Coca-Cola Border Patrol

As we were picking our ads to analyze for our speeches way back in February, I was torn between two: the Xoom which I chose, and a Coca-Cola commercial which aired during the Superbowl this year. I didn’t get a chance to truly analyze the Coca-Cola commercial, so I thought I’d choose this week’s post to analyze that ad!

Within the first few seconds of watching the commercial, you automatically get the feeling of “two distinct sides pitted against each other”. You have one man in red protecting his side of the border and another man in blue protecting his. The two men are grumpy, stiff, and definitely do not like each other. Then, we see a little piece of paper fly from one side of the border to the other, thus getting both men extremely worked-up over it. Finally, the red man opens up a Coca-Cola bottle and we see the blue man become intrigued by it, sending the message that he wants one too. The red man notices this gesture, sympathizes, and attempts to share a Coke with the man dressed in blue.. He primarily attempts to hand the Coke over the “border”, but then the two decide it would be better to keep it concealed and pass the Coke under the border, ultimately erasing the traces of this arrangement.

After watching the commercial, my mind went straight to how Coca-Cola is using its commercial as a reflection of our own society. Immediately, the red and blue color contrast seems to address the political polarization we see in our democracy. The two men are placed in a desert where there is ultimately no people, no buildings, or nearly anything around. Further, there is no dialogue or conversation, just a droning musical score. Yet, the two men are pitted against each other for what seems to be no apparent reason. A little paper crosses the border, and the two men become distraught by it. Coca-Cola may be suggesting how pointless this polarization is and how people are going against each other for no valid reason. Finally, the climax of the commercial appears as the red man shares a Coke with the blue man. The two men find a way to pass the Coke successfully under the border, without crossing it “illegally”. Lastly, we watch the two men enjoy their coke, each other, and then snap back into reality and assume their pitted positions once again. Coke’s message in the larger perspective seems to propose that its soda can bring people together no matter how different they are. Coke is the catalyst to friendship and enjoyment; it acts as a common ground. Because we see the men return to their designated positions even after enjoying their drink, Coca-Cola suggests that our society may never change completely, but buying Coke is the first step toward accomplishing civility.