You’re not you when you’re in a snickers’ ad: Celebrity, intertextuality, and masculinity

Abstract

Snickers’ “you’re not you when you’re hungry” (YNY) campaign premiered in 2010. Ad agency BBDO, New York (2017) designed the ads as the centerpiece of an expensive, celebrity-filled Super Bowl promotion. This rhetorical analysis interprets the ads in terms of celebrities serving as intertextual messages that not only sell nut-filled chocolate bars but also reinforce identity stereotypes. In particular, the ads reinforce stereotypes of traditional sex roles. The ads reward viewer knowledge that plays into these stereotypes.