This was an assignment for my literary criticisms class; I thought I'd post it on here for kicks and giggles. For those of you unfamiliar with deconstructive criticism: Deconstruction tries to find ways that a text (or commercial, as the case may be) contradicts itself. In other words, if the text tries to make you think one way, try to find ways in which it actually makes you think the opposite. This is what I have done with one of the Super Bowl Doritos commercials:
Doritos: The Finger-Licker
As an office worker empties a bag of Doritos, his coworker rushes to him and asks, “Are you going to finish those?” The first worker is understandably confused, as he believes he has “just finished those.” However, his fellow tells him, “You left the best part” and proceeds to suck the excess cheese off his coworker’s fingers. Later on, the finger-licker strikes again: Another coworker wipes his cheesy fingers on his pants upon finishing a bag of Doritos, and the finger-licker rips off the man’s pants to suck the cheesy goodness off them. Doritos proclaims: “Yep. They’re that good.”
Doritos’ commercial tries to assert that its brand of chips is so delicious it will have you licking the crumbs off your coworkers’ fingers. In reality, the commercial is a turn-off to potential buyers of its chips.
Doritos tries to link the viewer’s desire for its chips to the finger-licker’s desire for them. However, the viewer prefers disassociating him or herself with the finger-licker. In sucking cheese powder from his coworkers’ fingers and pants, the finger-licker establishes himself as a creep – possibly one with homosexual tendencies, as both of the coworkers he assaults are male. Viewers would be humiliated at best if caught sexually harassing (as it appears) their fellows. Furthermore, if Doritos are indeed “that good,” why would a viewer seek out a coworker who has finished a bag in the hopes that the taste of the chips still lingers? Why would we content ourselves with a fingerful of mere cheese powder when a vending machine containing full bags of Doritos lurks somewhere nearby? Clearly our coworkers are getting their Doritos from somewhere; why would we not pull out our wallets or ask our coworkers for some quarters and get a full bag all to ourselves, if Doritos are truly “that good”?
Additionally, the viewer may relate to the finger-licker’s coworkers rather than the finger-licker himself. In this case, instead of realizing his or her lust for Doritos, the viewer is shown that he or she will be harassed by creepy coworkers if in possession of a bag of the chips. Many people are uncomfortable even with ordinary human interaction; presented with the possibility of having a distant acquaintance sucking on one’s fingers or ripping off and licking one’s pants is decidedly alarming. Few people (if any) will want to risk sexual harassment for some corn chips coated with cheese powder. With this and the aforementioned hidden messages in place, Doritos undermines its own attempt to inspire Doritos-lust in its viewers and instead encourages them to stay as far away as possible from the chips.
That commercial really is creepy, now that I think about it...
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