Leave it to Roll-Oh is a silly, long-form advertisement from General Motors and its subsidiaries, but it posits particular relationships between people and technology. In this ad, how will robot technology change lives? Do all kinds of people co-exist with robots in the same way? In one or two well-formed paragraphs, make a specific point about how this ad imagines people (or one kind of person) interacting with “robots.”
7 thoughts on “Leave it to Roll-Oh–Group 1”
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Leave it to Roll-Oh posits that robot technology will make daily life easier by stepping in to complete small, daily tasks like answering the phone and washing the dishes. It essentially makes the day to day tasks of the housewife completely automated, perhaps rendering the typical figure of the 1940s American housewife useless.
I agree with Aria’s point that all kinds of people do not co-exist with robots the same way. Right from the beginning the ad makes us understand that some people are more well-equipped to understand and use technology than others. For example, the opening scene where the man from the robot repair shop annoyingly mansplains the machine’s mechanics to the housewife shows that women may interact with technology but probably won’t understand its workings and complexities. I think Aria’s point that the housewife doesn’t really understand the robot and yet still acts as its master is really interesting. Since she is seemingly affluent, she has the privilege of utilizing new innovations like the Roll-Oh whereas the mailman, a less affluent figure, is afraid of and doesn’t have the opportunity to use new technologies.
I also found it particularly amusing when the woman verbally asked Roll-Oh to answer the door then chuckled at how silly that action was before proceeding to press the “answer the door” button. While in 1940, it was silly to imagine speaking directly to a robot, today we all speak to Alexa, Siri, Google Home, etc. without a thought. This echoes Daniel’s above point that technologies that were innovative at the time of this advertisement seem rather mundane and rudimentary today. I wonder if Alexa will seem mundane in the year 3000 when we’re all microchipped and our little robot helpers can read our minds. I’m kidding; I really hope that’s not where technology is headed.
The advertisement by GE is trying to give the impression that these robots help humans navigate every day life by taking care of menial tasks. I thought it was interesting how many of the technologies that the ad was portraying as new and innovating are considered very commonplace now, showing that vision of the impact of technology on everyday life has manifested in present day. The ad shows that not all people interact with technology in the same way, but implies that everyone can benefit from it, even those who know little about how the technology works. I think the ad is targeted at people who enjoy new technologies that provide comfort and make life easier, and thus is trying to portray a reality where technology that people dreamed about was functional.
First of all, I really liked the way the narrator said “robits” that was really funny.
Second of all, in this ad, robit technology is mostly portrayed as changing lives by making menial tasks completely automated so no one has to worry about doing them. A main aspect of the advertisement that stood out to me is the way that humans are portrayed as being hyper aware of the existence of these robots. The narrator places heavy emphasis on how ground-breaking it is that there is automation for lights turning on/off, airplanes that fly themselves, sprinklers that detect fires on their own, and toasters that pop the toast up before it burns. Even more blatant in its emphasis is when the young boy is taken aback by the functionality of the automatic water fountain. In present day, it would be really weird for an ad to place that much emphasis on these things because they are just so commonplace. And, I think this comparison to present day is important in understanding how different the relationship was in the 1940’s between people and technology (or robots). Technology like this really was groundbreaking and hadn’t yet assimilated and merged as much with human life as it has today. It takes a lot more for us to have the same reactions as that little boy did with the water fountain. And to answer the posed second question, most people co-existed with it in the exact same way: they regarded it with some sort of reverence while also being able to quickly accept it as ordinary and routine aspects of their lives.
The ad Leave it to Roll-Oh highlights the way robots exist and take part in every facet of (at that moment in time) modern life. I’m sure at the time it was a crazy and radical thought that robots were present in the home, the office, the ride to work. The ad is certainly positing the idea that robots have the potential to change lives but are also currently doing so; by making cooking easier, and making cars and planes run. It’s clear that the ad wants to push the idea that robots are not only the future, but also the present. They are actively changing lives and companies like GE will constantly be improving that technology. I don’t think the ad pushes the idea that all kinds of people co-exist with robots in the same way. The housewife doesn’t understand the robot’s mechanics but acts as its master, whereas the electrician understands its mechanics and works with robots daily, and the mailman is afraid of the robot. The mailman and the boy at the fountain who is confused by it are examples of average people at the time who maybe don’t interact with robots often in everyday life. This makes it clear that robots (and this ad) are for well-to-do white people; affluent housewives, the businessman on his drive to work, and pilots or people who can afford to fly. It’s clear that the ad is targeted at people who might actually buy GE products. The ad imagines and has the objective of having this affluent elite be the primary consumers of their products. It wants this specific sect of people who can afford it to be imagined as those who are meant to coexist with robots.
The Leave it to roll-oh advertisement explains how robot technology improves our lives and will continue to make our lives easier. The ad starts with a “chromium plated” bot that attends to all the domestic needs of an upper class woman, but we soon learn the actual robots are the appliances in the home that help with everyday tasks. I agree with Clara that the advertisement focuses on consumers with money to spend on unnecessary appliances and leaves out certain socio-economic groups, but the rest of the ad builds a framework for how everyone interacts with robots. Many people don’t own their own cars or laundry machine, but nearly everyone will ride in a car, live in a heated room during the winter, or make a phone call using the robot in our pocket. We don’t all interact with robots in the same way, but we all interact with robots. I think the ad helps us imagine and reconsider the role of technology in our lives.
My favorite part of the video is the robot in the carburetor of the car that delivers a healthy diet of “gasoline calories and fresh air vitamins” to the engine. It’s funny to imagine machines as little minions doing many little jobs to make the system work as whole. Although machines don’t actually work this way, it simplifies the process and argues robot technology is already interwoven with all of our products. Every machine has a form of intelligence that we can imagine as a robot, and this imagined creature makes it feel more human. A robot is a human looking machine, and the ad imagines people interacting with machines like people interacting with people.
I agree with Clara’s observation that “Leave it to Roll-Oh” primarily focuses on how robot technology eases the wealthy’s life, but it also explains how robot technology can streamline factory assembly lines. The ad specifically points out how robots, unlike their human counterparts, “never sleeps, nor winks, nor looks out the window”. This insinuates that robots are inherently more efficient because of their lack of “humanness”. The ad also alludes to robots’ superiority over humans in factories when it states that the robot “stands guard over the man who works this giant press”. The ad explains how robots eradicate any human error that might occur, making the final product more desirable. This segment of the ad clarifies that robots are both more efficient and accurate than human factory workers, and anything perceived as human is a negative, and anything robotic is a positive. Because this ad is “pro-robot”, it doesn’t bring up the maintenance necessary to keep machinery working correctly or the occasional malfunction. “Leave it to Roll-Oh” explains how robot technology can supervise factory workers to ensure product efficiency and accuracy.
The General Motors “Leave it to Roll-Oh” advertisement poses the opinion that robot technology makes life easier by freeing people’s time in small, important ways. As robot technology improves, people’s lives will improve through the gain of more free time. However, the advertisement targets a group of people with a specific privilege; access to technology. Not everyone co-exists with robots to the extent the advertisement makes it seem. People with the money to buy the newest technologies at the time (toasters, kettles that unplug themselves, coffee makers) are surrounded by robot technology in every moment of their lives. What the ad fails to recognize is that people living in poverty lack the “ease” General Motors suggest robot technology brings. Though it makes it seem as if robots are everywhere, it shows a nice house with new technology that costs lots of money, a modern car that also requires money to own or even rent, an area with enough money to purchase water fountains for its citizens, and more. Every one of these situations assumes that people have enough money to afford robot technology, which is not always the case. Technology can ease the lives of those who are privileged enough to access it, which is demonstrated in “Leave it to Roll-Oh.”