Defining the Decades

While channel surfing recently, I stumbled upon a particular Toyota commercial. Despite not being  interested in car ads (at all), this one caught my eye.  In it, the Toyota marketing team appears to want to show off their abilities to recreate the stereotypical past eras in American culture, including the groovy 70's and grunge 90's. Take a look:

They managed to fit 5 decades of culture into a 1 minuet ad.  Every era had very distinctive characteristics such as the style of dress and type of music, so they would easily be identifiable to viewers. And each decade was recognizable, except the “modern day” one. It seemed to be a little off.  According to the commercial, Dubstep is the current music trend. Does that sound right to you? I was a bit surprised by their choice, but maybe that what’s cool these days and I’m just hopelessly unaware. It's possible.  Then again, the commercial also had people throwing paper out windows, which is (luckily for recycling activists) not a common occurrence, so granted it’s probably not the most reliable source of what’s up.  It is after all, a commercial, not a documentary.

At the same time, that portrayal of modern-day life did make me wonder. If the marketing team at Toyota remade this commercial in 10 or even 20 years, how would they (or would they?) alter it? Will this set of years be represented with bright neon outfits and fluid dance moves, or teens clutching smart phones as French fries rain from the sky? It's up to us, the people of here and now, to determine what this decade will be remembered as. No pressure!