My Top 3 is a weekly post where I count down three things I love in a random category. This week, we’re looking at my top three TV commercial series.

As an undergrad, I double majored. One of those majors was Media Studies. There were a lot of great classes in the program but I loved “The Rhetoric of Advertisements.” (The best class was “The Rhetoric of Propaganda” but that’s a story for another day.) In the advertisements class, we spent a lot of time looking at the history of advertising along with the purpose and methods.

Once you sit down and parse out how things are sold to you, you can’t unsee the work the behind the scenes. There are subtle things at play but the main goal is to have the viewer make a personal connection with the product. Essentially, advertisers want you to already see yourself as someone who uses the item they are trying to sell.

These days, unless you deliberately hide under a rock, you can’t avoid advertisements. I, honestly, find most of them forgettable or annoying. But a few campaigns have been *chef’s kiss*.

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