Watch this video
http://youtu.be/OEQzJRRIXKs
Looks familiar right? This commercial gets my roommates and I riled up for some reason or another and we can't help but express our undying love for this commercial. Personally, I think it's hard to have a really great commercial in the world of advertisement. Everyone is trying so desperately to keep up with one another that some dance in the spotlight and others fall by the waist-side. This commercial however, uses a few unique tools to help viewers remember their product over others.
In class on Thursday we talked about this concept called, Magical Thinking. ideas in class were tossed around about how we as a human population are in aw over the glitter of advertisement. Magical thinking says that when we buy this product that is advertised it will make our lives better. In class I found the concept of magical thinking very interesting and understandable when we discussed the idea of taking a pill-it just really dawned on me I guess. Whatever your problem was, it was curable with a pill.
Getting back to my commercial, I thought how genuis it was to use a less attracttractive girl in the commercial because most commercials are flooding with beauitful women. I thought this gave the commercial a memorable quality to it. I also felt they did a good job with the story they told. By having the funky woman dancer dance her way into various different scenes it showed that the drink was versatile and happiness would surround you if you drank it.
Our magical thinking leads us to believe this ad because, for all the soda lovers out there, maybe they feel like dancing around and really they are living through the commercial. Therefore an average women dancing and drinking this drink seems normal because we find the commercial to make us feel good and most of the time it leaves us laughing. This was a clever advertising technique because if you use a song everyone knows and pair it with an image that people wont forget they will remember the product and buy it. I know for a fact that I use magical thinking everyday with buying things or even trying to get rid of a headache. Where do you use magical thinking?
I have never paid too much attention to this commercial. I always sort of realize that someone is dancing on the tv but that is about it. This could either be because I don't like soda so I have no interest in the ad or because I have never actually heard of this brand of soda until the commercials started to play so I sort of dismiss them. The only time I actually see an ad for something and think that I MUUUUSSSSTT have it is ads for musical instruments. I cannot help but think that as a music education major, the more instruments that I have, the better I can do my job. Even though this is a valid point, I think I go a bit overboard. I currently have 3 clarinets, a flute, a trumpet, a tenor sax, a keyboard and 2 guitars. Even though I can avoid the temptation of almost any ad, musical instrument ads (even though there are not many of them unless you have subscriptions to music magazines like I do) are definitely my downfall.
ReplyDeletethat commercial is hilarious. Did you see it on t.v? - I feel like the girl in the commercial just did a lot of stimulants rather than drinking a soda - which, there's probably something to that also. The fact that she's not particularly sexy or cool looking is pretty important to - finally, someone in an advertising agency realized that normal American's aren't usually excessively good looking - like ben stiller in Zoolander. I also have never heard of this brand of soda but now when I see it I will immediately think of that commercial just because it was so outrageous. Beer commercials are also a lot like this - outrageous but in a funny, weird, and corky way. Its like the Keystone commercials with "Keith Stone" who in reality is total white trash and raunchy but does such a good job being serious about that role that it makes keystone a good advertiser because everyone knows keystone is a cheap beer just like mr. keith stone is a cheap looking guy - but smooth.
ReplyDeleteSo first off let me say I can not help but crack up every time the boat comes by and she's dancing in it. Any way I have to agree with you, you see it a lot in movie advertisements. Burger King, Dunkin' Donuts, cereal boxes, everyone was promoting Captain America and had something incorporated into their commercials that either had his face or colors in the mix. When you have these things associated with a product your trying to sell it becomes less about the product and more about the clever technique of association I.E using the snoop dog song.
ReplyDeleteDo you really, honestly think though that anybody actually feels like they're living in a commercial? Somehow, that seems unlikely. Magical thinking as Lears described it is more complicated than that. It has to do with knowing full well that ads don't resemble life, and products don't make your life like those of people in them. Rather, it's a kind of dual consciousness--buying the product because the ads are entertaining, not because of any belief in the mystical powers of the product (or maybe a little). I've seen this ad before, but it's hard to tell from your description of it what's unique or interesting about it. The use of a hiphop dance and Snoop Dogg's song might give you a way to discuss appropriations of African-American culture, for example--what's that supposed to be selling us, do you think?
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