As we’ve seen previously, the art of advertising increased inconsiderably in its number and diversity in the 1950s 1960s while aiming to a new goal: make the brand become a part of the consumer’s everyday social life by putting the priority on their anxieties and satisfaction. Thus, all strategies are used to seduce as much as possible the consumer and make him part of the product experience. Therefore, in order to emphasize the didactics and visual, sonic, narrative design of American TV ads in this timeframe, I decided to analyse the 1961’s Coca Cola ad with its catchphrase “Coke keeps you thin”. (you can find the video below)

Context

According to Roland Marchand’s (1985). Advertising the American Dream. Making Way for Modernity, 1920 – 1940, during the 1930s, ads were not just defined anymore as a single slogan but more like the constant search of what a customer needs and how these needs can be satisfied by the product. Moreover, the design and structure of the ads changed drastically as the period of depression started. Indeed, most ads didn’t reflect the stereotyped American consumer anymore but his desire of fantasy and a better social reality than the one he is trying to escape from. However, American ads as a whole were in most of the case aiming not to the society as a whole but a selected upper-class audience which world and experiences was far different from the average middle class American citizen: “the central purpose of an ad was not to reflect reality but to move merchandise.” (Roland Marchand’s (1985). Advertising the American Dream. Making Way for Modernity, 1920 – 1940, XVII). Therefore, advertising in this timeframe also meant producing a certain propaganda emphasizing stereotypes and ideals more than the social reality of the society. Furthermore, ads strategies resided in the correlation between the message they were trying to send by selling a product and the set of values and believes of their audience in order to create a “community of discourse”, a common language that could be spoken by the audience representing the modernization of the society and reassuring the consumer in its fear of the latter largely expressed by a loss of community. Instead, the consumer was being offered an American dream promoting values such as individualism, equality, cost-free progress among a consumer society.

Multi-modal analysis

In this Coca Cola ad, we can see a woman alone on the screen next to a model, drinking a bottle of Coca-Cola and promoting the product at the same time. This woman is smiling emphasizing the general satisfaction and happiness that is supposed to produce the ad and the product. Furthermore, the actress is looking right in the eyes of the viewer, where a contact is directly engaged, forcing us to be focused on what she says. Moreover, while watching this ad we do not look down or up to see this woman: we’re at the same level as here implying the principle of equality. On the same line, the actress stands quite close to the viewer of the ad which can be interpreted as a sign of closeness, individualisation and intimacy: a feeling of comfort and trust is established.

Now, let’s look closely to the actress present in the Coca-Cola ad: as said before, she is standing alone all along the ad which emphasizes her singularity and therefore has the effect of drawing us close to her and humanising her which makes her story way more interesting than if it was told by many different actors. Moreover, she is wearing a pretty dress emphasizing her sophistication and her socio-economic situation. More importantly, this woman has a pretty face, blond, white skin, thin body invoking a stereotyped physique as a Barbie-type.

Finally, let’s focus analysing her monologue: first of all, she’s in an active speaker for one minute which is the total duration of the ad. Indeed, the main goal of her speech is to promote Coca-Cola as a brand and as a product by emphasizing on one particular point and possible anxiety of the consumer: drinking Coca-Cola doesn’t make you fat because it is law on calories. To prove that point, she uses argument such as her weight that stays constant but also the size of the bottle, quite small and which awesome taste keeps the consumer from eating something else that would add some calories.

Through this commercial, Coca-Cola doesn’t sell the product but tries its best to seduce the consumer with the calories aspect and therefore inviting him to some kind of happiness. Indeed, this type of propaganda invite the consumer to buy the product and become part of the experience Coca-Cola in their daily life which is a strategy to gain consumers on the long term among a brand representing a real culture and way of living. Thus, from children to old people Coca-Cola is consumed on a daily basis for 125 years selling ideal ways of life and stereotypes through the use of advertising.

Reference list

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