Emotional Ads

Food has always been a very large part of American culture, but with the introduction of advertisements, it becomes easier to make the connection between the food and American values. The way that advertisements work is by incorporating cultural symbols that the people can associate with, which may lead to a personal connection and may then lead to increased sales of that certain product. These advertisements began as just print ads in the form of flyers or ads in the newspaper or a magazine. However, with the increased usage of TV and the internet, video ads have become much more popular. Two video ads that sparked my interest were video advertisements for soda. One of the ads was for Dr. Pepper and the other was for Coca-Cola.

            The ad for Dr. Pepper was very memorable in the way that it was created. It opens up with a few shots of seemingly ordinary people doing ordinary things. There is song playing in the background, “I Am” by Vinyl Hearts. The song keeps repeating the same lyric throughout the video, and the line strongly portrays the message of the ad. The line says “I am one in a billion; I am the only one that I can be, and that is something beautiful”. After the shots of seemingly ordinary people, there is a shot of a woman drinking a Dr. Pepper. After that shot, the music picks up a little bit and then there are shots of people doing unique and interesting things. In each shot of people doing unique things, there is an added symbol of “/1” under each person. The video explains that this is meant to symbolize that everyone is one out of one person, conveying the uniqueness of individuals. The entire message of the ad is to convey uniqueness and how people are unique and so is Dr. Pepper. The slogan at the end of the ad says “Always one of a kind”. The strongest rhetorical device used in this ad is pathos. There is a very strong appeal to emotion in the ad. Even the song in the background creates an emotional connection with the song stating that we are one in a billion and that that is beautiful. Depending on your perspective, you could say that there is a sort of logos in the ad. After the shot of the woman drinking Dr. Pepper, people start to do incredible things, perhaps leading some people to believe that drinking Dr. Pepper will cause you to do amazing things. It is not likely that this is the perception, but it is possible. This advertisement is most likely directed towards just about anyone, but more specifically to people that feel different than everyone else. It appeals to them by telling them that being different and unique is a good thing. I think this says a lot about American culture. Many people nowadays feel the need to conform to the social norm and a lot of people are afraid to break out of these norms. This commercial is enforcing the idea that it is okay to be different and unique, and even that being different is preferred.

            The Coca-Cola ad is very similar in many ways. This ad also opens up with music, this time the song is “Give A Little Bit” by Roger Hodgson. The ad opens up with shots of various security cameras, a prelude to what is to be seen. The entire premise of the video is catching people on security cameras who are doing kind things instead of bad things. It catches people doing things like dancing crazily, helping people in need, protesting peacefully, and then finally at the end it shows someone sharing a Coke with someone. This ad works similarly to the Dr. Pepper ad in that it creates a very strong pathos. This ad shows that there are still kind and decent people left in the world, even with all of the bad that is going on. Even reading the YouTube comments for the video, people say things like “Faith in humanity is restored”. This video does a very good job of being memorable as well as inspiring. The catchy song as well as interesting footage is sure to make people remember the ad. The ad may also inspire people to do kind things for people instead of maybe just ignoring them on the street. This video tries to enforce the idea that a little bit can go a long way in making someone’s day. There is a sort of extension for this ad that doesn’t use security camera footage, but it still shows people doing very kind things for random strangers. This video ad seems to be made for the general public and seems to appeal to them through emotion. It wants people to go out and do similar acts of kindness for other people similar to the things in the video. At the end it all connects it back to Coke when they first show someone sharing a Coke with someone else, and then shows the Coke logo and says “Open Happiness”, conveying the message that by drinking Coke, one will do nice things for other people and will then be happy.