It leans heavily on b-roll of largely unmasked workers in a production facility, checking on boxes of macaroni and jugs of ketchup as they roll down the line. This recent Infiniti ad is a good example. I like this Sprint commercial, which spends a mere four seconds genuflecting to our troubled times before breathlessly detailing all of the exciting deals that await you if you switch wireless carriers this very minute. Also known as the “we care” commercial, this is the predominant variety of COVID-themed ad these days. By the year 1972 it … At least this cereal promotes bowel movements so you can get it out of your body as fast as possible. Together, they’ll give you a televisual sense of what it means to market and consume these days—and underscore that not even the grammar of TV advertising is equipped for the anxieties of these unprecedented times. WeatherTech makes automobile floor mats and other stuff that “have always protected your vehicle … but they’ll also protect you,” the narrator boasts. The commercial was filmed in 1971 and he was just 3 years old at the time. The year 2020 has begun in the world of advertising with the force of Super Bowl 2020. The real solution here would be to pick up the phone and call in your order directly from the restaurant so that the restaurant can keep all of the money—but that’s not easy either, given that Grubhub sometimes still charges restaurants fees even if you call them, because the company has reportedly salted the internet with fake phone numbers that actually connect you with Grubhub. Because they are composed of “nonporous surfaces that can easily be wiped with germ-killing disinfectants.” As a man who spent Friday trying fruitlessly to thoroughly sanitize the fabric floors and seats of a rental car, I will just say that I am here for what WeatherTech is selling. Toyota is great at this subgenre. If advertising represents an aspirational version of the world in which we live, then it’s clear from this growing corpus that we’ll be living in a nightmare for a while. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. How is iSpot helping partners disrupt their industries? These manipulative spots ostentatiously applaud the essential workers and medical personnel who have worked steadily through this crisis. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. In it, the advertiser pretends to discard all tawdry product-hawking concerns in order to assure you, the distraught viewer, that it cares deeply for you and your troubles and that it is here for you in this time of crisis; that despite what you may have presumed, its primary goal is not to sell things and make money, but to serve the citizens of this great nation.

Another cousin of “we’re here for you.” These self-valorizing commercials declare that the brand in question has been, is, and always will be ready to serve you. Browse, watch, and interact with all your favorite TV commercials on iSpot.tv