The underlying message in this Coke commercial is a very upbeat and optimistic one, that of peace, love, and a global brotherhood. Through this message the Coca-Cola Company attempts to connect the consumption of their product with a world living in "perfect harmony" as a direct result (Coke). Realistically speaking a soft-drink cannot accomplish a challenge as daunting as bringing peace and harmony to the world, which is most certainly not what this commercial was intended to do. Coca-Cola's real intention here is to sell their product through a positive and heart-warming, albeit unrealistic message. Regarding the Coca-Cola Company's advertising ploys that claim peace and global unity result from drinking their soda, author of "The World of The World of Coca-Cola," Ted Friedman states, " In Coca-Cola's utopian internationalism, it is not nature, but to the universal consumption of a commodity--Coke--which ties people together. Its implication is that if every person in the world drank Coke, we would all live in peace and brotherly love" (Friedman). Unfortunately, Coca-Cola does not and cannot accomplish bringing "peace and brotherly love" to the world by selling their soft-drink and it is the very arrogance and implausibility of such an idea that reveals it for what it truly is, a simple advertising gimmick (Friedman). Although Coke falls far short of putting forth a genuine effort to make the world a better place, the commercial's message of a global brotherhood, on its own, is not without merit and significance. If the primary focus of selling Coke were to be taken out of the equation the commercial's positive message could truly be felt. If such were the case the individuals on the hilltop could be viewed as engaging one another in a culturally diverse "global village," acting together peacefully as a "true community," such as Dean Barnlund discusses in "Communication in a Global Village" (Barnlund 48). However, the commercial's potentially positive message of a culturally diverse "true community" is buried beneath the primary goal of a greedy corporate powerhouse; that of selling a product for substantial profit (Barnlund 48).
Works Cited
Barnlund, Dean. "Communication in a Global Village." Literacies. 2nd
ed. Ed. Terence Brunk et al. New York: Norton, 2000. 47-61.
"Coke." Commercial. You Tube. 11 October 2007 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igl0wMmS0N0>.
Friedman, Ted. EServer.org. October 1992. 10 October 2007 <http://theory.eserver.org/world-of-coca-cola.html>.
2 comments:
I truly agree with stating drinking coke does not promote harmony, and there is a lot of good information in this blog to make an interesting essay. Very good blog
In the beginning of your blog I got scared that I saw the total opposite than this harmony of brotherhood and was going not to agree with you again. According to my perception, those were robots trained to the similar actions. Maybe I have something personal against Coca-Cola…However, you brought your reflections to the logical conclusion that the commercial is just trying to sell the product and is not able to bring peace and love to the world. I agree with that and not because it is a commercial and logically it is true but because the community seen in it looked too fake, unrealistic and suspicious.
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