GM's "Robot" Super Bowl Advertisement

One of my personal favorites of this year's Super Bowl commercials was GM's "Robot" advertisement with its focus on GM workers being obsessed with quality.

When companies such as Toyota, Honda, and Acura begin campaigning their more energy-efficient cars, GM is left behind. To contradict other car companies appealing to the environmentally aware portion of the population, GM swings in another direction. They choose to instead appeal to the public's empathy.

In their advertisement, GM follows the life of a machine which has accidentally caused a car to malfunction. Upon the mistake, the machine is henceforth fired from his job in the factory and sent to the streets.

Immediately, through the noises it makes and the response of its fellow workers, we are shown its personality. Through its trials and tribulations, we begin to really feel for this machine character.

It was smart of the company to not only try to make the audience empathize, but to also show the disappointed attitude of the machine.

The idea for GM is obviously to make us want to buy their cars. By giving human qualities to this machine, we are able to accept it as a living being. We then feel sorry for it, not only because it is no longer employed, but also because it is painstakingly obvious that the machine is horribly upset with itself.

Now it is time to give the bad news. Although the idea is good, GM could have made a mistake with this commercial by focusing on how machines can make errors. We all know the auto industry is primarily run by computers. When we see a commercial so obviously sparked via a computer error, our attention is much more focused on that possibility.

GM did try to combat this fact obviously by letting the poor machine go. But the possibility still remains.

The graphics were great. The idea to personify the machine was great. The logic behind the situation could have used a little work.

For those of you who may have missed this commercial, or would just like to view it again, IFILM has made it available at their website. Visit http://www.ifilm.com/video/2819657/collection/18485/minisite/superbowl to watch it.