How Does Amazon Alexa Use Satire

The Super Bowl is the most watched football event of the year. The entire NFL season has led up to this one game, so no doubt it is a big deal. Many people throw parties with their friends and families to watch the Super Bowl. Knowing this, it should not be shocking that some of the most well-planned commercials advertise during this time. One commercial from the 2022 Super Bowl, entitled "Mind Reader", comedically depicts Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost (who happen to be married) throughout their daily lives owning an Alexa. The setting of the commercial is the couple’s home, and the commercial itself is very comedic. Alexa inconveniently exploits the minds of the couple throughout making for a very amusing story. Not only is the commercial

In the Amazon Alexa commercial, the famous couple (Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson) are shown in a very jocular way. From wanting to chill wine, thinking the other has bad breath, thinking the other is being annoying, etc. Alexa sort of ruins their experiences with each other by reading their minds. In this way, both the couple and Alexa provide comedy. However, the technique of using comedy to make a product seem amazing only compliments the technique of using celebrities. Celebrities are people we (most of the time) admire and look up to. A lot of people want to be like them, even if they don’t recognize it. Think about a time when you saw a video with a celebrity and they mentioned a “paid sponsorship”. This means that a company reached out to the celebrity to have them talk about their product for money. Now it may seem obvious, but the reason they do this is because the company knows that people want what the celebrity has. If a celebrity says the product is good, it must be, right? This idea explains nearly all super bowl commercials. The reason why super bowl commercials are usually so much better than regular commercials is because celebrities are used. Companies know that so many people watch the super bowl so they put together their best advertisements with famous people. Because a lot of people subconsciously want to be like celebrities, using celebrities in advertisements is so effective. If they have

The commercial heavily utilizes comedy to promote their product, which is so effective because people like to laugh and will associate the Amazon Alexa with feeling good, and they will want to buy it because they subconsciously think it will make them feel good. The other technique the company uses to advertise the Amazon Alexa is the usage of celebrities. Because celebrities are such influential people that many look up to and admire, a lot of people will want whatever they have, even if they don’t realize it. We often think of the products celebrities own as status symbols. Although the Amazon Alexa is not something of such great value, it doesn’t matter what the company was advertising. People want the product simply because the celebrities in the commercial own it. Jack Solomon discusses these ideas in his writing, “Masters of Desire”. Surprisingly, the “Mind Reader” commercial was the most expensive super bowl commercial as of 2022, costing 26 million dollars to make, according to Media Play News and other sources. Thankfully for Amazon, the cost of the commercial paid off for them in their revenue. When paired together, comedy and celebrities can and are a very powerful technique in advertising and that is shown through the Amazon Alexa