11/11/19
Mayhem: Violent or damaging disorder; Chaos
I have long maintained that US live in a State of Controlled Chaos.
Allstate has released a few new \”Mayhem\” advertisements that really bother me. They are: Mayhem breaking into someone\’s car (after letting the owner know he would be doing so on the front door security system — \’What!\’); Mayhem forcing another driver into a rear-end collision; and, Mayhem parking cars that topple over into another lot — where they are not only stuck — but the cars are in positions that suggest that their drivers could have been seriously injured.
I gather that these commercials are supposed to be funny and sell more car insurance for Allstate.
American sociologist, Robert Merton, wrote of Manifest and Latent Functions to our actions. The Manifest Function of bussing (in American schools) was to promote integration. The Latent Function saw even further White Flight into \”the burbs.\”
So the Manifest Function of the bussing scenario was the attempt to accomplish integration in American schools (which it did to a certain degree). The Latent Function, however, was the unanticipated consequence that accompanied the Manifest Function. In the school bussing scenario — it was to further White Flight, and, in many instances — violence perpetrated on Black children attempting to attend all-White schools.
The Manifest Function of each of the Three aforementioned Allstate ads is, naturally, to sell more car insurance — so consumers are protected from Mayhem. But to my mind — the Latent Functions of these advertisements are: (1) That it is cool to steal cars (2) That it\’s cool to force someone into an accident; and, (3) That fucking with people by damaging their cars is also a fun thing to do. (The actor who portrays Mayhem is, however, a national treasure!)
One wonders if each of these three Latent Function categories of dangerous and deviant behaviors has seen a rise in incidents since the release of these television commercials?
German-Jewish sociologist, Georg Simmel, discussed the inextricably-bound concepts of Form and Content. By Form and Content he intimated that things (content) should be held in containers (forms) that are best suited to holding them: like a drinking glass is suited to hold fluid from which to drink from — as opposed to carrying a rock. Or that an insurance company would suggest that you (the content) are in good hands with Allstate (the form).
There does exist an entire series of Allstate commercials that have a grandfatherly African-American actor portraying those good hands that will protect US in our driving.
So Allstate appears to be attempting to appeal to a-couple-of-different-mindsets in their attempt to capture the maximum number of consumers.
What I want to know is who-the-fuck are these people Mayhem is appealing to?! I don\’t want to be on the road with anyone like them! And it seems like Allstate is willing to sponsor them — not only on the road — but in other scenarios! Scenarios where people defy social norms and do not have to pay retribution.
I suggest that continuing to mix un-mixables plunges US further and further into a national insanity. Hence you can get a 3-minute (or more) commercial spot that mixes diapers with drugs (er, medications) with violence with sex with cars. US have normalized contents with no form, and embraced, Mayhem — we see it all around US…