Introduction
The present image is the advertisement for the Coca-Cola company. It may be a part of the advertising strategy dedicated to the Christmas and New Year celebrations because Coca-Cola is famous for its creative campaigns devoted to these holidays. The image portrays a happy and cheerful Santa Claus holding a glass of the drink with Coca-Cola written on it in one hand and his hat in the other hand. The message is that Santa, being the busiest man in the world, finds time to drink a glass of Cola to feel refreshed and relaxed, and so can anyone. The target audience of the ad is quite broad because the image of Santa Claus is well-known to the public. However, the text targets mainly adult people who are tired of their work and daily routines and need time for a break since the ad states that Coca-Cola will help people relax. The main strategies used in the advertisement to capture the attention of the audience concern the use of the commonly known image of Santa and the promise to fulfil the need for rest and refreshment many people feel.
Ethos
Ethos or the appeal to credibility is used in the advertisement in the image of Santa, who totally approves of drinking Coca-Cola. The main reason for using ethos in advertising lies in the company’s need for gaining the potential customers’ trust (Lamichhane). Though the company’s choice of the character for the advertisement may seem ambiguous and arguable, it is quite logical. On the one hand, Coca-Cola could have used a famous person – an actor, singer, or model for this campaign, but its pr managers chose the fictional character. On the other hand, the audience may not know a certain public person, and the advertisement will not gain popularity and trust. At the same time, the image of Santa Claus is known even to children, which increases the probability of the campaign being noticed because children may ask their parents to buy them what Santa drinks.
Apart from that, Santa Claus is unconsciously associated with kindness and reliability because he is always portrayed as a person who wishes well, never lies, and has only kind intentions. That is why people feel subconscious trust in him posing in the Coca-Cola advertisement and clearly approving of the drink. The first things the customers see in the ad are Santa’s image and the logo of the company that are portrayed in the same colors, which are red and white. In that case, the brain may draw parallels between the picture of Santa and the company’s emblem just because of the same color patterns. It may lead to unconscious trust in the company because of the trust in Santa.
Pathos
Pathos is expressed in the advertisement through both text and image. Being the appeal to emotions, pathos is used to provoke certain emotions and feelings in the audience that will finally lead to selling the product (Lamichhane). The present advertisement explicitly appeals to the feelings of refreshment and relaxation. It says that even Santa has time for a glass of Cola to feel good and relaxed. Thus, through the text, the audience realizes that the pause on drinking Cola will help them have some rest and drive away from their work and daily routines for at least several minutes. People also look at the image of a happy Santa who paused on a Cola and have a subconscious urge to feel the same way as he does. The only thing they need to do for it is to buy a bottle of Coca-Cola.
At the same time, the use of Santa’s image may appeal to quite unobvious feelings and emotions. The things Santa Claus is normally associated with are usually the Christmas holidays and their celebration when everyone is happy and relaxed, and the problems seem not to exist. Thus, one of the first associations that appears in people’s minds when they see Santa Claus is the image of holidays. Thus, seeing the Coca-Cola advertisement with Santa, people may want to buy the drink just because of the desire to feel the Christmas atmosphere in the middle of their working week. They buy not the drink but the feeling of happiness, unity, and cheerfulness caused by the image of Santa.
Logos
Logos or appealing to reason is used in the advertisement to make the audience think critically about the things mentioned in the advertisement (Lamichhane). Logos implies that the argumentation used in the ad is logically integral and clearly expressed (Varpio). Unlike pathos and ethos, logos in advertisements is usually expressed explicitly through direct facts about the products advertised. Logos in the present Coca-Cola advertisement concerns the fact that Cola, being a sparkling drink, is supposed to give the feeling of refreshment, as it is what all sparkling drinks do. Moreover, the text states that Santa is drinking ice-cold lemonade, which also contributes to the refreshment. The word combination ice-cold Coca-Cola is repeated twice in the relatively short text of the advertisement, which means that the phrase is designed to capture the attention of the audience. People who did not notice it at the beginning of the text are likely to notice it at the end and vice versa.
Apart from that, the phrase located at the bottom of the ad may also be considered an expression of logos. It presumes that more than nine million Colas are sold every day and that the huge number of people pleased with the product contributes to its high quality and rich taste. Thus, the audience remaining intact to the fact that Coca-Cola is a good refreshing drink may think about buying it after reading the phrase about its extreme popularity.
Conclusion
Taking into consideration everything mentioned above, it is possible to conclude that the present Coca-Cola advertisement is a good example of the combined use of ethos, logos, and pathos for selling the product. First, the company managed to gain the trust of customers of all ages through the use of the image of Santa Claus, which is well-known to everyone and associated with kindness and reliability. In addition, the advertisement clearly appeals to the emotions and subconscious needs of the audience. It gives them the associations with having rest after a busy day with the help of the text or the feeling of the Christmas holidays through the image of Santa. Apart from that, people who think rationally when looking at advertisements may also find something for themselves to think about. The ad uses direct and precise facts about the product to appeal to people’s intellect and liquidate any uncertainty about the product, its quality and popularity they can have.
Works Cited
Lamichhane, Yog Raj. “The Role of Aristotelian Appeals in Influencing Consumer Behavior”Pokhara University, Faculty of Management Studies. 2017.
Varpio, Lara. “Using Rhetorical Appeals to Credibility, Logic, and Emotions to Increase Your Persuasiveness”Perspectives on Medial Education, vol. 7, 2018, pp. 207-210.