Explicit and Implicit Social Messages in a Recent Coca-Cola Commercial
Directed by feature-filmmaker Bryan Singer, Coca Cola’s most recent television ad in their “Real” campaign features Salma Hayeck in the supposed natural setting of a business meal at an upscale Hollywood restaurant[1]. While presenting many of the elements that Jib Fowles discusses in his essay “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals,” this Coke ad also portrays the duality of women in our society.
The only unambiguous message of this commercial is the product it endorses: as product recognition is most important in advertising, Singer subtly creates the “Affiliation”[2] appeal. The fast-moving ad features unidentified people and indeterminate foods; however, amidst the myriad of attractive imagery stands the easily-recognized Coca-Cola contour bottle. While Coke is rarely dispensed in glass bottles anymore, the choice to present it in this container distinguishes it as nostalgic and thus familiar, as opposed to the vague and thus anonymous food that the ad is not promoting. This dichotomy of the indeterminate food and prominent Coke bottle serves as one example of the duality I will discuss throughout the essay: Salma Hayeck resembles the Coke bottle’s distinction in contrast to the unknown people also featured in the commercial[3]. Additionally, the ad evokes affiliation from audiences with its text “Craving” “Coca-Cola” “Real,” which resonates the company’s previous slogan, “The Real Thing.” Essentially viewers acknowledge the reality of Coke through their memories of prior ad campaigns.
As I mentioned, the pace of this commercial is fast-moving, likely intended to mirror real life; in a thirty-second ad, viewe...
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...y be women who feel the pressure of this duality, the ad reinforces the rigid social expectations for women’s behavior as distinguished private or public.
This recent Coca-Cola commercial illustrates the complexity of advertising’s explicit and implicit social messages: because directors intentionally include all elements, audiences should thoughtfully analyze the expectations, stereotypes, and assumptions companies perpetuate and measure our complicity with these messages by unconsciously viewing.
[1] http://www2.coca-cola.com/presscenter/nr_20030917_americas_real_salma_hayek.html
[2] The “Appeals” I discuss henceforth are taken from Jib Fowles’ essay “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals.”
[3] Though I will admit that I mistakenly identified the featured actress as Penelope Cruz, who stars in another commercial for Coke’s “Real” campaign.
Today’s commercials cloud the viewers’ brains with meaningless ritzy camera angles and beautiful models to divert viewers from the true meaning of the commercials. The advertisers just want consumers to spend all of their hard-earned money on their brand of products. The “Pepsi” and “Heineken” commercials are perfect examples of what Dave Barry is trying to point out in his essay, “Red, White and Beer.” He emphasizes that commercial advertisements need to make viewers think that by choosing their brands of products, viewers are helping out American society. As Rita Dove’s essay “Loose Ends” argues, people prefer this fantasy of television to the reality of their own lives. Because viewers prefer fantasy to reality, they become fixated on the fantasy, and according to Marie Winn in “Television Addiction,” this can ultimately lead to a serious addiction to television. But, one must admit that the clever tactics of the commercial advertisers are beyond compare. Who would have thought the half naked-blondes holding soda cans and American men refusing commitment would have caught viewers’ attention?
The video describes how our society may not even care about the product being advertised, but we still read the billboard or watch the commercial. Also mentioned was the use of colors in a commercial, the marketing effects in politics, and even market research obtained by studying different cults. Frontline takes an in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar “persuasion industries” of advertising and how this rhetoric affects everyone. So whether this is in the form of a television commercial or a billboard, pathos, logos, and ethos can be found in all advertisements.
Ballaro, Beverly, and Ann Griswold. “Condom Distribution: An Overview.” Points of View: Condom Distribution (2013): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
Coca-Cola’s “America the Beautiful” commercial premiered February 2, 2014, during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl for a total of 60 seconds. It depicts shots of American people in all parts of the country doing ordinary things such as riding horses, dancing, and surfing. Katherine Bates’ song, “America the Beautiful”, is sung in the background in nine different languages: English, Spanish, Tagalog, Mandarin, Hindi, Hebrew, Keres, French and Arabic (Younge). Coke’s “America the Beautiful” commercial uses each of Aristotle’s appeals to project their product into the living rooms of everyday Americans.
“Ads sell more than products. They sell values, they sell images, they sell concepts of love and sexuality, of success, and perhaps most important, normality.” Jean Kilbourne, a media critic, goes into great detail of this disgrace to modern society in her documentary, “Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising 's Image of Women.” Many people like Kilbourne could argue that women have falsely been depicted as a minority to men over the years. All different forms of advertising have been guilty of womanizing in this way at one time or another. Some of the largest companies have been caught displaying woman in a sexual and desirable way in order to sell products; some even make the woman seem weak or dependable on a male figure. While many companies are guilty of the form of advertisement described in Kilbourne’s video, a handful of corporations bring hope into our often sexist society. One particular Nike ad contradicts Kilbourne’s theory of worsening feminization by showing a ruthless, successful female athlete. However, when analyzed, an Old Spice ad suggests that women are subjective to men, proving Kilbourne’s theory to have some truth.
Coca-Cola is a globally recognized company known for one of the most popular drinks in the world. Coca-Cola. Normally as the Super Bowl grows closer audiences anticipate the coming of some of the best commercials for the year to be televised nation-wide for American’s. Some may not even watch the game, they only watch for the commercials. As past years can example, Coca-Cola never leaves audiences unsatisfied with their commercials and this year was no different. This year’s Coca-Cola commercial uses a vast amount of rhetorical devices from the pathos based ideas to how the marketers intentioned for the audience to view the commercial. Coca-Cola’s was pieced together by advertisers whose main priority was to leave the audience with a feeling of what Coca-Cola could intentionally bring into their lives.
The commercial takes place in front of a blank white background with simple piano and xylophone music throughout its entire duration. In the foreground are two characters, a man sits at a simple metal desk while the other stands off to the side. On the desk there are three stacks of money, one large pile that is meant to portray advertising, the medium pile the man draws from and a small pile which represents the amount of money Microsoft spends on fixing it’s operating system. The man in the desk wears a white dress shirt with his sleeves rolled up and a dark blue vest over it, black slacks, dress shoes, a green money-counting visor and a red “power tie.” He is middle-aged and overweight wearing glasses. The other character looks to be in his mid-twenties. This character wears a tight blue long sleeve shirt, tight jeans and sneakers. He has relatively long hair and is stands relaxed. The older man sits on the ...
This advertisement makes Diet Coke popular because it focuses on why the consumers drink the product; it 's refreshing and does not cause weight gain. This is proved in the advertisement because the women portrayed are happy and having a good time while sharing a Diet Coke, which leads the consumers to believe that they should buy a Diet Coke as well. This association increases sales and helps improve the overall market
"Sexually Transmitted Diseases: MedlinePlus." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 5 April 2014.
The documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses and examines the role of women in advertisements and the effects of the ads throughout history. The film begins by inspecting a variety of old ads. The speaker, Jean Kilbourne, then discusses and dissects each ad describing the messages of the advertisements and the subliminal meanings they evoke. The commercials from the past and now differ in some respects but they still suggest the same messages. These messages include but are not limited to the following: women are sexual objects, physical appearance is everything, and women are naturally inferior then men. Kilbourne discusses that because individuals are surrounded by media and advertisements everywhere they go, that these messages become real attitudes and mindsets in men and women. Women believe they must achieve a level of beauty similar to models they see in magazines and television commercials. On the other hand, men expect real women to have the same characteristics and look as beautiful as the women pictured in ads. However, even though women may diet and exercise, the reality...
A small smile, a booming laugh, and a little play on words helped Pepsi’s ad “Scary Halloween” reach viral status on social media in 2013. Ads can be a triumph or a failure depending on how well the rhetorical appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos are used to convey an ad’s message. This ad’s largest draw was its use of pathos, making the viewers laugh and smile alongside Pepsi over their sly jokes.. “Scary Halloween” also engaged the audience by causing the viewers to cringe at the thought of their chosen soft drink being replaced. Pepsi also has massive amounts of credibility in the soda industry since it has been on the market for over 100 years, giving it ample room to poke at its competitors. Pepsi’s Halloween ad was successful because of
The researcher suggested follow-up studies to indicate if the apparent trend of increased self-censorship in small schools can be attributed to smaller budgets or lack of support structure in these schools. Preferably these future studies will employ larger sample sizes, make use of proportionate stratified sampling, include comparisons of holdings of non-controversial well-reviewed works, and use data analysis methods.
For every Super Bowl, millions of excited fans tune in to watch their favorite teams compete and enjoy the ecstatic atmosphere. One aspect of the Super Bowl are the usual entertaining advertisements. During the 2014th Super Bowl, an American based company, Coca Cola, had advertised their product in a rather different way causing some political controversy. Coca Cola’s advertisements always highlights the theme of people enjoying a moment of happiness and can be united while drinking a delightful Coke. In this case, their 60 second advertisement, “America the Beautiful” featured visuals of people of different ethnic or racial background all drinking a coke living their daily lifestyles while enjoying a Coca Cola. The music featured children singing the well-known national song, “America The Beautiful”, not only in English but in seven other languages. Xenophobic comments and a boycott against Coca Cola caused the controversy, but this advertisement was met
In the world of advertising, there are various appeals that can be used to describe one’s advertisement. For example, Snickers commercials are known for incorporating some kind of celebrity such as Betty White or Robin Williams. When considering Reese’s, a large majority of their commercials do not even have a single human-being present in them. When having celebrities in the commercial, it can aid in grabbing the attention of the audience in order to persuade them to make a purchase of that particular product. Another tactic that Snickers uses is the need for affiliation. The need for affiliation plays into the relationships of one’s life, whether it be a friendship, courtship, or just feeling as though you are a part of a larger group in general (Fowles 78). The Snicker’s commercials usually convey someone that is not at their normal standard and in order to fit back into their r...
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