http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mOEU87SBTU

TV Commercial English Assignment

*I have to have a disclaimer before I do this assignment. I really don’t watch much TV, and what little I do, I watch from the DVR for the very reason that I don’t have to watch commercials. Because of this I tried to think of a memorable commercial I remember thru the years (you didn’t say it had to be a recent commercial) and this is what I came up with.

Coca-Cola: I’d like to teach the world to sing…

Quick description of the commercial (click on the above youtube link to watch) A close-up of one girl singing the song “I’d like to teach the world to sing” which was made big by The Hillside Singers in 1971. The song was written for Coca-Cola but later became a top 20 hit that year (Wikipedia). As the song progresses the camera pans out showing many people on the top of a hill and many singers of different ethnicity adding their voice and beautiful harmony to the song. They are all holding a bottle of coca-cola.
1. The argument being made: If you drink coca-cola it will unify you with the rest of the world.
2. What are the consequences of drinking a coke which is the real thing, on people from all over the world?
3. People who drink coke get the real thing which means the real refreshment buster. People from all over the world drink Coke. If you drink coke you will have your thirst satisfied and it will give you a connection or something in common to people all over the world because they are drinking coke also.
4. The target audience here is a young adult generation (18-30). There are no older people in this commercial. I guess if you get the younger generation hooked on coke they will keep up the habit when they get older!!!
5. The goal is to get people to drink Coca-Cola so the company can get rich and the stockholders can get richer!
6. Ethos/Pathos/Logos. The ad has more an emotional tone to it rather than looking for credibility or logic. It came up with a catchy tune and that tune spread like wildfire.
7. Was it effective? This has gone down in history as one of the most popular commercials of all time. Even for me, this is still one of my favorites.