Doritos Superbowl Commercial

One of the key ideas of a Marxist analysis is the idea that there is a small ruling class and they are the ones that control all mass media and advertising.  When you stop and think about it, it is has been very true throughout history.  Whether it be back in the sixteenth century deciding what would be an acceptable play to be produced or today deciding what tv shows will be aired or what stories will be covered on the news, there is a small population of people that are deciding what the masses will be exposed to.

However, for this years Superbowl Doritos held a contest for the commercial that would be aired.  Instead of having the head honchos in the advertising, promotion, and branding departments work to put together a commercial that they would then expose to the masses, they allowed the masses to put together a commercial and then vote on their favorites.  Initially I looked at this and thought that this was challenging this Marxist idea. The masses were being allowed to chose what they would be exposed to; they had the power.  

However, after some more thought I realized that this may not be the case.  I'm sure that Doritos got hundreds of entries for the contest and they had to narrow it down to a few options for the public to vote for.  By doing this, they are flat out filtering out what would be available to the masses to vote on.  They were once again able to control what was going out to the masses.  They make it feel as though the masses have the power but ultimately it is still the small ruling class.  In fact, this is actually reinforcing Marxist ideas that the ruling class is making the masses think that they are making their own conscious decisions but it ultimately is still the ruling class. This is a prime example of the masses having a false consciousness because they think that they have the power and are thinking for themselves but ultimately the ruling class is really feeding them things and making them feel as though they are in control when they are not.  

After thinking about this, it really makes you think about all of the other times in which different groups from the ruling class have given the power to the people (masses).  I can think of numerous times I have heard different products or companies say that they are giving the power back to the people, but are they really?  Do the masses ever really have the power or is it only a false feeling of power?  I don't have the answer but it is something we should all think about and question when situations like these com up in our daily lives.  

Meghan O