The commercial where Michael Jackson “features” Pepsi (Jeraldi) as the indispensable attribute of the new generation is immensely effective, because it sets specific picture for the people who watch it. The advertisement pictures the new lifestyle which appeal to the youth, and that makes people buy the desired drink. The clue idea of the advertisement is that Pepsi is the feature of the new and better world.
Because of the tiniest psychological influence spilt on people from their television sets, the advertisement persuades people to buy the suggested product twice as efficiently as the advert in the newspaper or magazine.
What the very advertisement with Michael Jackson draws people’s attention with is a range of various ideas.
First, the people who created the advert were smart enough to use the image of the popular artist. The idea that underlies this image is that if a child drinks Pepsi, he will become just as brilliant a dancer and singer as Michael Jackson, and that the child’s life will be an easy street, where he or she will be free to dance and improvise.
The second important clue is the thought of the new generation. Children are always associated with something nice and promising, something that raises hope and spirits, and that is transferred to Pepsi in the given case, as it is the attribute of the new generation. The use of symbols in the advertisement is immaculate and worth making example of.
Then, it is quite clear that the advertisement explores the popular music as one of means to gain the audience’s attention. A catchy tune that one cannot help whistling all the way home after listening to it in a local café is something that will stay in people’s memory. The trick is that the melody is associated with the drink. From this time on, people start feeling that if one wants to be just as fashionable, elegant and smooth as the singer, if one wants to feel the rhythm of the city and move together with it, he or she is bound to buy the famous drink.
In addition, the settings can tell a lot about the trick of producers as well, them trying to promote the drink in the best way.
Have you paid attention to the fact that the whole thing happens on a hot summer day, when children are playing soccer? This was the original clue that was further on developed into the idea of Pepsi as the drink for sportsmen. The energy that is naturally pouring from the video on the audience is extremely contagious; it makes one hop and rush in the street to play football or whatever. The sports topic added the specific fleur to the advertisement, and contributed to its popularity.
However, this might also have been used as the way to show that Pepsi proclaims the healthy lifestyle.
Finally, the style that the whole advertisement is breathing with, the rhythm of the popular song that swings the crowd, adds to the overall impression of the small show. It is the beat that makes the whole mechanism work. Once people catch the tune, it will follow them and the things that are connected with it.
The trick of looking into the future is also a nice move. It makes the drink popular not only with the people of present, but also with the next generation, persuading people to use it for another twenty years more.
The advertisement with Michael Jackson has turned into something absolutely different from the rest of the ads as time has passed. It has become the symbol of the epoch that has gone, embodying the ideas of music and rhythm that are now almost forgotten.
And, taking into account that the drink is popular even more now, one has all grounds to say that this was one of the best shows of Michael Jackson.
Works Cited
Jeraldi, Bob. “Pepsi Commercial”. Online video clip. YouTube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Md5lPyuvsk