actual Americans do it makes you feel as if you are a part of something bigger than yourself and also that it was our choice.
• The silk like material and beautiful scenes suggest luxury; as though if you use it you are in a high class who those things service if you use AT&T.
• At the end of the commercial after they state their statistic of covering 97% of Americans, and then, Rethink possible is written on the screen. Rethink possible is written in a small humble font on top of the world that is covered in orange. This is suggestive of their being on top of the world and the most trusted.

  Their worldview suggests that we are a materialistic world desiring the best and rewarding the best. We are also a society that seeks to be a part of something bigger than one’s self. Because 97% of people use this service we are all connected and can talk for free. We have somehow made the world brighter by using this service, but it was not AT&T who did this, it was us; by choosing them to be the most used service in America.

I do not know if I picked the right ism and honestly I looked at over a hundred different isms and I couldn’t put one on this, if you have a suggestion then please let me know and I will consider adding it into this critique, but for now, I am not able to pin point which ism it is.