As I was watching football today, I saw a Kay Jewelers commercial and thought it would be perfect for this week’s blog post. Kay commercials always go WAY over the top to try to romanticize their ads. The particular commercial I decided to look at is from Christmas a couple years ago. A new mom is awake late at night holding her newborn baby that was having trouble sleeping. The father comes into the room with a big smile on and says that it’s Christmas morning and hands his wife a big, shiny watch from under the tree. The wife’s eyes go big and she smiles as she looks lovingly into her husband’s eyes. Finally, the commercial ends with a shot of the two kissing while the mom is still holding their newborn baby, as the “every kiss begins with Kay” slogan plays in the background.
Most of the scenes in this commercial would be categorized as “special moments.” Every new mom feels that special connection with her new baby and can be caught staring at their new loved one for hours, which is exactly how the commercial starts. Then, when the husband comes in and says it’s early Christmas morning, this depicts another special moment. Everyone can remember how excited you used to, or still do, get when you finally got to open your presents Christmas morning. The commercial is clearly trying to get this same effect as the Christmas lights on the tree light up and light up the husband’s smiling face at the same time. The special Christmas morning idea continues as the wife’s face then lights up as she sees her new watch. Then, the scene with the two parents kissing while the mom holds their baby shows another special moment, their first Christmas as new family. This is another moment that is held near and dear to many family’s hearts. So why does everyone see these commercials as so cheesy and over the top when many of the scenes should evoke loving emotions?
One reason is the music that is always played in the background. The music slowly builds until the Kay’s product is finally revealed and then all the bells play in the background for the big moment. On top of this, the two parents don’t talk in a normal voice. Everything they say is with a big smile on their face and sounds wispy and airy. No one actually talks like this. They try so hard for the commercial to be special and show a loving moment between two people, but because they try so hard it is seen as a joke. They actually do a decent job at identifying special moments in people’s lives, but by putting so many of them back to back, it loses all of the effect. The commercial tries to display the typical signifiers of love and romance, but the emotions are not successfully transferred to the audience.
Ugh I have such a love/hate relationship with these commercials, I'm so glad you covered them. The one with the baby was especially precious. I LOVE seeing the happy, worthy mother finally receiving a gift she deserves in like the most romantic way ever. At the same time, the feelings of needing to vomit from the over-romanticizing they do in every.single.commercial. is ever present. I hope that someday, when I'm in love or whatever, my husband will play the magical music, talk in his little surprise whisper voice, and give me a few carats. Or maybe I don't...
ReplyDeleteI guess you could call me the complete opposite of a "romantic" because all of this romantic talk is making me nauseous lol. I hate the fact that romance sells so well but you and I both know that even if you go out and buy the biggest, most expensive piece of jewelry from Kay Jewelers, the moment that you receive that gift is not going to compare to the moment portrayed on the commercial. I feel like these types of commercials, ads and even movies just set everybody up for failure because we get our hopes up so high that its unrealistic that it will be so "magical."
ReplyDeleteHaha I think ads like this are very clever especially with their clever slogan. I think that the romanticism of this particular ads is mainly based on the fact that everything associated with christmas is magically. The people who made this commeercial want to ad to the magical tradition by adding a new tradition of giving their elequent products. If you buy these products as gifts, the magic will grow and it will be expressed through the peaceful enviornment, the christmas tree, the love in the air, and the shine of a new ring or watch.
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