The Other Super Bowl Commercials And The Power Of Student Voice

Source: ASIDE, 2014

As the week ended, many of our students were abuzz over the Super Bowl this Sunday, but not so much because of the game. It's the commercials. They love them, and we have fun deconstructing the multitude of advertisements each year on Monday after the game. It reinforces their media literacy skills and provides opportunities to broaden the discussion.

At present, many of the upcoming ads for Super Bowl XLVIII are already available on the web, and some of our students trekked into New York City to take in the excitement surrounding the event on Super Bowl Boulevard. What if we could channel that same energy to promote a cause with our learners? That's when we came across a recent post from FastCo.Exist about the Portfolio Center project.

Graphic designer Ken Carbone of the Carbone Smolan Agency in New York worked with the art students at the Portfolio Center to create commercials for worthy charities and non-profit organizations. Their videos, like those in our post on motion graphics for the same purpose, stir compassion and empathy. The difference is that these students only had 30 seconds to communicate their message. Powerful and thought provoking, they merit our attention. We've embedded a few of our favorites here.


Too Young to Wed from natalia ruiz on Vimeo.



The Bully Project from Alec Burch on Vimeo.



Soles4Souls SuperBowlSpot from Mary Durant on Vimeo.



DoSomething.org Superbowl Commercial from the.rob.hurst on Vimeo.

Opportunities to design their own media messages can captivate the attention of our students. We should strive for this in our curricula. Giving them a voice not only builds empathy, but also civic responsibility.

Please also see Resource Roundup: 6 Motion Graphics That Rouse Compassion.