Assignment 5: 1950s Television Commercial

As the 1920s and 30s marked a shift in the advertising field, advertisements increasingly emphasized on the consumer rather than the producer (Marchand, 1985). Largely evident in television commercials in 1950s and 60s, I will adopt a semiotic approach in analyzing a Coca-Cola television commercial to examine the shift onto the consumer. This approach originated by Machin (2007) involves studying 1) semiotic resources to align the viewer with the experiences of participants, 2) how participants can be categorized visually and 3) how we can analyze the actions of participants in images.

 

First off, the advertisement introduces by addressing an average American anxiety, getting worn out from shopping and needing a break. This evidently shows the commercial’s focus on solving a problem for the consumer, as detected by Marchand (1985). The first gaze given by the man talking into the camera, depicts a symbolic ‘contact’ or ‘interaction’ between the viewer and the man. He continues talking while maintaining a smile, which demands a smile back from the viewer according to Machin (2007, p. 111), forming an imaginary power relation between the viewer and the man. The shot is also taken from a horizontal plane, which suggests direct involvement as we identify ourselves as an audience. In fact, most of the angles taken in the advertisements are from a horizontal angle, which does not look to effect any forms of superiority or power relation, but instead just requires engagement and direct interaction. The distance from the man presenting is also considered from a ‘medium shot’. This suggests a certain distance from the man to the viewer, but close enough to see his emotions and facial expressions to create a form of slight intimacy, but not too close that it feels uncomfortable, suggesting an impersonal relationship (Machin, 2007, p. 116).

 

The advertisement then switches to a shot of two women at a table waiting for their meal. These two women are not looking at the camera, they are instead looking at each other such that the ‘direct address’ is absent (Machin, 2007, p.110). There is no contact made with the viewer and no demand made of them, we are able to look at the two women enjoying a Coca-Cola as an observer. The shots are not close-up, to further enact the image of the two women as strangers just having a coca cola with their meal, however it is close enough to allow viewers to scrutinize their facial expressions, emotions and reactions to show the viewers that there is enjoyment from drinking Coca-Cola. This shot was also taken from a horizontal angle, where the camera is placed at the height of the two women’s faces to show direct engagement. While the viewers are observing the two women from the side of their faces, it reduces involvement and creates detachment (Machin, 2007, p.113). Therefore in this case, we are merely witnesses or observers to the scene, whereas compared to the introduction of the commercial, we were required to directly interact with the man presenting. Another interesting observation was that as the shot was on the two women, it moved to show a close-up of the Coca-Cola and the meal. Although Machin (2007) did not explain the relationship between viewers and products in advertisements, but instead talked more about the interaction between human images and its viewers, there could still be an interesting deduction drawn about the close up of the coca-cola. The association of closeness and intimacy is depicted by the size of frame, as the camera zooms into the meal and the Coca-Cola, it could serve to make the viewers feel less uncomfortable about having Coca-Cola, or rather create more intimacy and personal touch between a cup of Coca-Cola and the audience of the advertisement.

 

Another interesting observation I had about this advertisement was also how it ended. The camera panned from the two women drinking a cup of coca-cola to the right where the same man from the introduction directly gazes into the camera again. The advertisement suddenly demanded interaction from a passive observer to the man. This could create a sudden power relation as most people are taken aback if they are suddenly addressed when they are not expecting to. The distance of the shot also becomes more of a close-up than the first shot, which demands more interaction and also more association of closeness. The advertisement does that as we are not strangers to the man anymore after watching the first half of the commercial, therefore we would not feel uncomfortable with him looking ‘nearer’ to us, instead it serves the purpose of getting more involvement with the audience to make a point about the satisfactions derived from drinking a Coca-Cola, making a powerful ending.

References:

Machin, D. (2007). Introduction to multimodal analysis. London: Hodder Arnold.

Marchand, R. (1985). Advertising the American Dream. Making Way for Modernity, 1920 –1940. Berkeley etc.: University of California Press.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *