What is sibling love? How can this be expressed with the use of a Coke bottle? These questions can be answered with the 2016 Super Bowl Coke commercial. This commercial is advertising the Coca-Cola product, while using a love hate relationship between siblings. Despite the fighting in the beginning, Coca-Cola shows that the company is not just about selling soda, but about mending relationships and brings families together.
The Description
In this advertisement, the main characters are two brothers, one older and one younger. The younger brother looks like a young, adventurous boy that just wants to live life. He is a very skinny, frail boy that can’t seem stand up for himself. The older brother is no help to the younger brother’s situation. He hassles his younger brother by annoying him while he is playing video games, and puts things just out of reach as his brother reaches for them. The older brother even makes the younger brother walk in the rain because he is too selfish to share his umbrella. Then one day the younger brother is sitting on a bench at the park enjoying a bottle of Coke, when a group of bullies about his age approach him. They actually take his bottle of Coke as they start to pick on him. While this is going on, the older brother is standing not too far behind and witnesses the whole scene. Before the bullies step in, the older brother steps in front of his younger brother and scares off the bullies. He then takes the coke and almost drinks it himself, but feels pity on his brother. So he gives the drink back, but not without making him spill a little on his face, as a prank, before he leaves.
The Analysis
Many families with younger and older sibling can relate to this type of harassment. The older sibling playfully harassing the younger one, who becomes more and more resentful with each passing day. Most little kids can only take so much before the harassment becomes too much and they run screaming to their parents about the atrocities of their older sibling.
The commercial, however, was a little different. The younger brother in the advertisement never once went to his parents. He seemed to take the harassment in stride and not let them affect him. This happened so much that the older brother almost felt entitled to pick on his younger brother. But when someone else started to pick on his younger brother, he responded by getting mad. As siblings, you always play around with your other siblings. The older brother was playfully annoying his brother, but never meant any true harm or true hatred towards his brother. But when someone else started to harass his brother, he didn’t know how far this would go. So being the good older brother, he stepped right in before things got out of hand.
In the background of the commercial, very lively, upbeat country music is playing. This indicates that the commercial, in general, has a warm, happy tone to it. But this can be confusing because while this happy music is being played, an older brother is bullying his younger brother. While his actions may be wrong, the music indicates that the younger brother is not taking them to heart. Never once in the commercial do you see that the younger brother is emotionally distressed by the bullying actions of his older brother.
The younger brother seems to have very thick skin and just moves along with his day, not letting the actions of his older brother affect him. The music indicates that the brother is not leading a depressed or unhappy life. In fact, the tone of the music tends to indicate that he is living a happy, normal life, despite his brother’s harsh actions towards him. The music that is playing reassures the audience that everything is going to turn out just fine.
Even though the audio is mainly a country song, there are some other audio cues in the advertisement. Every time someone touches the bottle, you can hear the clinking of the glass bottle. Oddly enough, the only other sound in this commercial, besides the background music, is when someone comes in contact with the Coke bottle. This interactions brings more awareness to the glass bottle itself. In this particular day and age, glass bottled sodas aren’t very popular. Most people drink these types of beverages from cans or plastic bottles. This commercial brings out the vintage age of the glass bottle. The glass bottle is much more pleasing to the eye than the can or plastic bottle. So the extra audio attention to the bottle brings out the beauty and the simplicity of the drink.
The setting of the commercial takes place in a middle class family home. Indicators are shown throughout the commercial, such as; both brothers walk to school, the inside of the house is small, and the brothers are never seen wearing expensive clothing. They are actually clothed very plainly like any other middle class family boys. This also contributes to the fact that the parents never step in when they see that the younger brother is mistreated. The parents might be too busy with work to really take the time to give him the attention that he craves as the younger child. The fact that this family has soda is a luxury in many parts of the world. Coca-Cola is also advertising to the middle and lower class families saying that even though soda is a luxury, having a Coke is still affordable for any class of people.
The commercial, as a whole, is shot as a narrative, or a short movie. The commercial tells a story, and everyone loves a good story. Coca-Cola did a good job of gaining a broad audience base by catering to this simple need. In the filming process, there are many different camera angles of the same shot and the scenes keep switching constantly. The cinematography also makes the story more action packed than it really is. With the quick cuts from one scene to another, the brother’s actions are all spanned in about one minute. These tactics keep the observers more interested and engaged in the commercial. This provides a flow to the commercial, giving it a story-like feel instead of a boring advertisement feel.
Upon further research, the color of the clothes that the characters in the commercial are wearing also provide significance. Coca-Cola branding is always red. The Pepsi Cola Company, Coca-Cola’s business rival, has a business model that is predominately blue. In this commercial, the younger brother always wears red and the older brother always wears blue, until the end. Everyone in the commercial wearing red seems to provide a positive attribute to the story, and anyone wearing blue contributes in a negative way toward the story line. This further accentuates the competition between the two moguls of the soda business. In the beginning of the advertisement, while the younger brother is playing video games, he is wearing a red baseball cap and a red, striped t-shirt. When the older brother comes in and starts to annoy the younger brother, he is wearing a blue shirt, along with blue jeans.
This pattern continues throughout the whole commercial until the very end where the bullies are about to take the younger brother’s Coke away. When the bullies start to heckle with the younger brother, all three of them are wearing blue shirts, but when the older brother steps in, he is wearing a red shirt. The color switch of the t-shirt indicates that he is doing something good, which was standing up for his brother.
Reflection
How would you feel if you were the little brother always getting picked on? This happens all around the world daily. Many younger brothers and sisters feel that they are neglected by their older siblings, and even their parents. Older siblings frequently take the opportunity to harass, but they rarely take the opportunity to stand up for their younger sibling, and that is why this commercial made such a big impact on so many people. Most of us can relate to what this child is going through. The feeling that the younger sibling got when his older brother actually stood up for him and protected him in a case of real adversity was so powerful. No words could express the warmth, love and gratitude that the younger brother was feeling as his big brother put his neck on the line to save him from a dangerous situation.
The Conclusion
Even though this commercial advertises Coca-Cola products, the meaning of this story is very clear. Love hate relationships arise in most families between siblings, parents, or relatives. But when you need them, your family will always be there for you. The older brother was there for his kid brother, and Coke wants you to know that they will be there for you too. They are just like family, and when you need one, there will be one waiting for you. Coca-Cola tapped into this relationship to portray that this product is more than just another soda on the shelf. Coca-Cola wants to show you that they are there for you, and that through this drink, relationships can be mended and families can be brought together.
-Jake Knowlton
URL for the commercial on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oYlOBun8UI
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