Video Analysis: The Berries And Cream

The “Berries and Cream” video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryjpbd4D4bg) is a thirty-four second television commercial produced by The Wrigley Company. The type of advertisement being used is for The Wrigley Company’s Starburst which is a taffy-like candy. Three characters are featured: two present-day teenage boys and a man who is dressed in Victorian era style clothes. In the video, two boys appear to be at a place of employment. One of the boys asks the other if he has tried the new Berries and Cream Starbursts and before the other can respond, the Victorian man interrupts to express his excitement about the flavor. The Victorian performs a short improvisational dance while singing a tune that expresses his liking for the candy and the end of

172). The attention is focused on an irrelevant situation as one of the boys as he asks the other, “Have you tried these berries and cream Starburst?” While the other boy answers by shaking his head side to side, a man’s voice is overheard asking “pardon me, what kind of Starbursts did you just say?” The voice is unfamiliar to the audience, so curiosity arises about who is speaking and why because the man sound interested, excited and foreign. A man who appears to be from the Victorian era is then revealed as the voice that was speaking which suggests that the candy is favorable by all sorts of people. When the Victorian man starts clapping while he chants an improvised song about the candy and performs a dance, humor is being used to make the audience interested (A.Graf, personal communication, 3/10/15). The commercial ends by showing is a picture of the Starburst candy which will have a lasting effect because it reminds the viewers what the product is (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2012, p.