Thinking About the Text : Rubin/ Advertisement R Us

1) What insight does Melissa Rubin offer about the Coca-Cola ad she analyzes, and what evidence does she provide to support her analysis? Has she persuaded you to accept her conclusions- and if not, why not?

 Melissa’s  conclusion was based on how companies accomplish to persuade consumers to buy their products by using ads; done through showing or telling the consumer the numerous ways their product can help. In every ad there is a message that is hidden and according to Melissa the message behind the Coca-Cola ad is:  "Their is a life to be envied and emulated, so drink Coca-Cola and live that life yourself" (180). The insight that Melissa uses to support her analyzes are history and reaction/result. On the ad she mentions how history can inspire someone to buy their products. During the 1950’s war and industrialization was growing, so having an image of the ideal community (surrounded with White Americans, happy veterans, the working class and the middle class) makes you want to join them as well; since in the Coca Cola ad the image represents a coming together to refresh with a drink of coca cola.

Yes, Melissa has persuaded me to accept her conclusion because, I think persuasion can be used many ways and one of them is through showing a happy community and their history. Another thing I noticed is that advertisers tend to use images of ads that are related to the bigger community, which can either be a belief, ethnicity, gender, culture and etc.

2) How does she incorporate historical context, and what does that information contribute to her analysis?  

Melissa incorporates historical context by mentioning ethnicity, lifestyle, the class and conditions during the 1950's. She notices that the majority of the people from the ad are white men and women. Her analyzes towards this is based on history; during the 1950's racial prejudice and segregation in the United State was a big issue. She also notices that the only time when a Black male was shown on an ad was only if he or she were famous. Melissa analyzes lifestyle; many men in the ad were veteran, middle class and working class. The setting of the ad was taken place during the 1950's when war and industrialization was growing. The evidence she has provided shows the reader when advertising took place. Melissa also doesn't forget to mention how this advertisement came to be persuading; which was done through showing the celebration of the community joined together and the setting of the place.

3)Rubin's analysis is driven by this question: What can we learn about the culture in which a given ad is created by closely examining how that ad appeals to particular audiences? What other questions might you try to answer by analyzing an ad?

Some other questions I may try to answer by analyzing an ad are:

In what generation was this ad made?

What were the communities belief?

What are their goals?

What are their values?

4) This Coca-Cola ad reflects the values of its era. Can you think of a contemporary ad that projects the values of the era we live in? How do the two ads compare?

One main value advertisers project during this era for teenagers are to look “beautiful”. I’ve seen images of “good” looking people on posters, the internet and on commercials persuading consumers to buy their products. The comparison between the two ads that advertisers use are what seem to be the ideal image and their goals for the recent era.