Since 1886, Coca-Cola has pioneered the advertising industry with feats of innovation and persuasion. This highly profitable company has reeled in nearly double the revenue of competing beverage companies, such as Pepsi and Fanta. Spending approximately three billion dollars annually on marketing techniques alone, it is evident that advertisements play a crucial role in Coca-Cola’s success. Coca-Cola advertisements stretch throughout hundreds of counties across the globe. Their advertisements are communicated through a diverse array of media: billboards, commercials, web pages, radio advertisements, and store displaces. Coca-Cola, perfectionists persuasive marketing, remains on the forefront of the advertising field as it has for the past several decades. Their website serves as an exhibit of their advertising artwork that has undergone years of development and careful implementations. The layout and graphics are beautifully alluring — yet passively manipulative — and serve one ultimate purpose: to convert viewers into customers. By utilizing American commonplaces, ideologies, and desires, the Coca-Cola website convinces typical Americans that Coca-Cola is the key to happiness, prosperity, and status.
Each advertisement has a critical attracting point or feature that must catch the viewers’ eye. For a website, it is the homepage that has the strongest effect on viewers. It is the initial greeting — Coca-Cola’s opportunity to deliver a positive first impression — and thus must invoke interest and further site exploration. Coca-Cola has mastered this idea. Their homepage is artsy, but not too abstract as to hinder their core messages. The page is carefully laid out in an appealing and deliberate manner. The product and its iconic logo recur throughout the page. A video advertisement lies directly in the center of the page, summoning the viewers’ attention. This video asserts the commonplace of American pride. It features the song “America the Beautiful” and features typical looking Americans, depicted in ways that elevate their apparent status and highlight their significance. The video shows a vast variety of American lifestyles, all of which feature individuals consuming Coca-Cola in an enjoyable environment, bonding with friends, family, pets, and nature. This advertisments feeds off the pathos and emotional connection that Americans share for their country. It begins by displaying a man in a countryside setting, riding a white horse. The graceful lighting of the scene bestows the man a look of great honor and nationalism. The advertisement then progresses to a scene featuring a group of friends happily watching a movie and sipping Coke. This portion of the advertisement targets viewers who enjoy seeing movies with friends — essentially all Americans — and alludes to the idea that Coca-Cola is a necessary component that adds to the movie theater experience. The advertisement continues exploiting America’s idea of perfection and bliss by showing a beautiful scene of a family floating atop surfboards at sunset. The “good life” ethos of this family is one that many Americans strive for. Though none of Coca-Cola’s products directly contributing to the happiness of the scene, it still manipulates viewers into thinking that consuming Coke is attributed to the “good life”. With a sharp change in setting, the next scene of the advertisement takes place in an urban park. Children are dancing, parents are smiling and clapping, and the overall mood is euphoric. Once again, drawing upon American values and commonplaces, the next scene features a family happily driving down a southwestern road. A little girl is looking out the window as a small boy (presumably her brother) points off into the distance at beautiful scenery. The family in this scene is depicted as living the American dream. Later images in the advertisement show happy friends drinking Coke with city lights behind them. Each scene in this advertisement targets a unique location of america, coinciding with the background music singing “from sea to shining sea”. This diversity allows many Americans to connect with the commercial — and the product — regardless of where they live in America. It penetrates the core values of individuals living in America and subliminally associates them with Coca-Cola’s products.
Coca-Cola’s homepage also features an image of four olympic athletes proudly holding bottles of Coke. Two of them are men, standing confidently and handsomely. An American flag is stitched on their jackets. The two women in the image are wearing athletic clothing, yet possess a womanly beauty through their youth and perfect hair and makeup. This advertising banner utilizes the ethos of these young athletes to effectively communicate the idea that their success and status is a partially attributed to Coca-Cola. With the Winter Olympics underway, this strategic Coca-Cola advertisement combines American pride with athlete endorsement to form a compelling image. It draws upon the idea that people are naturally inclined to crave fame and fortune; Americans especially desire the patriotic heroism of young olympic athletes. To the left of this image reads the words “You could share a Coke with a team USA athlete … Enter for a chance to win … no purchase necessary.” These words call upon elements of ethos and logos. The humanly desire to meet American heros and powerful figures — people with admirable ethos — such as olympic athletes, persuades viewers to enter the sweepstakes. The key logos component, that there is no purchase necessary, further drives the temptation to enter. Logically, signing up for something that is “free”, yet can yield a reward, is safe and potentially exciting decision to make.
Viewers who are successfully lured in by Coca-Cola’s homepage are likely to visit another popular webpage: the Diet Coke page. This page displays the words “You’re on.” in large font in the background. These words are reinforced and further elaborated upon by the video advertisement beneath them. The video depicts a young woman behind the stage who in clear distress about going on stage at a fashion show. She takes a drink from her Diet Coke and her demeanor instantly changes. Her fear fades and confidence gleams as she looks to the distance with a fierce and powerful poise. This scene, clearly attributing confidence to Coca-Cola products, also utilizes the ethos of this young, confident woman. The depiction gives the impression that any girl who drinks Diet Coke can become a beautiful model like the woman shown. The next scene shows a man at a formal ceremony, standing nervously amongst a crowd and preparing for a speech. He looks around with a tremble in his lip. Impulsively grabbing his glass of Diet Coke and drawing it to his lips, he consequently begins to radiate confidence. Similarly, this scene also exploits the common fear of public approval and shows that one can overpower it with Diet Coke. The advertisement progresses and a world-renown celebrity and singer, Taylor Swift, appears. She is behind stage at a large venue where the stakes are high and the pressure is mounting. Despite the tense situation, Taylor strides with confidence toward the stage. Her makeup is perfect and her dress is beautiful. This portion of the advertisement uses Taylor Swift’s ethos as young, beautiful, and confident celebrity and attributes these desirable attributes to Diet Coke. Coca-Cola brilliantly captivates Taylor Swift’s immense fanbase and uses their trust Taylor to endorse Diet Coke. People who appreciate Taylor Swift as an artist are subconsciously inclined, by her status and demeanor, to follow her actions and select Diet Coke as their drink of choice. The advertisement concludes with an image of a can of Diet Coke with the words “You’re on.” redisplayed beneath the can. This closing image reinforces the misleading idea that whoever views the advertisement can obtain the same sort of stature as confident young people like Taylor Swift; all they have to do is drink a can of Diet Coke.
Advertising, an ancient art, has recently met a new frontier: online marketing. Websites (especially homepages) must harness the attention of viewers, and thereafter convey their persuasive messages. Their advertisement platforms utilize ethos, pathos, and logos. Major companies, such as Coca-Cola, use celebrity and athlete endorsements to further convey their persuasion. Carefully crafted textual statements additionally lure viewers into consuming their products. Coca-Cola displays common American desires to associate them with Coca-Cola’s products. These universal advertising techniques have fostered many top companies; Coca-Cola is a prime example.