On Culture - All Who Thirst

This episode of On Culture interacts with this latest dispatch from The Embassy. Here is an excerpt -

Some commercials stay with you. Perhaps they resonated during a particular time or place, or became a cultural talking point like Apple’s 1984 Super Bowl spot introducing the Macintosh or Wendy’s iconic question - also, interestingly, from 1984. Or perhaps they resonated with you because you just enjoy them. Or maybe you like the product and a good commercial for it validates … you somehow. Because commercials are about desire. And your desire, met by this product in some way, is validated by this commercial, this 30 second expression of why anyone would or should desire this thing. You probably have a favorite or two.

Infiniti made a splash in 1989 with its introductory commercials. It was a new luxury brand - we had seen, and desired as symbols of luxury, Mercedes and BMWs for years, and this was to be a new offering in this status driven category. How did they introduce us to their new luxury car? They did it without really showing us the car. It was about a feeling, a sense, a “true idea of luxury”. These spots were both widely criticized and widely successful. We bought the idea, the feeling, the vibe.

A more recent series of ads has an update on this vibes strategy. Matthew McConaughey stars in a number of Lincoln spots where the car is present, but secondary. We are encouraged to identify with the driver. Not the particular idiosyncrasies of this particular movie star, but the person of means who goes his own way - who has his (or hers, I suppose, but men appear to be the target here) own idiosyncrasies. It may seem strange to appeal to a vision of unique idiosyncrasies in a mass market ad, but we don’t analyze the appeal, we experience it. I can drive anything, and I know other things might appear to have more status, but, because I am me, I am bestowing my own status on this Lincoln (along with Matthew McConaughey - who may not actually drive one).

…

God’s people - and all people with them - have been faced with this question from since there were God’s people. You may be familiar with the tragic history of God’s people in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel. Most of that history can be explained as a cycle of failed attempts to get what they wanted instead of what was offered them by God. Instead of blessing, they, over and over, sought what seemed like security from pagan gods or alliances with neighboring kingdoms. Over and over, God called them back to a simple dependence on Him, which is what would truly satisfy them. Here is just one of those appeals, through the prophet Isaiah -

“Come, all you who are thirsty,

come to the waters;

and you who have no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without cost.

Why spend money on what is not bread,

and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,

and you will delight in the richest of fare.

Give ear and come to me;

listen, that you may live.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

my faithful love promised to David.

Isaiah 55:1-3

Read the whole piece!