Advertisements sometimes refer to their own fictional universe within the framework of their commercials. Much as poets draw on the lore and tradition of all poetry, advertisers in our post-modern society draw on traditions from all aspects of popular culture. This kind of meta-advertisement most often takes the form of a spoof or parody of another advertisement. These spoof advertisements poke fun at other advertisers use of stereotypes, marketing techniques, or just plain silliness. The purpose in using this kind of advertising technique is of course to discredit the methods used by other advertisers to sell their products. These ads can make the consumer feel like they are in on the joke by suggesting that they are far too intelligent and sophisticated to fall for the obvious tricks that other advertisers use. .
To this end, such spoof advertising can work very well. Indeed, when the Energizer Bunny comes trotting through a television commercial, it can make the staged advertisement we had been watching seem pretty silly, even if beforehand we had thought it to be a particularly normal commercial. It is a refreshing approach that simultaneously makes us laugh and reminds us to be wary of all the advertising techniques used by advertisers in order to persuade us to buy their product. The advertisers using this type of technique are trying to establish a special relationship with the consumer by aligning themselves with the consumer against the rest of the advertising industry. .
These spoof advertisements are asking us to buy a particular product by making fun of other companies' attempts to make us buy their products. By subverting traditional stereotypes and advertising techniques, these ads are not actually adopting a fully clean approach as they are purported to be, but are merely playing on the consumer's desire to be a wise consumer. As much as they'd like to believe they are being entirely honest with consumers, they are really using "manipulation made obvious in the service of manipulation" (Savan 51).
