COMMUNICATION CHANNEL: Television
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Any soft drink consumer, but in this case, mainly men and boys
As is most obvious, this advertisement uses a jingle and a slogan to get its message across. Larson (2010) describes a jingle as "a musical version of the slogan combined with lyrics that tell the 'story' of the brand" (p. 380). As mentioned in Item #1, slogans are "catchphrases that express a brand name, its benefits, and its 'personality'" (Larson, 2010, p. 380). The jingle in this commercial puts the Coca-Cola slogan into music: Have a Coke and a smile. There is also a mini-slogan: Coke adds life.
This commercial also uses the emotional premise of happiness and joy. Emotional premises work through the peripheral channel of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. This model is states that persuasion goes through two routes: the central information processing route (conscious) and the peripheral information processing route (subconscious).
The emotion used (or abused depending on how cynical the consumer is about advertising) is happiness. The little boy has happiness because he has Coca-Cola. He offers it to the football player, in essence, offering happiness in a bottle. Then the grumpy and tired football player becomes happy. Meanwhile, the kid becomes unhappy because not only does he not have his Coke, but the football player was not very nice to him. The football player then gives another source of happiness to the kid. Now they are both happy and it all started because of a bottle of Coca-Cola.
Body language describing the alternate states of "happiness" and "no happiness" is also shown to emphasize the difference. Notice how the football player is slouching and slumping when he comes in, how the kid slumps away with a frown, and how the football player stands straighter as he drinks the Coke. Lastly and most notably is the football player's big smile at the end.
The message is clear: Want to be happy? Drink Coca-Cola.
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