Williams, Alicia E.

5 March 2016

Can A Collaboration Of Music, Youth, and Culture Sell A Product Successfully?

Would anyone like a Coca- Cola? Seriously, who would have guessed that a simple lab experiment would one day turn into one of the world’s most successful soft drinks for such a long period of time? And what more of a creative way to spread the love of this drink then with music? It is a calm summer day in the 90s all over the world where different groups of people are being filmed having a good time. Every different race, gender, age group, all coming together to enjoy a nice, cold beverage. Not only are they enjoying the drink, but they were able to make a whole song out of it using the cans, glasses, bottles and their caps, and their hands of course. A viewer would watch this ad and think, “Hmmm, what a well diverse community! It seems that this one drink can actually bring different cultures together to enjoy a cold beverage and have fun making music. And what a catchy beat it has! I think I’ll have a Coke.” It’s the perfect advertisement of a variety of communities all coming together.

The commercial begins at sunrise, with the opening of a fresh bottle of Coke. The sound of the bottle opening is seen almost as an alert to everyone that a  Coke is being drunk. It is also seen as the cue to begin the music that the people make with their various forms of instruments.  The sun is now rising and everyone from all over has an instrument made of something pertaining to a Coca Cola product. There are people either on the beach, walking down the road, or even sticking their heads out their home windows continuing to add a melody to the beat that has already started. The sun is now fully up and shining ever so brightly and everyone is now lively drinking Coca Cola’s or sharing one. The instruments are now bottles or glasses with the logo on them with a slim stick to tap, a garbage lid covered in Coca Cola bottle caps portrayed as cymbals , or the cans turned into maracas and shakers. There are also your usual djembe and dunun drums used to hold the bass sound of the beat and cola cans that were flattened and formed into a drum or steel pan figure.  Then there’s the rows of bottles that are turned into what seems to be a xylophone type of instrument.  With all sounds coming together, everyone is now drinking Coke’s and dancing,  laughing with each other. For a moment, this commercial portrays a world that can set their differences aside and enjoy a good time together through music. As the commercial comes to an end, the sun is setting and the volume of music lowers but continues. The commercial finishes with the Coca Cola theme quote, “Always Coca Cola”. Watching this, one would say Coke is trying to sell products using cultural traditions, music, and youth.

The culture of this commercial is taken from all over the world. The different cultures are shown through various details such as the scenery and the wardrobe. The commercial’s background is set at locations all throughout the seven continents. There are people of all different races and color all over this commercial. Majority of the people in this are wearing what we think of as “regular attire” being shorts and a tank top. In certain scenes, there is a male wearing a head wrap and a dress due to his country’s specific dress code and/or for religious purposes. Being filmed in the 90s, culture is a very important aspect of showing the world can still come together with all the chaos that was going on. During the 90s historical events happened such as the end to the Cold War or the first attempt of bombing the World Trade Center. What better way to show the world coming together than with a commercial of various communities coming together to create a song and get along to enjoy a beverage. With the culture, we notice that in every different setting, or part of the world, the male character is outdoors doing some kind of labor/work. The feminine character is more inside almost to look as if they’re doing housework. The producers of the commercial wanted their viewers to watch this without feeling a sense of constraint. The ad was made for the audience to see that Coca Cola is not only for select genders and races. The give the commercial a strongly diverse outlook.

From a positive, global view, everyone is well in rhythm with the music their making. Another sign of culture is shown through the music being created. If you listen closely to the beat, it sounds very similar to your typical ancient African beat. In the mix of multicultural instruments, you hear, strongly, sounds that are usually heard in one’s traditional African beat. Coca Cola has found yet another way to bring in more viewers and buyers for their product. African beats are usually a sound that once you hear it, it makes you want to dance around. As explained earlier, the various instruments were formed into drums, maracas, xylophones and also bottles used to blow a note into. The instruments may have been formed to sound like an average instrument however, they weren’t formed to look the same. To keep the idea if a Coca Cola advertisement to viewers, the instruments all have a Cola logo on them whether it was a can-melted drum or a bottle-turned shaker. Other hand-made instruments were made with an almost fashion statement to them. This fashion statement is used to draw the viewers, especially the younger viewers, to watch and want to get involved or get a Coke. The makers of the commercial have realized that fashion is the way to grab the attention of viewers both young and old. It has added more youth with a large mix of older traditions. It was formatted to reach out to all generations. The music being to show the relation with the older generations and the young people playing the instruments they made from the product being sold.

Most importantly, this commercial shows a more youthful side of globalization. Globalization is a major key in selling product. The way to get a product selling is to relate it to what people like to see. The 90s is known as the Millennial Generation and at this time music was especially popular with the younger generation of people. What better way to fully make a successful commercial than to mix culture with music and young people? If you look closely to the commercial, you’ll notice it is full of young people with nice bodies. The commercial portrays everyone as a young, beautiful and very energetic.  The main image of everyone in this film is the sort of young “beach body” or summertime figure. You will also notice that the commercial is mainly women, hardly any men involved. Not only is it more women shown, but it is using the sexual appeal of the female figure. There are maybe a few men in the commercial with no shirts on but the majority are fully clothed in summer attire. Whereas the females of the commercial are mainly in bikinis or shorts and beachwear. Watching a commercial of beautiful young women and men is great advertisement to other young people and make them want to actually go buy a coke and have the same fun the commercial actors/actresses are having. A typical 90s Coca Cola crew was possibly a group of older, fully suited men and women sitting in an office. However, the producers were probably thinking that they wanted the purpose of the commercial to grab the eyes of the viewers with the latest trending topics. At this time, that would mainly be sexually appealing young people, catchy beats made with creative instruments and a touch of traditional culture.

The exigence, however, of this commercial is that fact that there were little to no people of an older age. Though the purpose of this commercial is to have everyone craving a Coke on any given summer day, an older aged and more experienced person would watch this commercial and think, “Is this drink only for young people? Can I not enjoy the drink as much as a young person can? Do the producers feel as though we older folks can’t make a few instruments and join the beat?” The producers realize that people of all ages can enjoy a Coca Cola, but marketing-wise they know that putting a crew of younger people will catch the attention of television watchers faster than anything else. They probably figured there isn’t much that can top a large group of young people looking as if they’re on summer break from school.

Coke found a way to combine culture with youth and music to sell their products to everyone. If one was to watch a Coca Cola ad from today, you can realize the creativity is just not the same. Television ads have been completely modified to today’s time and trends. Everything of this generation has been electrified. If the producers were to go to youth today and give the idea that was given in the 90s ad, there would be more of a struggle to make it. Instruments are going from handmade, smooth wood exterior,  to electrical with a different sound. It’s only the past few years that the younger age groups are slowly trying to bring back the 90s. The fashion trends of the 90s are becoming the fashion trends of today. To make a commercial like the one made in the 90s would take a lot of time and it would not have the same vibe.