When I heard Bob Dylan’s voice on the TV, I immediately became interested. I walked over to the TV and became enveloped into a world of comparisons that made me realize how similar our ideals have been for the past 50 years.
The use of comparisons in this commercial captures the audience because it reminds the audience, no matter what the generation, of their past. When I first saw the commercial, I remembered watching Shrek as a kid and watching people wave their cell phones at concerts. My dad then said, “I always used to watch that clay stick figure as a kid, his name is Gumby.” He later recalled going to concerts where people waived their lighters and told a story about how his friend lit someone’s hair on fire. Because this commercial was able to catch the attention of all audiences, it was able to relay the message to the viewers that Pepsi has been there through all of our countries history.
The last phrase of the commercial, “Every generation refreshes the world” is saying that each generation that is born into the world, refreshes the world with new ideas and limits. Instead of saying how Pepsi refreshes each generation, they keep their focus on each generation being similar.
The commercial is focusing on the similarities of generations because they want to represent Pepsi as the soft drink that has always been there. They want to have fathers say “Son, I remember when I was a kid drinking Pepsi, those were the good old days.” When the son hears this, he wants to go live the “good old days” and buy a Pepsi.
In the last scene, you see the typical American girl drinking a Pepsi with a hamburger and fries. What can be more convincing than that? Pepsi is sitting next to the signature meal of the American citizen. Pepsi successfully portrays their soft drink as the official soft drink of the American citizen.
Pepsi is able to create a sort of trust between their soft drink and society because they represent themselves as the soft drink that has been through thick and thin.
Thanks Sam, this is quite good. Although I think your second paragraph might be a little contrived, I love the message. Undoubtedly, this is exactly the conversation that Pepsi wanted to force, one in which father and son discuss generational differences. I like your analysis of the Pepsi slogan about every generation “refreshing the next.” I think you correctly state that Pepsi seeks to address the similarities between generations, despite the obvious differences. Thus we have Will I am singing a classic Dylan song. Well done. Thanks for cutting it down.
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