File: 2024 New Year's Vision (3) -Amazon's 2024 Holiday Advertisement: Midnight Opus

Amazon’s 2024 holiday advertisement, Midnight Opus, carries a message celebrating the power of small acts of kindness, the pursuit of dreams, and the importance of societal connections. However, this ad is more than just a holiday message. It is a creation that deserves to be analyzed from both sociological and psychological perspectives, as it incorporates societal dynamics, the power of advertising, and a major message tied to the holiday theme. In this critique, we will delve into the methods, messages, and strategies employed by the campaign.

The Dark Side of Amazon’s Social Manipulation

The Midnight Opus advertisement tells the story of a small group of people coming together at the workplace to help make another person's dream come true. However, when considering Amazon's real working conditions, this perspective becomes ironic. Globally criticized for its working conditions, including high targets, low wages, and demanding shifts, these elements contradict the positive message of the ad. While the advertisement presents a beautiful theme of unity and kindness in society, Amazon workers, in reality, often experience a very different reality.

Recently, Amazon revised its remote working policy, deciding that starting in 2025, employees would be required to work in the office five days a week. This decision was met with criticism from both employees and the public, and after this, the friendly, enjoyable, and collaborative atmosphere portrayed in the ad seems less than convincing. While the ad promotes messages of coworkers helping each other, working together towards a common goal, and making someone’s dream come true, it overlooks the unhappiness and difficult working conditions Amazon employees face. This can be seen as an attempt to clean the company’s corporate image, creating a sense of social emotional manipulation.

Touching the Soul of Society: The Ad’s Psychological Appeal

The ad seeks to tap into societal psychology through the emotions it conveys. Specifically, it touches the heart by invoking themes of hope, joy, and sharing, which are often associated with the holiday season. The use of the universally familiar song What the World Needs Now Is Love serves to create a societal bond, build empathy, and reinforce the feelings of love and connection among people.

Psychologically, the ad is clearly attempting to generate optimism among its target audience. Individuals leading limited and demanding lives are often drawn to such a positive story for a sense of comfort. However, the idealized world presented by the ad is a utopia far removed from reality. The idea of a world where love and respect coexist among workers, where dreams come true, offers a kind of escape from the harsh realities of life. While it may provide short-term relief to the viewer, it can be seen as a superficial approach that bypasses a deeper psychological analysis of society.

The Subtle Detail Behind the Creative Idea

From a creative standpoint, the ad’s concept and narrative are quite striking. The discovery of a theater janitor’s hidden talents and the celebration of an ordinary person being recognized by a community form a simple yet powerful storytelling base. However, it’s the song used in the ad that is one of its most powerful elements. Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s What the World Needs Now Is Love is both historically rich and complements the holiday atmosphere. The message of love and hope that the song conveys is in perfect harmony with the ad's dramatic structure.

Ultimately, Midnight Opus stands out as a visually and emotionally captivating creation. It leaves a strong impression with both its visual and emotional elements, offering a sense of hope and togetherness to its audience. However, this emotional impact is limited to the surface-level brilliance, as the idealized world it presents is at odds with Amazon's real labor policies. While the campaign aims to celebrate the peaceful, happy moments of the holiday season and the sacrifices made by workers, it overlooks the darker realities that lie beneath this celebration. This contradiction leaves the viewer with some lingering questions after consuming the ad, diminishing its societal impact. This is particularly true as a large portion of society has become more sensitive to issues like worker rights violations and poor working conditions, which are often masked by holiday themes.

The ad’s intention is to celebrate the spirit of the holidays, but it reveals a lack of deep societal and psychological analysis. Holiday celebrations are often portrayed as moments of relaxation and renewal, a chance to strengthen societal ties. However, the true meaning of holidays is not just about a few days of rest; they also provide an opportunity to escape the pressures of modern working life, to question social structures, and even to redefine individual well-being. Midnight Opus overlooks these depths and instead focuses solely on the superficial celebration of the holiday through its atmospheric elements.

Still, the campaign stands as an example of the power of advertising and the importance of social responsibility in a creative context. It supports the idea that small acts of kindness can create significant change, creating a message of hope for the audience. However, the real-world relevance and application of this positive message can only truly resonate with a more profound approach to social responsibility. While the ad's power relies on the allure of its idealized world, the realities behind it prompt us to question its impact. Midnight Opus encourages thought, yet it fails to realize its full potential to create meaningful societal change due to the contradictions between the ad's ideals and Amazon's labor policies.

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