Open happiness

Regular Coke commercial:

Diet Coke commercial:

Comparing two commercials, one for regular Coke and one for diet Coke, it is obvious that Coca Cola is trying to associate their products with happiness and fun. There were only slight shifts in audience appeals between the two commercials, both seeming to target young adults rather than children or older adults. Both commercials suggest that there is a carefree way of life you experience when drinking Coke. The “coke side of life” campaign consists of upbeat music, and happy people enjoying themselves and their drinks. 

            The first commercial, for regular Coke, opens with a man wheeling some kind of instrument by the ocean and up a hill. The sky is covered in a yellow haze and the scene is reminiscent of a warm and sunny summer afternoon. The man is wearing a top hat and a long black jacket and as he reaches the top of the hill he begins to set up his instrument. He presses buttons and switches, which reveal colorful knobs and small, furry, smiling creatures. The musician opens a cooler and pulls out a Coke, attaching it to the instrument where the liquid flows through bending tubes until several taps are filled with Coke. As the man presses the keys of the instruments, the taps spray the liquid into the mouths of the little creatures and they let out musical notes creating a song as squirts of Coke enter their mouths. People start gathering around the musician and his interesting instrument and they begin to dance and drink Cokes. The scene fades out and the commercial ends with an image of a red Coca Cola bottle and the words “open happiness”.

            The summery imagery and cheerful music makes an association with drinking Coke and having a good time while the surreal parts of the commercial make it memorable and light. The use of the small furry creatures playing music and singing for their Coke creates a child-like carefree feeling to the scene and also adds an element of humor. Although there is a child-like quality to the surreal elements of the commercial, it appeals to a young adult audience rather than to children. It is a reminder that there is still time to do carefree things and have a good time, and that drinking a Coke should be involved.

The second commercial, the commercial for diet coke, also focuses on happiness and enjoying oneself. The scene begins with a girl opening a diet Coke with a huge smile on her face. She takes a sip and gets up to rollerblade with her friends, all of them seem to be having a great time and are surrounded by glowing bubbles that are flowing from the Coke can. They are in a parking lot near a food stand by the beach and it looks as though it is warm out and the sun is just starting to set. Like the commercial for regular Coke, this one creates the feeling of a late, carefree, summer afternoon.  The commercial actually does not emphasize the fact that the product is a diet drink until the end of the commercial, where it leaves the rollerblading scene and shows a diet coke with bubbles coming out of it and the words “light it up” appear next to the drink.

This commercial uses the same idea as the first, appealing to young adults who want to have a good time. The cheerful music and the apparent happiness of the people drinking Coke support the idea that there is a carefree “Coke side of life”. The diet commercial did seem more directed towards women, but not as obviously as many other diet soda commercials are.  The commercial used a woman as the main actor and an activity, cheerfully rollerblading with friends, which would appeal more to girls whereas the concert in the regular Coke commercial was not directed towards either gender. The diet commercial also used the words “light it up” to suggest that you can both lighten your weight and add “light” or fun to your life at the same time if you drink diet Coke.

The idea that Coca Cola is promoting, the idea that drinking coke will “light it up” and that as you open a bottle you are “opening happiness” works because people connect eating and drinking with enjoying themselves. By relating their product to hanging out with friends and having a good time, Coca Cola makes their drinks appealing as something that goes along with enjoyable activities. Both the regular and the diet Coke commercials are successful in addressing the value that our society gives to eating and drinking for enjoyment.