Both of the commercials focus on influencing buyers based on culture and beliefs. The battle between Ford and General Motors is on how customers accept their advert, thus their willingness to buy either a Ford or Cadillac. The Cadillac advert was considered full of pride and exalting personal effort, despite the effect it has on others. According to the guy in the advert ( actor Neil McDonough) , America works hard for its success (Sachs, 2014). The statement is true, as has become part of the non-material culture of Americans. The Cadillac advert is a representation of the typical American who wakes up early, sacrifices comfort such as days off, and is focused on what they want. What is around them is not very important, so it does not distract them from their goal. The ad expresses blatant consumerism; an American culture has been running since the 1960s and does not look like it will go away. The attitude of not giving up on their aspirations has been integrated into America's capitalist culture. However, blatant consumerism has its dark side. It leads to ecological degradation, weakens social ties, causes unnecessary pressure on the manufacturers and consumers, and shifts the consumer’s thinking from societal virtues to individualistic achievements (Sachs, 2014). Blatant consumerism believes the end justifies the means.
In consideration of these effects, Ford countered the General Motors ad featuring an African American woman emphasizing that America is great not because of individual efforts, but because everyone works hard. The ad suggests that collective hard work makes America great. The culture exhibited by Ford is different from that of General Motors. While the Cadillac ad places prestige in owning a vehicle, the Ford ad focuses on community work that is rewarded with good results, which is the vehicle. The culture expressed by GM is that America values output more than the process. The Cadillac advert manifests a material culture of owning certain makes of vehicles being perceived as prestige. It is easy to deduct from the ad that Americans associate success with what can be seen.
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The advert was a replica of how GM advertised in the 980s. Cadillac was associated with taste and American values. Cadillac was considered a car for hardworking Americans until other car adverts challenged the mentality the company had created among Americans. Ford was also challenging the non-material culture of labeling buying a Cadillac as a reward for working hard. By labeling other countries as "lazy," such that they take a full month holiday, the GM advert is branding non-material American culture as of hardworking citizens. The latter do not need vacations as they work towards success, represented by owning a Cadillac.
Prompt 2
Among the rites of passage in America is death, which is followed by cremation, embalming or the traditional burial. The ritual of burying the dead is deeply entrenched in religious and cultural history such that a negligible number of persons question the mortuary and burial habits. In South Africa the traditional circumcision is deeply rooted in the culture of the Ndihinyo and only women question the process and consider it unnecessary for their sons. However, young boys have to face the traditional knife to become “fully men” in society. Americans might be quick to condemn the southern practice, without realizing there are burial practices that need to be changed in the US. Embalmment is a common form of body preservation in the US. Embalming is the process of preserving the dead using a cocktail of chemicals of formaldehyde, phenol, methanol, and glycerin into a dead body via an artery to delay the body's rate of decay (Jeong, 2018). Formaldehyde is highly carcinogenic and could be deadly if a person is exposed to high concentration of the chemical. The fumes of formaldehyde cause irritation to the nose, eyes and throat, and so are methyl-alcohol and glycerin chemicals (Jeong, 2018). Phenol can irritate or burn the skin and could be more lethal if ingested.
In the US, approximately 800,000 gallons of formaldehyde are put into the soil along with the dead bodies. Study has revealed that this is equivalent to the amount of water required to fill one and a quarter of an Olympic-sized swimming pool (Jeong, 2018). The process therefore is hazardous to the lives of people. In South Africa, young boys go up the mountains for the traditional circumcision that is carried out by a traditional medicine man. The process leads to death of over 100 initiates every year and some of them lose their manhood due to lack of proper medication and negligence. However, it is the only way that one gains respect in the community and becomes a man. Embracing modern circumcision in the hospital has been proposed by majority of the women in the South African society to reduce mortality caused by circumcision. The same way initiation in South Africa poses a danger to the lives of the initiate and embalming poses a threat to the lives of Americans. The Americans should result in the traditional way of burying the dead to allow the body to decompose naturally and release nutrients into the soil. The body can also be encased into a pod that can later grow into a tree or sealing the ash from cremation in a concrete ball and throwing it into the sea to enhance the corals. Alkaline hydrolysis can also be used by people who do not opt for cremation.
References
Jeong, T. J., Park, G. H., Hur, J., Koh, S. B., Park, M. B. & Chang, S. J. (2018). The Effects of Formaldehyde Exposure on Self-reported Symptoms of Respiratory-eye Mucosa and Integumentary System during Anatomy Practices. Journal of Physical Anthropology , 31 (1), 9-17.
Sachs, Jonah (June 2014) Cadillac vs. Ford: the ad battle over American values. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/cadillac-ford-ads-consumption-culture-values-story-wars
