“We carry each other forward. No matter who we are or what we believe or where we come from.”  ~ Carry, Cadillac 2017 Oscar Night Commercial .

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“Carry,” an incredible Cadillac 2017 Oscars Night commercial, starts out with, “We are a nation divided. That’s what they tell us, right?”

It then proceeds with a cascading series of pictures of people behaving in exactly the opposite way.

>> People carrying each other across chasms.
>> People hugging each other in the face of tragedies.
>> People running to each other with their arms out in celebration.
>> People carrying, lifting, and holding on to each other.

The commercial paints a picture of people who are entirely different from those in the pictures painted by so many political leaders today.

It shows us our best selves, our most natural and most ordinary selves and gives that image to us in an emotionally provocative way.

“The effects of advertising are inescapable…they shape our attitudes and our attitudes shape our behavior.”

I have always known that how commercials depict us shapes how we see ourselves. We can look to a group of happy people standing around a bar drinking Bud Light out of bottles, or a happy family eating breakfast together under Golden Arches, or this very Cadillac commercial. The common theme is people in all kinds of situations loving, caring, and supporting each other.

We remember the slogans from commercials such as “Where’s the beef?” and “Got Milk?”

We even tune in to see the best ones from the Super Bowl, and for some of us, the commercials are the best part!

Make no mistake about the power of advertising.

“Advertising is a powerful tool used by the media to portray an image, change an idea or shape an attitude.”  

Commercials are mirrors that can reflect back either who we want to be, or who we are that we have lost sight of.

Humans have been denigrated in the media lately. We have been told we are divided, that we hate each other, marginalize each other, are racists, are Islamophobes and misogynists. The list goes on. It’s refreshing to see our hearts and our goodness depicted instead.

It’s heartening to see Muhammad Ali—a black Muslim man—standing next to a Cadillac with the announcer proudly claiming that he was a Cadillac owner and a fighter and that all of us are fighters just like him.

This particular 2017 Cadillac commercial transcends commercialism, consumerism, and capitalism. With its beautiful message of hope, it becomes media at its finest.

In fact, it embodies the very thing that it challenges us all to do.

Dare.

~

Author: Carmelene Siani

Image: YouTube still

Editor: Caitlin Oriel