Pepsi and Heineken Commercials: Promoting American Devotion and Compassion

Pepsi and Heineken Commercials: Promoting American Devotion and Compassion

Today’s commercials cloud the viewers’ brains with meaningless ritzy camera angles and beautiful models to divert viewers from the true meaning of the commercials. The advertisers just want consumers to spend all of their hard-earned money on their brand of products. The “Pepsi” and “Heineken” commercials are perfect examples of what Dave Barry is trying to point out in his essay, “Red, White and Beer.” He emphasizes that commercial advertisements need to make viewers think that by choosing their brands of products, viewers are helping out American society. As Rita Dove’s essay “Loose Ends” argues, people prefer this fantasy of television to the reality of their own lives. Because viewers prefer fantasy to reality, they become fixated on the fantasy, and according to Marie Winn in “Television Addiction,” this can ultimately lead to a serious addiction to television. But, one must admit that the clever tactics of the commercial advertisers are beyond compare. Who would have thought the half naked-blondes holding soda cans and American men refusing commitment would have caught viewers’ attention?

Try to visualize a slim blonde at the ripe age of nineteen coming in closer and closer on the television screen. She’s wearing a tube top and hip hugger jeans with a belly ring that reads “Pepsi.” She slowly spins around, grabs a can of Pepsi and drinks it in slow motion while her diamond bracelet glistens in the lights. The music stops. She turns to the camera, smiles, winks at you, and tells you to go out and try a nice cool refreshing can of Pepsi Cola. The next commercial to come on shows a man sitting down on the couch with his girlfriend s...

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...ics television advertisements. When such a significant line is blurred when do we draw it back on? Do we wait until we see the serious effects of this problem? When do we deem television addiction as serious? Advertisers want viewers to spend their hard-earned money on their brands. Therefore, they have devised elaborate commercials to lure consumers into their trap and once they have gotten their patronage, it is hard to say if they will ever let them go. So, watch out.

Works Cited

Barry, David. “Red, White and Beer” The McGraw-Hill Reader. 8th ed. Ed. Gilbert Muller, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 519-521

Dove, Rita. “Loose Ends” The McGraw-Hill Reader. 8th ed. Ed. Gilbert Muller, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 503-504

Winn, Marie. “Television Addiction” The McGraw-Hill Reader. 8th ed. Ed. Gilbert Muller, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 505-507