Sheet 5.3 Tasks

Coca Cola
I chose the Coca Cola ad “pool boy”  which is a rather recent, teenage centered advert.
https://youtu.be/wWBQP-bxfX0


I also chose “brotherly love” by Coca Cola which centres around teenagers and family life it displays the relationship between an older and younger brother in a light hearted manner which is relatable for many siblings who may tease each other and take advantage of being the older one.https://youtu.be/qdPXQLrueRg

These adverts help to present America as a light hearted, comedic and family orientated country. They seem to focus on family values and Coca Cola tries to prove  their product can help bring the family together and help form relationships.
The first clip features a teenage brother and sister fighting to get to the pool man first to give him a Coca Cola as he is shown as very attractive and they obviously want to be the one to attract his attention. The comedy comes in when they both arrive at the pool after scrabbling and climbing over eachother only to find that their own mother has beaten them to it, this pushes them to accept what has happened after a simple shoulder shrug from the mother. This also presents teenagers in America as quite a stereotypical romantic, both the brother and sister are after the pool mans attention in the hope they would get to admire him from up close, perhaps even converse with him. This is commonly used in teenage movies and tv shows, the character will make a fool of themselves while trying to impress someone that they are interested in. The second clip portrays a relationship between an older and younger sibling, again in a light hearted and comedic way, to show how even though you both may get on each others nerves, annoy each other constantly and wind each other up, you’re still family and you still look out for each other. The older brother teases his younger sibling and this is shown throughout the advert until a bully takes a Coca Cola bottle away from the younger sibling, this then encourages the older sibling to stand up and protect his younger sibling to clearly show how Coca Cola  can bring family’s together and make their bond even stronger.

I think this may be attractive to teenagers in Britain as they share a similar romantic take on life. Many British teenagers in movies or even in real life will go to extreme extents to impress someone they are interested in and by this advert trying to prove that Coca Cola is the way to someone’s heart this would encourage teenagers to buy it and try it for themselves. .
In another way this may be attractive to British teens. Siblings  across the UK treat each other very similarly by teasing and picking on eachother but always being there when needed, this could really appeal to a teenage audience if they have a younger sibling or maybe even an older sibling as they could find it very relatable.

There are some cultural differences which I feel this advert helps to erode such as homosexuality. in America and Britain it is more common and more socially acceptable than it is in other countries. By placing this within an advert and portraying it as a normal and generally accepted view, I feel this advert would be able to erode cultural differences surrounding homosexuality by actually showing people it is normal and perhaps encouraging other people to embrace their sexuality.

Levi’s 

I chose to use the Levi’s advert “sea of blue” which is aimed towards teenagers and people in their 20’s as it is set at a party and the cast are young https://youtu.be/z4wijnEVOWM

I also chose “beautiful morning” as it is quite a popular and favoured advert by teenagers.
https://youtu.be/6JwNYPgBhfM

Both  adverts portray america and american teenagers as quite a sex driven society. Both adverts promote a need to feel, look and seem appealing in order to attract a partner. American teenage life appears to revolve around the ideology that in order to feel good you need to look good and that their jeans are the solution to this. wear their jeans, you'll feel sexy and attractive and wind up with a  potential sexual partner.

This representation may be attractive or seductive to a British teenage audience because there is a pressure as well, in British society, to look and feel attractive, to become sexually active in order to fit  in because of the social construct of virginity. There is real pressure for teenagers in modern society to lose their virginity and be sexually active to seem "cooler".
This advert implies that these special jeans will boost your chances of fitting in, losing your virginity and becoming sexually active, while also making you feel and look good.

Adverts like this may erode cultural differences surrounding sex and the idea of virginity, not particularly in the best way.
The adverts are very erotic and sensual, making sex seem like the norm, perhaps helping to build up the pressure that is already on for teenagers to have sex, this could be unintentional but none the less, this still manages to be my first thought.
Some cultures may not agree with this ideology but it is now becoming more common and sex is more accepted and socially acceptable to talk about or show on  TV and other media platforms.

Over all, the aim of most teenage targeted adverts seem to be; you have to feel or look good to be accepted or you have to have an item of some sort to bring people together and these particular brands claim to be just what you need, helping themselves to also seem attractive to their audience. This applies to Stuart Hall's theory as the adverts both use strong visual representation to represent modern culture and how times have evolved, sex is practically advertised as a need and a want which is now common among teenagers, people have to have a reason to come together and coke is advertising itself as the reason. Representation is extremely important here as everybody wants to look good or feel good and by these actors within the adverts being shown as gorgeous and attractive people or role models, this urges the audience to want to look the same or be the same so by buying these products they believe they can or possibly will achieve this.

Curran and Seaton's theory applies here too as these particular adverts are in fact responding to the concerns of their audience. The audience wishes to look amazing and feel amazing or treasure the special family time they have or attract a partner and these adverts implicitly claim they are the answer to this and they can make it happen if you buy their particular product.