The Desire to be Desired

I feel like there’s no such thing as a good car commercial. I would venture to say that 90% of all car commercials consist of three scenes: 

1)      A panoramic view of the car set against a dark background. There is slow, mysterious music in the background. Cue male voiceover telling the viewers a bunch of numbers they will never remember.

2)      The car is driving through the desert so quickly a cloud of dust rises behind it (I guess this is where the phrase to “leave someone in the dust” comes from). Cue voiceover about the horsepower of the car and how it’s better than its fastest competitors.

3)      The car is driving through a wide variety of sceneries—from forests, to beaches, to country roads. You see the driver doing a bunch of outdoorsy (and sometimes life-threatening) activities. Cue voiceover about how the car will take you on wild adventures.

 

Then I saw this commercial:

 

The gist is this:  supermodel Marisa Miller (dubbed “Attractiveness Expert” in the ad) steps out of a Buick Enclave and proceeds to tell the viewers about some features that make her car so awesome. She then says, “But all people can seem to remember is how good it looks…I can relate” as a male onlooker proceeds to turn sideways to catch another glance at Marisa--just in time to hit a bicyclist with his surfboard and cause a crash.

This ad uses sex appeal to market to both sexes. There is obviously sex appeal to men in the fact that a beautiful women in a short dress is talking about cars, but I think this ad markets even more so to the ladies. Women enjoy knowing that they are perceived as attractive; having a guy unknowingly cause an accident because he is so flabbergasted by your beauty is like a wordless compliment. This ad also appeals to the woman who wants to appear sexy and smart (see Marisa’s previous quote).

By driving the Buick Enclave, you will have guys falling all over you who not only realize your beauty, but also appreciate your brains.

This is one of the messages this ad discretely tells us. Recently, I heard someone say that a woman’s downfall can be the desire to be desired. Women like to feel wanted and appreciated. However, focusing on this too much can consume one’s thoughts and climb the ranks in our minds. This desire to be desired can even take over God’s place in our lives.

Galatians 4:8 says this: “Earlier, before you knew God personally, you were enslaved to so-called gods that had nothing of the divine about them.” (THE MESSAGE)

These idols in our lives can imprison us, taking over literally every part of our lives. Wanting to be desired can consume a woman’s entire thought process, affect the way she views herself and other people, the way she dresses, the way she carries herself, and can entirely change her personality. I truly believe every woman has struggled with this to some extent.

But wait, there’s hope! Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

I think that as people (male or female) spend time chasing after God like crazy and seek to become more like Him, God really does give them the desires of their hearts. The thing is, as we chase after God, he changes our hearts, and with that our desires. Our hearts more closely resemble His heart, and our desires more closely resemble His desires. When our wants match up with God’s wants, everything changes. And the desire to be desired? That falls to the bottom of the list.