Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3843: 84 Lumber Super Bowl Ad - "The Entire Journey" - Body Language and Emotional Intelligence (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Of all the Super Bowl ads this year, the most watched was 84 Lumber's 90 second one titled, "The Journey Begins". At its end, the viewers are directed to a longer version (above) named, "The Entire Journey" (nearly six minutes) via a company website, Journey84.com. Initially, this sight crashed from the extreme volume of those interested in seeing its conclusion.

The mother and daughter who travel far, mostly on foot, much of it through desert wilderness, end up coming to an immense wall - which of course, is implied to be Donald Trump's proposed wall along the US-Mexican border.

Of course, the mother and the daughter are actors - and yet, particularly with the actor portraying the mother, her performance is so strong that she suspends our disbelief - and we for a moment think-feel-believe we're watching a documentary.

From a nonverbal perspective, what to many was the most emotionally evocative moment, was when the mother, taken by surprise, looks up and first sees the wall. We feel crestfallen when we, like her daughter, see her face. The reason for felt this way was her particular facial expression.

In short, what jumps out at us is the combination of her forehead-eyes and her mouth. The elevated central forehead (in the context of simultaneous "sad mouth") is what Charles Darwin called "The Grief Muscle". Along with the forehead, the central (medial) eyebrows are drawn upward. Note the specific subtleties coexisting with her mouth expression - its corners down-turned and the lips full and forwardly vectored. In addition her nostrils are also flared. Indeed, she looks morose - as if she is about to cry and never stop.

When most people (yet intriguingly not everyone) see this expression, it evokes a very strong mirroring effect both on our faces and in our psyches. We feel her sadness, sometimes relatively deeply and suddenly - even if we don't know her or the source of her pain (Her daughter looks up to her and exhibits this exact behavior). This phenomenon is observed whether the cause of the pain is emotional or physical.

SUMMARY: This actors expression strongly engenders empathy in others. Very rapidly, "Their journey becomes our journey". We all can be distracted or preoccupied - however in those individuals who consistently do not feel empathy for others when they see this particular facial expression, will tend to have lower empathy quotients (over-all, a lower life time empathy potential and practice).

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See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3842: Bill Belichick and Julian Edelman 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3840: Donald Trump regarding Vladimir Putin: 'We've Got A Lot of Killers. Do You Think Our Country Is So Innocent?

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3838: Kellyanne Conway's Statement Regarding the "Bowling Green Massacre"

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3835: Beauty and the Beast – Official Final Trailer

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2816: Secretary of State Nominee Rex Tillerson

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3799: Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia - Full Lips and Lip Pursing

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2297: Rooney Mara on Conan O'Brien - Common Body Language Tell - Fear Apology Query Expression-Cluster

Dating & Romance Nonverbal Communication Secret No. 1010: Rashida Jones - What Makes the Twinkle in Her Eye?

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3455: Jerry Rice Undercover - Lyft Super Bowl 50 Commercial - Body Language (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

If you're a Jerry Rice fan, you'll love this commercial for Super Bowl 50. It features the record setting 49ers wide receiver going undercover (as "Jay") disguised as a Lyft driver. And although he eventually reveals his identity, the intervening moments provide some fantastic nonverbal teaching examples. One passenger's body language in particular is highlighted here.

0:35

Here, Steven begins to display disbelief with his slightly elevated central (medial) eyebrows along with a mild mouth smile.

0:37

Continued and increased Elevated Central Forehead Contraction (E-CFC) with an additional pulling together of his eyebrows (for which the common idiom, "Knitting of the Brows" is often used).

Steven is showing a continued incredulity with focused and concentration (e.g., "What's going on here? Is that REALLY who I think he is?").

0:39

Mildly elevated CFC with a partial mouth smile continues (This expression of incredulity almost NEVER involves a Sincere [Duchenne] Smile and it's very often Unilateral [e.g., in this example more pronounced on Steven's right]). Note also Steven pulling or pinching his left ring finger (a common generalized anxiety tell).

1:46

Jaw Confessional

At this moment Steven had decided to openly ask "Jay" his real identity.

This  quick, short-duration, lateral movement of the jaw indicates an embarrassment component to his thought-emotion. Of course, Steven's not 100% sure he's correct, so he's feeling embarrassment-anxiety prior to vocalizing his suspicion (and he fears he may be wrong). The jaw confessional is seen in the context of a person telling you something for which they have a significant component of embarrassment. This commercial is, of course, edited - so we don't see Steven's guess.

When the jaw is maintains a prolonged thrust to one side, it indicates a completely different thought-emotion - which one?


See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3454: Donald Trump - Buying the Farm after 2nd Place Finish in Iowa Caucuses

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2314: Naomi Watts Pre-Oscar Interview and her Body Language of the "Jaw Confessional" and the Sincerity Quotient

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3426: Barack Obama, Executive Action, Gun Control and Body Language 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3321: John Boehner Announces Resignation During Press Conference 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No.1696: George Zimmerman's Testimony - Fear, Incredulity, Regret & Contempt 

Negotiation Secret No. 335 & 353: Incredulous with Contempt - Amanda Knox Redux 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2129: Barack Obama's Body Language, Misspeaks "Export More Jobs" Displays Incredulity and .....  

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2831: "Walking Contest", Anxiety, Mirroring and False Intimacy

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3089: Walter White as "Sorta Greg" - "Say My Name" - Esurance Super Bowl Commercial

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3089: Walter White as "Sorta Greg" - "Say My Name" - Esurance Super Bowl Commercial (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Bryan Cranston recently reincarnated his role as Walter White during Super Bowl XLIX - even if it was just a few seconds during an Esurance commercial. Playing "sorta Greg" pseudo-pharmacist, the brilliant actor made us laugh, suspended our disbelief, and ... at least in this setting, provided a fantastic forum for learning some body language. The woman playing his customer is also brilliant.

During the 0:25 - 0:26 segment, "sorta Greg" wags his head back and forth as he closes his eyes (when he's saying "... sorry ...") in what is one type of backtracking/correcting expression. This is seen during clarifying scenarios when the speaker is restating himself. It is also seen in contexts where the speaker wants someone to "take it with a grain of salt".

At the 0:26 - 0:27 mark (as he says, "... pharmaceuticals ...") we see "almost Greg" display a "Rationalization-Rapport-Empathy-Expression" (aka R2E2). This classic nonverbal signal shows that the speaker is trying to convince us (and often himself) of something. It's thus a strong sign of rationalization.  He's trying to gain our rapport and empathy. We all make this expression from time to time, yet if it's displayed too often, know that the person's over-all character is insincere and manipulative.

Throughout much of this commercial the woman playing the customer gives an excellent expression of disgust. Her down-turned mouth corners, elevated central lips, flared nostrils, dimpled chin, mid-facial tightening all expertly transmit the emotion of disgust.

What other, less prominent, but important emotion is being projected here?




When we say someone is a good actor - and most of course would call Cranston great - what we REALLY mean (although few realize it at a nuanced level) is that their words, their paralanguage (vocal qualities) and their body language are all highly congruent. When they all agree - it just "feels right" - we recognize it as "good" or "great acting" - and when these three don't agree we say they're not so good, etc. The same instinct and logic can also be applied to interpreting sincerity vs. insincerity or truth vs. deception.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3088: Malcolm Butler at the Moment he Caught His Game-Winning Super Bowl Interception

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2397:  Angelina Jolie on Motherhood & Her Own Mom  Body Language Tells ....

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2669: Sara Bareilles and the Body Language of the Rationalization Rapport Empathy Expression

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2329:  Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook) on 60 Minutes  AND a bit of Mark Zuckerberg -  Two Crucial Body Language Tells

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2603: Sarah Palin's Body Language - She Feels Disgust toward Pope Francis and ... She Tells a Fib

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2868: Queen Elizabeth II, Lena Headey, Game of Thrones and Body Language

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