Analysis Of Pepsi's Scary Halloween

A small smile, a booming laugh, and a little play on words helped Pepsi’s ad “Scary Halloween” reach viral status on social media in 2013. Ads can be a triumph or a failure depending on how well the rhetorical appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos are used to convey an ad’s message. This ad’s largest draw was its use of pathos, making the viewers laugh and smile alongside Pepsi over their sly jokes.. “Scary Halloween” also engaged the audience by causing the viewers to cringe at the thought of their chosen soft drink being replaced. Pepsi also has massive amounts of credibility in the soda industry since it has been on the market for over 100 years, giving it ample room to poke at its competitors. Pepsi’s Halloween ad was successful because of

The can is sporting a blood red cloak that shows a striking resemblance to Dracula’s cloak. The cloak is partially opened in the front so the viewer can still see the Pepsi symbol clearly on the can. It also looks like it is being ruffled a little bit by the wind. There is white lettering written across the cloak that reads, ‘Cola-Coca’ in the Coca-Cola font type. Pepsi cleverly swapped the ‘C’ and the ‘L’ in Coca-Cola’s name to give the impression that the Pepsi can is wearing an imitation Coca-Cola costume. The background of the ad is a mountain ravine complete with dark shadows and sharp rocks, giving this ad a mood of dark and scary. The only text is, ‘We wish you a scary Halloween!’ which is thinly printed with white letters towards the top of the

Most people are thinking about Halloween in October so the time for publishing the ad fits perfectly. The ad was largely seen on social media helped this ad cross country borders into the United States. Pepsi’s Belgium Facebook page is more than likely the first place the ad was published, so it makes sense that most of the debate between to two soft drink supporters were done online. A Belgium blogging company, called Opusfidelis wrote, “The ad went viral within a few hours of being posted to the Pepsi Belgium Facebook page, getting thousands of shares and spreading to Twitter, Google+, and Reddit like wildfire” (2013). The ad reached this viral status on social media because the Coca-Cola supporters felt the Pepsi can was improved by wearing a Coca-Cola cloak where the Pepsi side felt the opposite. There was so much talk between the two sides about the “Scary Pepsi” ad that Coca-Cola even gave an unofficial response back. In Coca-Cola’s version of the ad, the original text that read, “We wish you a scary Halloween” was changed to “Everyone wants to be a hero!” Now the red cloak that was seen as a funny play on words before, now looked like a red cape. Transforming the Pepsi into a superior product, Coca-Cola, this unofficial response provided further fuel to the fire between the two camps and became the Coca-Cola supporter’s rallying cry. Both Coca-Cola