Smith 1

Cameron Smith

Eng 107

Ms. Cole

February 1, 2018

Essay #1 Draft #1

Lies in a Bottle

Today, advertisement is thrown in our faces. With the $17 billion dollars spent on

advertising a year in America, it’s no secret that companies will do whatever it takes to get you

to buy their product. We see advertisement everywhere, on billboards, on posters, on busses, on

napkins, and even on cars. With the invention of the smartphone and online pop-culture,

advertisers are now attaching the online culture with a bombardment of ads. We see them before

every video, on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and pretty much every website you go

to is making money off of the ads that it runs on their site. Facebook had acquired $9.16 billion

in ad revenue in the second quarter of 2017, that says a lot. Advertisers are willing to invade our

privacy to get the information that they need to provide their consumers with worthwhile ads.

Facebook has been caught listening in on people’s conversations. Google is keeping track of

everything you search, and so is every other app on your phone. Although they invade our

privacy, on the other hand, they do it so that the ads are relevant to us and out lives. The

alternative to keeping our privacy, is dumb ads that do not relate to what we want. If you’re a

college student, you don’t want and ad for diapers, it’s just not relevant to you and your life.
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Other than getting to know us on the internet, another tactic advertisers use to get us to

buy their product is manipulation, Advertisers will try to impress you with promises they can’t

keep, pretty colors. And celebrities that tempt you/ Companies are motivated to do this in efforts

to get you to buy something that you did not originally need. The influence that advertising has

on America and pop-culture is at an all time high. Famous Rap star Tyler The Creator syas in an

interview that one of the things that scares him the most are “people who don’t like what they

like.” Tyler goes on to explain that what he means is, people follow trends and thus lose

themselves and their own interests by doing so. People mindlessly follow the crowd, advertisers

do this with their attractive and manipulating ads. A Best-selling author by the name of Seth

Godin says, “Facts are irrelevant. What matters is what consumer believes: (Godin). Godin is

implying that companies will tell lies if they believe they will benefit the company. The only

thing the y are about is making money. This is the attitude that many companies take towards

their customers. It we look at Coca-Cola, we see a long history ads that are far from the truth.

The following is an examination of the Coca-Cola Company’s persuasive strategies and the

misleading information through words and images to persuade their audience to buy their

product. In addition, companies like Coca-Cola are manipulative and mislead the audience into

thinking their product will provide them with good health, attractive romantic partners, and a

way to quench their thirst.

Coca-Cola has been around since 1892, that’s over one hundred years. They have a big

reputations, and many ads that we can look back on and realize that they portray less than the

truth. It we take a look at our first ad here, Coca-Cola is portraying a nurse drinking Coca=Cola.

The nurse is dressed in white. White is commonly associated with goodness, purity, and

coolness. White is also associated with low-fat food, low weights, and dairy products. Nurses are
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in the healthcare profession, which implies that they have extensive knowledge about the foods

and drinks that would be beneficial to one’s health. Using the nurse could persuade the

consumers that she knows what is healthy, so why would a nurse drink something that is

unhealthy, thus soda, specifically Coca-Cola must be beneficial to one’s health in some way.

This is an example of the faulty conclusion advertisers lead consumers to think.

At the bottom of the ad it says Coke on the job keeps workers refreshed. This implies that

Coca-Cola is not only good while you work, but it is good for you. This, however, as we all

know, is the furthest thing from the truth seeing as how we all know good and well that soda is

not good for you at all. Coca-Cola is trying to appeal to the consumers need to feel safe, which is

Basic Appeal #12. Nobody wants to be unhealthy, and in this case, nobody wants to be unhealthy

on the job. Many Americans take their health seriously and would use Coke’s wording as an

excuse to drink soda. Daniel G. Aaron and Michael B. Siegel agree as the state, “One factor

behind the American obesity epidemic is soda consumption. The average American consumed

46 gallons of soda in 2009, giving the U.S. one of the highest rates of per capita soda

consumption of any country. About half of Americans drink sugary drink every day. Recently, it

has been estimated that today consumption caused one fifth of weight gain in the U.S. between

1977 and 2007. Therefore, finding ways to reduce soda consumption is important” (Aaron,

Siegel). With many Americans drinking soda every day, we have found a direct correlation

between soda and obesity. Soda has been associated with weights gain, and has even been a

known factor in America’s obesity epidemic. The Google definition of an epidemic is: A

widespread occurence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time. It is safe to

say that Coca-Cola is spreading a disease as they spread their advertisements all over the world.

Coca-cola is misleading people into thinking that soda is good for people’s health. Although
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many Americans are aware that this is not the case, many children are very susceptible to this

false advertising. Some may say advertising to kids is immoral. Some may it is even more

immoral to give a false picture of health to kids for the sake of money. This is just another

example of what Coca-Cola will do to persuade you to drink Coca-Cola. Their tactics are

misleading and untruthful.

We can take a look at another ad by Coca=Cola and see more use of manipulative tactics that are

less than realistic. We see Marilyn Monroe in a red dress and high heels drinking a Coca-Cola.

Red is associated with passion, desire, and love. Dark red is often times associated with will

power, leadership, courage, and longing, Marilyn Monroe is a symbol of sex and is a

pop=culture icon. This is a classic example of an advertisers appeal to our need pf sex, as well as

our need for association. The ad reads I’ve kissed Marilyn. Most guys want to kiss Marilyn, and

what the ad is implying is that if you want to kiss beautiful women, then you should drink Coca-

Cola. It is indirect, but the message is there. Coca-Cola appeals to our need for sex by showing

Marilyn Monroe using the product. Marilyn Monroe is so relevant in pop-culture that it appeals

to our need to be associated with her. Who doesn’t want to know Marilyn Monroe? However, it

is not hard to discover that soda has nothing to do with your romantic or even sexual

relationships. Marilyn Monroe is here to tease you with her red dress and smooth legs in order to

get you to use the product. She is becoming a part of the product and playing a character, a sexy

character, who loves Coca-Cola. Companies don’t need facts o persuade you, they simply need

to appeal to your human way of being. They use it all against you for the sage of making money.

Kaufmann agrees when he says, “Knauer (1873) mentioned that Public Interest Representation, a

public interest law group at Georgetown University Law center, analyzed the documentation for

59 television ads and found that 41 were not substantiated by data submitted to the Federal Trade
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Commission (FTC)” (Knauer). Knaufman states that many television ads are not substantiated by

data. In other words, ads don’t need to be backed up by facts. Marilyn Monroe doesn’t need to

persuade you with facts, she can easily persuade you with sex. Coca-Cola is really good at

appealing to our need for sex (Basic Appeal #1) and association.

The last ad we will be analyzing attempts to convince us that it will quench our thirst.

The ad presents a female pilot holding a Coca-Cola, and the ad reads Send thirst flying and below

it, Pause…go refreshed. The words are written in yellow, which in face is a color used by most

fast fod companies to grab your attention and appeal to your sense of freshness, joy, and

happiness. The ad presents the pilot wearing white, and as stated before, white is associated with

purity, goodness, and coolness, as well as low-fat food, low weight, and dairy products. The ad

also has a green background. Green is a color that represents growth, endurance, stability, and

hope. Coca-Cola would like you to believe that their product can provide you with the endurance

to get through your day without being thirsty. Coca-Cola once again is trying to appeal to our

need to feel safe. Nobody wants to be thirsty, so Coca-Cola will try to provide you with a nice

cold beverage to quench your thirst. This, however, could not be further from the truth. The

airplane puns are cure, but dehydration is not. Holland supports this when she writes, “Water

cooler advice tells us today is off limits because it’s dehydrating. The logic goes that soda, with

its caffein and sugar, doesn’t replace any of the fluids you’re losing while you sweat. The

caffeine, which is a diuretic, will actually make you need to urinate more quickly, and you’ll lose

more fluid” (Holland). Holland clearly stated that soda will make you lose fluid, and will not

replace the fluids that you are using. Soda will dehydrate, and do the opposite of what Coca-Cola

wants you to believe. Although it is a drink, an although you may feel like you are elimindating

your thirst, you are actually doing yourself a disservice by drinking Coca-Cola, or any soda at
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that matter. Your body becomes dehydrated when you are losing more fluids that you are taking

in. you are dehydrated when your body does not contain enough of the water that it needs to

carry out its bodily functions. Coca-Cola may seem to be helping your thirst, but in the end, it

would be better if you just drink water.

Coca-Cola wants you to believe that it’s such a great thing. Coca=Cola doesn’t want you

to be aware of all the down sides to its product. It will shove their ads in your face anywhere you

are, in efforts to get you to but their product. They don’t’ care about your health. They don’t care

about your needs. They don’t care about your safety. All they care about is your money. Coca-

Cola should not be allowed to falsely advertise to billions of people all across the globe with

their manipulative tactics and lies. Don’t let your kids drink Coca-Cola, its not healthy. Don’t let

your kids watch the advertisement, it will disappoint them, educate your children about the lies

that they serve us in a bottle. Arm yourselves with knowledge as you continue your journey in

this bid world of false advertisement. Think about what a company wants you to beoieve. What

does the company think of you? Do they take your for a fool? Do they thin kyou’ll give your

money to just anyone? How does all of that make you feel? It is important think about the rrue

meaning behind advertisements because they are all around us, influencing us to buy things that

we don’t need. Ultimately these poor misguided decisions will negatively affect your health and

well-being. Coca-Cola and tis lies should not be tolerated today in America. It’s time we use the

knowledge and experience that we have from using their product and say no more lies,

manipulation, and poisonous substances.

The next time you feel like drinking Coca-Cola, or any soda for that matter, remember

what it does to your body. Remember the tactics that they’re using to fool you, and actively take

part in the change by deinking water. Gandhi always said, “you have to be the change that you
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want to see in the world” (Gandhi). Help make a change fight false advertising by simply

drinking water. Fighting the system has never been so easy. The Nest time you’re thirsty, put that

soda down and drink some water. Make an investment in your health today by saying no to soda.
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Works Cited

Holland, Kimmberly, “Does Soda Cause Dehydration.” CookingLight, 19 June 2015,

www.cooklight.com/eating-smart.

Ruediger, Kaufmann. “FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMERS’ FREEN PURCHASING

BEHAVIOR: AN INTEGRATED CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK.” ProQuest,

Feb. 2012, search.proquest.com.docview.

Suggett, Paul. “Honesty, Content, and Creativity.” The Balance, 22 Mar. 2013,

www.thebalance.com/inspirational-advertising.
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