The Message Behind the Coca Cola Advertisement
Which was Aired in Summer 2004
(An Analysis using Cultural Studies)
By Roneo C. Vermont
Coma 101
Prof. Antonino Salvador S. de Veyra
March 27, 2008
The Coca Cola advertisement, in which Nikki Gil was singing, was popular on its time frame. The commercial goes on as the singer walks on a side walk on an early morning. While walking, sang an untitled song with messages signifying hope. She also gave away bottles of Coca Cola products to the vendors and other citizens who are on her way. The last act was a girl giving her a piece of flower as a return favor to the coke she gave to the flower girl.
The jingle was recorded at Hit Productions and arranged by Arnold Buena based on an existing melody from an original UK ad. The original ad featured Sharlene Hector, who does backing vocals for Basement Jaxx, among others. The Philippine ad (for McCann Erickson Philippines) was directed by Thierry Notz, and produced by Ana Agtarap-Palilo (also of Hit Productions). (Coke, 2005)
The commercial has its primary goal which is to sell their products. Coke has been one of the most famous beverages in the Philippines and they are one of those soda products which are on top of the demand list. According to television shows, Nikki Gil gained popularity after taking the role. Moreover, the song has gained its popularity and has been sung by the children and adults alike. Hence, the commercial was successful.
The proponent aims to know the message behind this commercial. Why it has been done that way and why they chose such setting. The proponent also aims to know whether there were moral lessons intended in the commercial and what these moral lessons were. He also aims to take understand these kind of commercials which are getting popular nowadays.
Companies use different kinds of strategies to promote their products. According to Petty and Cacioppo’s Elaboration Likelihood model, there are two routes in which the listener or the audience takes; the central route and the peripheral route. The commercial used the peripheral route since the commercial did not promote high elaboration to be considered a central route process. The commercial on the other hand, did not involve elaboration of the message through extensive cognitive processing of the merits of the actual argument presented. The process relied on environmental characteristics of the message, like the perceived credibility of the source(Nikki Gil), quality of the way in which it is presented, the attractiveness of the source, or the catchy slogan that contains the message (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986).
This commercial used strategy to promote their products. Strategy is important in commercials to make the consumers respond positively to their displays. These strategies mainly are on the peripheral route. Hence, these strategies consider the environment, credibility of the speaker and other elements to convince. These common strategies will be discussed on the following paragraphs.
When it comes to advertising there’s one thing that’s really important you need to realize right up front. There are two main parts to any advertisement: one is the medium in which it’s placed (TV, radio, newspaper, etc.) and the other is what you actually say. Each advertisement has several specific components and they have to work perfectly with each other if you want to reach optimal results. There are thousands of ways to promote it. The best thing to keep in mind, however, is your target demographic and investment requirements.
The kids in commercials are often a little older and a little more perfect than the target audience of the ad. They are, in other words, role models for what the advertiser wants children in the target audience to think they want to be like. A commercial that is targeting eight year-olds, for instance, will show 11 or 12 year-old models playing with an eight year old’s toy.
Commercials often create an emotional ambience that draws you into the advertisement and makes you feel good. The McDonald’s commercials featuring father and daughter eating out together, or the AT&T Reach Out and Touch Someone ads are good examples. We are more attracted by products that make us feel good.
In toy commercials, many toy commercials show their toys in life-like fashion, doing incredible things. Airplanes do loop-the-loops and cars do wheelies, dolls cry and spring-loaded missiles hit gorillas dead in the chest. This would be fine if the toys really did these things.
Music and other sound effects add to the excitement of commercials. Sound can make toys seem more life-like or less life-like, as in a music video. Either way, they help set the mood advertisers want.
Commercials also make use of celebrities or personalities who are good-looking. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sell pizza. Spuds McKenzie sells beer. “Joe Cool” camel sells cigarettes. All of these are ways of helping consumers identify with products either now or for the future.
Selective editing is used in all commercials, but especially in commercials for food and drinks. Commercials show only brilliant results. Unfortunately, that’s not the way consumers experience the product. Consumers will most likely be disappointed with the outcome that will take place. (http://www.media-awareness.ca)
The commercial has carefully sewn different strategies which made their commercial rather effective. Since the proponent has proved that the commercial has made its way to the consumers successfully, the proponent then wants to know what the setting, the act and the kind of people involved in the commercial signify. The proponent seeks to find the answers using Stuart Hall’s Cultural studies.
Cultural studies is an academic discipline which combines political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, philosophy, museum studies and art history/criticism to study cultural phenomena in various societies. Cultural studies researchers often concentrate on how a particular phenomenon relates to matters of ideology, nationality, ethnicity, social class, and/or gender.
In a loosely related but separate usage, the phrase cultural studies sometimes serves as a rough synonym for area studies, as a general term referring to the academic study of particular cultures in departments and programs such as Islamic studies, Asian studies, African American studies, et al.. However, strictly speaking, cultural studies programs are not concerned with specific areas of the world so much as specific cultural practices.
The commercial was delivered by a company which promotes their products. Hence, the commercial’s main purpose was to sell. It used different figures which hold different messages from the messenger. There is an argument inside the commercial which the company wants to win over. In order to address these arguments, the messenger uses different ideas and injects them to the minds of the audiences imperceptibly.
To start with, let us begin with the setting. The setting is placed on a side walk on an early morning where there are vendors and employees. The setting is rather unattractive since pollution is clearly seen. The buildings were not painted and there are no signs of bus stops or any waiting sheds for the commuters.
In the United States, the car is a symbol of freedom of space. You can drive from the west coast to the east coast and it can take days. Here in the Philippines you drive two hours to the left or right and you hit the limit for your vehicle: the water.”
Thus the infrastructure problems of the Philippines are summed up by Secretary of Transportation and Communications, Amado S. Lagdameo, Jr. In a country which is only one- third land and where that land is fragmented into over 7,000 islands, it is necessary to be imaginative with the transportation network.
A completely interlinked national road network is too expensive to contemplate, given the cost of building the tunnels and bridges needed. A trans-national rail system is a more realistic hope which the government fosters, as it would be a cheaper way of moving a lot of people around quickly, but it continues to remain a distant prospect.
For the moment, much of the country is getting by with a mixture of a fairly comprehensive road and rail transportation network, including that closest to the heart of Filipino culture: ships. (http://www.unitedworld-usa.com)
The weather in the commercial was gloomy as if there were threats of a rain coming. A cloudy weather contributes to a sad ambience. It is undeniable that a day spent on water under a warm, but not sweltering sun, with placid conditions is uplifting, relaxing, a psychological boost to our emotions.
Many people feel more emotional and more “blue” in cloudy days. An extreme example of this is Seasonal Affective Disorder, also known by its acronym SAD, which sees a recurrent depression with the onset of fall and winter. One becomes sun deprived, and sun in healthy doses, boosts Vitamin D which is known to prevent chronic diseases. Only ten minutes of sun is a sufficient source of vitamin D to promote calcium absorption for healthy bones and a healthy nervous system, prevents some forms of cancer, osteoporosis and depression. Sunshine alters one’s mood chemically because it stimulates the pineal gland found in the brain which produces chemicals called triptamines such as melatonin which keep our body clock in sync. Fiber optic technology has created health enhancing lights for the workplace. (http://www.kayakwendy.com/2007/01/psychological-effects-of-weather.html)
Noise was evident in the commercial. Normally, noise is a sign of pollution and discomfort. However, in the Philippines, it is the other way around. Filipino sees a crowd and is delighted. Westerners crave privacy; the Filipino is stressed by solitude. Filipinos however, are not alone in finding pleasure in crowds and camaraderie. Culture adapts to circumstances and they are only one of many countries with large dense populations that have learned to live with the maddening crowds, complete with the noise. The Chinese, for example, refer to “merriment” as re nao, the words for “hot” and “noisy.”
The late employee making its way to his job place was a sign of stress. Since there were insufficient transportation availability, the employee was left with no choice but to run its way to his job, hence being late. Traffic is one of the major problems of the metropolis. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, of October 10, 1989, “the trouble with traffic is that you have 40 percent of all vehicles in this country in Metro Manila with a terrific concentration in the business-commercial district.” And the paper notes in its issue of January 5, 1990, that “for about 5.5 million daily commuters in Metro Manila and an additional two million migrant workers from nearby provinces, getting rides on scarce buses and jeepneys is a daily ordeal. Eight years ago, it took an average of only 30 minutes for a commuter to get a ride during the rush hours. According to a survey of the Department of Transportation and Communication, it now takes one hour to two hours for a commuter to get a ride.” Senator Victor Ziga once observed that “helpless thousand of commuters from all sectors were stranded for hours, unable to get rides, spilling into the already narrow thoroughfares jostling each other to cling to already full buses and jeepneys as if clinging to life itself.” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1990)
Posters exclaiming protests against the government was evidently shown in the picture. In the Philippines, even in other countries, such posters are posted in urban areas which are most accessible by the lower class. Hence, the commercial showed a poster showing protest in a street walk wherein vendors and commuters pass. The messenger wants to elaborate the conflicts that took place inside the Philippines. By doing so, he even furthermore emphasized the deteriorating economy the citizens were experiencing and the people revolting and fighting against the government.
Another scene shown by the commercial was two individuals having a fight in a public place. In other countries especially in the US, parents scolding their children often say, “save the argument until we get home”. In the Philippines, most people don’t mind arguing in a public place. Same goes for other Asian countries like China and Singapore. In most movies, people do arguments along the road or inside malls while shopping. Most Filipinos don’t mind creating a scenario wherein people might crowd around them and watch. The attitude is more on resolving the conflict as soon as possible. These two people display a kind of attitude of the Filipinos which is being aggressive and publicly displayed.
One of the main assets of the commercial was the song sung and the good voice behind it. world’s largest companies use jingles because they work. Jingles create a positive impression and reinforce it through repetition. And people just plain like them.
Mentally, we are very receptive to music, if you have ever found yourself singing the lyrics to a catchy jingle, you’ve experienced the “commercial jingle effect”. We live in an advertising saturated society. People tend to mentally block out commercials. Commercial jingles penetrate these mental barriers. The benefits of having a commercial jingle extend beyond conveying a message. Big advertisers know the value of music in their radio and TV campaigns. Music influences the way people think and buy. A custom commercial jingle grabs attention, instantly identifies you and your message, makes a lasting impression and actually excites viewers and listeners. (http://www.platinumdrive.net/jingles)
In the last scene, a flower stall was showed. The messenger wants to show something alive and colorful in the end after having the actress passing through rather unpleasant environment. Flowers signify hope, love, purity and other positive elements. In this commercial however, the messenger intends to show the flowers as a sign of hope.
Generosity was displayed in the ad. Generosity is mainly one of the virtues which forms the identity of a Filipino. The messenger emphasized Filipino attitude towards giving cheerfully without asking anything in return. Moreover, the ad also displayed contexts about gratefulness as the people who were given Coke gradually changed their mood to thanksgiving. The last act consists of a girl giving out coke bottles was given a white flower in return. The Coke company, through its directors, displayed the culture of Filipinos which is to give back a good deed to those whom gave them such.
Most viewers are convinced that the commercial was intended to remind Filipinos of hope amidst trials and difficulties. The company aims to achieve that feedback. Most commercials have in their contexts moral values and other positive messages directed to the public. This is to give an impression that the company behind the product is somewhat, “friendly”. However, one cannot deny the fact that among these messages is the motive of selling their product.
The commercial may be regarded as good since the message was to promote hope to the citizens in the country. However, if examined clearly, the product coke has been injected a lot of times. By scrutinizing it, the main message falls in this statement, “Drink coke and you will find hope even if you have problems.”
There are two main tactics advertisers use to sell their product: either imply that their product will bring about the achievement of a particular (usually real) good, or make their product the object of desire, therefore making it an apparent good to people. Slowly, as people hear these messages more and more, they start associating more importance to the product than to the good involved, like a sort of idol-worship. Here is where the real problems set in. Since society likes to think of the good as a subjective thing, it would seem to be acceptable for advertisers to qualify their products as being good.
If all the events in the ad are to be sewn, an idea will be formed. The Coke seems to have identified that most Filipinos are more drawn to buying a less expensive soda which is more reflective of the Filipino society. At this time, Pop Cola and Pepsi are more popular since it is more affordable than coke. Moreover, Coke is known as an international product which is widely distributed internationally and the earlier advertisements consist of foreign faces. Thus, Filipinos tag “Coke” as something foreign which bears foreign identity. Shortly speaking, it is imported and of the high class. Like other goods originated abroad, Coke seemed to have less appeal to those in the lower class.
Since majority of the Filipinos are in the lower class, Coke has come into a resolution which is to instigate a feeling of belongingness to Filipinos. Hence, the commercial was made. With all the figures reflecting the Filipino society, consumers have, imperceptibly, accepted the proposition of Coke as being Filipino-like. By doing this, more Filipinos, especially those in the lower class, will not find any second thoughts in buying coke.
The commercial, through its messenger, delivers message asking for acceptance while using cover ups which include reflections of he society. The main reason and purpose of the commercial, therefore, is to sell itself.
Bibliography:
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Griffin, Emory. A First Look at Communication Theory. 6th ed.. Boston: McGraw-Hill, c2006.
“Marketing and Advertising Srategies.” Social. 21 Mar. 2008 <http://www.socal.com/articles/172-.html>.
Shimp, Terence A. Advertising, Promotion and Supplemental Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications. 6th ed. South-Western College Pub, 2002.
“Transportation.” Asia Travel Guide. 22 Mar. 2008 <http://www.cockatoo.com/english/philippines>.
