https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W5pqlbh5sQ
This is an advert for Coca Cola, a carbonated soft drink brand based in the USA that is manufactured by the Coca Cola Company, that was released in 2016. The advert conveys the message that coca cola will bring new and exciting experiences in life, and that in general, all the moments and experiences in life are improved with a bottle of coca cola.
Media Language - The advert implements fast cuts in between shots of scenes in which actors are seen doing various exciting activities like skiing, partying, sneaking into clubs, playing instruments, cooking, and even passionate kissing in a library. This fast editing makes the video feel as if everything is happening very quick, and gives the video a rapid pace. Furthermore, non-diegetic sound in the form of hype and upbeat music plays in the background of each scene, which adds on to the excitement and hype that viewers may feel watching the advert. Moreover, most camera shots are either close ups or medium close ups of actors doing their respective activities, to make the viewers feel "closer" to the activities happening and create a "realer" experience for the audience.
The lighting used also creates a bright, exciting and lively environment in each activity, further pushing the feeling of "adrenaline" felt watching the advert. Moreover, each scene prominently shows a coke bottle either in the hand of the actor, or next to them, additionally each scene shows an overlaid text, that switches scene to scene, with the last word from the previous sentence being the starting word for the next sentence. For example, scene 1 contains the text "Coca Cola with Ice", the next scene would say "Ice with friends", the next one would say, "Friends with stories", etc. This pushes the narrative of the scenes even more, as the "Ice with friends" text would overlay on a scene in which people are skiing, having fun, and throwing snowballs at each other, essentially each sentence of overlaid text would also relate to the activity being done in the scene.
This conveys feelings of exhilaration and eagerness towards the audience, and make viewers associate the feeling of excitement in activities like clubbing, partying, romance, etc, with the product, which in this case is Coca Cola. This pushes the idea that; "Coca Cola is the perfect drink for all these activates.", and connotes that the Coca Cola drink is the best companion you can have to enhance your overall experience of life.
Audience - This advert tries to reach teens and young adults, primarily from the age of 16-30. This is due to the fact that the advert prominently shows activities that young people would partake in. For example, going out to party, going on skiing trips, and having a passionate romantic relationship. These experiences are mostly experienced during the "young" period of a persons life, and these are the people Coca Cola are trying to relate to and encourage to buy their drink.
Representation - Actors used in the advert come from a wide variety of different races, but the age group representation seems to only use people in their young adult phase of life. This further tries to show that the target audience of the advert are indeed young people, as they're able to relate to the actors more if they're of a similar age group.
Industry - This advert is made using some pretty standard editing, without any insane use of CG or special effects. This is to make the advert feel as close to "real life" as possible, due to the need to portray that buying coca cola will make your life feel as exciting as the advert. To do this, its obvious they wouldn't use anything crazy like edited dragons, flying cars, fictional characters, etc. In this day and age, the goal of adverts like this are to make people feel as if " if you use the product, this is how your lives will be". And thus, Coca Cola perfectly portrays the idea of an extravagant lifestyle filled with memorable experiences, enhanced by Coca Cola. If they want to enhance their life experience, they will go out to their local store, and buy a bottle of Coke.
Pepsi - "Live For Now"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwvAgDCOdU4
This is an advert for Pepsi, another carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo, that was released in 2017 and stars one of the internets hottest models, Kendall Jenner. This advert conveys a message of peace as it prominently shows a demonstration/peaceful riot, that shows hundreds of people holding peace signs in the classic Pepsi blue color.
Media Language - This advert prominently tries to convey the message to audiences that Pepsi fights for Peace. They do this by showing overhead shots of a demonstration with hundreds of people walking down the streets of a city, holding peace signs. This is the main scene portrayed in the advert. There are three other scenes/ideas which show firstly, a female photographer stressed out trying to pick good photos to submit to a publisher, a male guitarist trying to create a song, who then looks outside to take a glimpse of the demonstration, and lastly Kendall Jenner, who is the star appeal of the advert, in which she is seen doing a photo shoot.
Later on in the advert, all 3 actors are seen leaving their current task to join the Peace Protest. Shots of the protest are shown where there are people playing instruments in a restaurant, photographer are taking pictures, and people are holding up big blue peace signs. Kendal Jenner then picks up a can of Pepsi and walks up to riot guards/police officers who are keeping protesters in line. She hands over the can of Pepsi to the police officer as they gladly accept the drink and smile towards his fellow officers as he drinks it.
The main idea of the advert and the idea it's trying to convey is that "Pepsi is inclusive" and "Pepsi stands for peace". This makes audiences and viewers feel as if Pepsi as a company cares about them, and that Pepsi stands for a good cause, which would make people want to buy and support Pepsi. Another point would be that Pepsi brings people together, which is symbolized by Kendal giving a Pepsi can to the officer (who is supposed to be this 'unreachable' or 'inhuman' character, but is brought a smile by the Pepsi being given to him).
Audience - This advert tries to appeal to the younger generations, (Gen-Z and Millennials) and people of minority races and the lower-middle class. The "woke" message of the advert strongly appeals to these generations/people as they are the ones rooting for change in modern era. These are the people that the message of "bringing people together and pushing for peace" will reach. The wide representation of races in the advert appeals to these underrepresented people, and convinces them to also buy Pepsi due to the conceived "inclusivity" of the advert. The lower and middle class are the most likely to be swayed by this Pepsi advert as the message of equality will most likely be bought by these people as they come from lower social class and believe that Pepsi is the brand that sympathizes with their struggles. Additionally, using the star appeal of Kendall Jenner may also bring her fans to buy Pepsi too, due to her large and devoted following.
Representation - The advert features a wide array of actors from different races, backgrounds, and age groups. Hispanics, Middle Eastern, African American, Indians, Asian's, and many more actors from societal minorities are featured in the advert. This contradicts the social norms of usually only using 1 or 2 races of of actors in an advert, as here Pepsi shoots for maximum representation and audience relatability to make sure viewers feel that they are being represented.
Industry - This advert goes against the industry norms of a normal advert and subverts audience expectations by, instead of trying to portray the "Pepsi life", they try to portray what Pepsi stands for. They don't show the extravagant adventures you'll experience after you buy a Pepsi can, but instead they portray what it means to be a Pepsi drinker. This advert tries to show what exactly Pepsi stands for, which is how they gain customers from the advert. By appealing to the modern beliefs and cultures of this current generation, which in this case would be the peace, equality and togetherness, they show the audience that "by supporting Pepsi, you support these beliefs". The advert is simplistic, using almost no special effects or CG, but nonetheless convey their message clearly.
Mountain Dew - "It Starts With a Kick"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd0IlE966h4
This is an advert for Mountain Dew, a carbonated energy drink/soft drink brand produced and owned by PepsiCo, released in 2017 titled "It Starts with a Kick". The advert tries to convey, in a comedic manner, the energy and pure fire you gain when you drink Mountain Dew. It does this by showing actors/characters going crazy and doing really energetic dances/movements after they drink mountain dew and get it into their body.
Media Language - The ad starts off with a close up shot of a man drinking from a mountain dew can. It then uses a zoom in-zoom out transition onto the next scene in which we see him dancing eagerly, full of energy and vigor. This gives a sense of comedic relief to the audience as it subverts their expectations of what was going to happen, which makes them laugh when they see this "oversized" man dancing his heart out like he's front stage at a party, as an adult black male and teenage kid stare at him with confusion, which further adds to the comedic affect of the scene. In most cases, audiences would expect the next scene to show a montage of maybe the man training and getting into shape, but instead, he dances like there's no tomorrow, which does indeed portray how mountain dew gives you energy and fills you with life.
The next scene shows a close up of a mosquito biting the guys neck and sucking his blood, which then uses the same transition as previously used to show us the scene of a mosquito dancing with excitement, as it had mountain dew racing in its veins after biting the man. The mosquito is then eaten by a frog, and continues the dancing cycle, who is then eaten by a fish, which is then eaten by a cat. This is all for the purpose of creating a funny advert which subverts audience expectations and gets them to laugh as animals dancing upright isn't something you'd expect to see in a soft drink advertisement. Furthermore, non diegetic music is played in the background to match the "hype" energy of the dance. The music is fast, electronic, and upbeat, which fits the dances done perfectly.
The extravagant dance moves done by each person/animal are what subverts audience expectations and is the opposite of what they would have expected to happen. This shock factor causes the audience to laugh and makes them think of mountain dew as a more chill/laid back company, as most adverts are usually serious and don't have these sort of comedic and funny elements to it.
Audience - The target audience for the advert would mainly be kids and young adults from the age of 10-25, of any race and social class. This specific type of comedy is more likely catered towards younger kids as people dancing in a funny and stupid way is something that mainly kids would find funny and laugh at. When it comes to race, kids of all races will be able to laugh at extravagant dancing as kids love to laugh at stupid things. The same goes for social class, as it is unlikely that kids of different social class will interpret this kind of comedy in different ways.
Representation - The main characters shown in the advert are animals, which don't really represent the audience of the advert, however in the beginning, an objectively fat white male is shown center stage while an adult black male and a teen white kid are seen in the background sitting down watching him. This does represent members of the population who would be considered "oversized".
Industry - The advert prominently uses comedy to push mountain dew as a product, which is pretty uncommon as an industry practice. This comedic approach works because it makes the advert more memorable to viewers, which leads them to talk about the advert amongst their friends or family, which gives mountain dew free advertising through word of mouth. Memorability is the standard and essentially the goal of advertising, but in this case instead of showing how good your life will become when you drink mountain dew, or what mountain dew stands for, they show a funny, comedic, and life-filled ad that is sure to stick with viewers, without having to use any insane special effects or expensive camera equipment. However scenes of animals dancing do indeed use CGI.
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