Thirty-Second Pull Factor

I have kept a watchful eye on the Olympics since it started. There is tough competition for the Americans in many of the sports; however, we're still managing to win the most medals. I've not only been keeping an eye on how well the athletes are playing, but also on the companies making money from the Olympics and athletes as well.

Nike, Coka-Cola, and McDonald's are a few companies whom I would say are some of the smartest. They became partners with the Olympics (some for as long as 50 years). They utilized the Olympics to promote their products by having athletes use their products during the games, or advertising in commercials on the same channel the Olympics is shown- all of which can be seen on television.

NBC is the network hosting the Olympics in the United States with an average of 29 million viewers a night since the opening ceremony. That means 29 million people could have seen the propaganda provided. 29 million people could have seen the McDonald's commercial showing various athletes talking about the new Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich (which, by the way, has 17 g of total fat and 1030 mg of sodium in it).

Not a lot of people would really think about the athletes that are advertising an unhealthy sandwich. Most people would simply see strong, healthy, athletes eating a good-looking sandwich. Postman stated, "The television commercial is not at all about the character of products to be consumed. It is about the character of the consumers of products (128)." McDonald's knows that there are people out there who would fancy the sandwich just because the athletes were eating one. They knew they found a weakness.

A thirty-second commercial is all it takes to provoke a person to do something. Why is it so fast? Is there as shared weakness within America that makes us so vulnerable to the propaganda?

-Lauren Ross