Jesse Conroy
English 100/ O
Video Text Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDoDUC9M0Sg
The popular soft drink company Coca-Cola started selling its beverage’s to American citizens in March of 1944 and sense then the company has grown to sell its product worldwide. Through expert business tactics and culturally targeting advertisements, coke has managed to keep its customers coming back for more.
One such advertisement, a well-known commercial that aired during the winter of 1999 exemplifies this perfectly. The commercial starts with a large Coca-Cola truck decorated in Christmas lights driving down a road late at night during the winter. The side of the truck has a picture of Santa Claus enjoying a coke and immediately after this seen upbeat music cues in and the first verse says, “The holidays are coming”. As the commercial continues a convoy of Coca-Cola trucks is revealed, all decorated with the same Christmas lights. Wherever the trucks go, nearby churches, businesses, and residential houses light up while nearby citizens look on with heart felt smiles. As the commercial nears an end, a father and son sit in an old truck together waiting at an intersection for the convoy to pass by. The two are close together, their eyes are wide, they look happy to have one another but even happier that the Coca-Cola trucks have arrived. The final verse says, “Always Coca-Cola”.
This advertisement works. Christmas is something all Americans know and love. The scene in this commercial reminds us of Christmas and it was purposely aired during winter to remind us that the holidays are coming. The happy smiles, the snow on the ground, the lights and the small town are there to makes us feel the Christmas vibe. The Coca-Cola trucks are decorated for the occasion. The massive trucks are gleaming with lights that help display a picture of Santa, relaxed and enjoying a coke on the side of them. The important verses to point out in the music that plays during the ad’s entirety are first, “The holidays are Coming”, and then later, “It’s always Coca-Cola”. These two verses shed obvious light on cokes business tactic for this commercial. That is to associate a beloved holiday that brings everyone together, Christmas with their soft drink.
Welcome!
Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
1. I completely agree with the myths found in the commercial, the only additional part i would add is there’s a sense of family involved.
ReplyDelete2. The commercial is directly aimed towards the Christian belief because Santa Clause is shown on the truck and Christmas is directly related to a religion. This completely leaves out other religious groups.
3. The audio is very cheerful, singing about the holiday season coming. This typically brings lots of excitement and joy to both children and adults.
4. The ad is promoting the viewer to surrender to drinking coke products around Christmas time. It provides the thought that coke is a traditional Christmas drink that will bring your family together, and brighten the spirit. As the trucks drive through the town, the buildings light up, so that as well implies a happiness factor.
1. I completely agree with the myths found in the commercial, the only additional part i would add is there’s a sense of family involved.
ReplyDelete2. The commercial is directly aimed towards the Christian belief because Santa Clause is shown on the truck and Christmas is directly related to a religion. This completely leaves out other religious groups.
3. The audio is very cheerful, singing about the holiday season coming. This typically brings lots of excitement and joy to both children and adults.
4. The ad is promoting the viewer to surrender to drinking coke products around Christmas time. It provides the thought that coke is a traditional Christmas drink that will bring your family together, and brighten the spirit. As the trucks drive through the town, the buildings light up, so that as well implies a happiness factor.