Rhetorical Aalysis- The coke side of life

The Coke side of life is a great, funny, and interesting advertisement. It is a parody of coke advertisement and is created by Director Justin Pearson. The author’s argument is that Coke soda and Pepsi soda taste is not all that different not a big deal. Author uses satirical approach exaggerated emotional appeals to get audiences to laugh, to feel humor & to question the way that soda advertisement are produced.

The text massage of this advertisement represents the creator’s purpose, which makes fun for audiences. It uses rhetorical appeals in combinations that produce an overarching effect such as irony and humor; this forms of humor are basically appeal to pathos because they put the audience in the right emotional state to be receptive to the argument; also they can involve reasoning or the use of the writer’s authority to sway the audience. This advertisement uses narration, definition, comparison-contrast, example & illustration, description strategies, and these strategies are equally effective in the written and visual texts in the advertisement.

A description of the advertisement is about a man, who buy a coke in the store, and the seller takes a can of Pepsi instead of coke and put it in the coke cup for the man. The man drinks the Pepsi soda, and then he goes into a coma and falls down on the floor. His girlfriend kneels down and tries to get help from someone, and then a big man walks in the store and brings a bottle of coke; the patient regains consciousness after he drinks the coke soda.

In the beginning of the advertisement, the creator uses a little bit of playful and sad music. When the big man walks in the store; light shine from his back. He looks like a hero of western movies in this advertisement; the director shoots man from his foot, which makes him look bigger. There is a whistling sound like an old movie in this advertisement. The lady shows a helpless expression, which is a real demonstrative moment. This Pathos expresses an appeal to the emotions. The director attempts to put the audience into a particular emotional state so that the audience will be receptive to and ultimately convinced by the speaker’s message. The director designs to produce an emotional effect on the audience.

The definition of the advertisement is Coke soda is better than Pepsi soda. The comparison-contrast of the ads is that the creator compares the Pepsi soda with the Coke soda, and the creator proves the Coke soda is better than the Pepsi soda for the audiences. The example & illustration of the ads is that the creator shows a very funny and interesting story for the audiences. But it is just an exaggerated uses of pathos Coke advertisement, and these strategies of persuasion successfully move their audience, the creator exaggerates the appeal to emotion for the more dramatic effect. There aren’t any celebrities or a famous place to increase the persuasive relationship to a cultural movement in this advertisement. I think the “Coke VS Pepsi Taste Test” can increase the persuasive of this advertisement relationship to a cultural movement.

The parody has long been recognized as an effective rhetorical strategy for making a powerful argument. The argument is based on ethical principles. The ethos works as a rhetorical strategy by establishing the goodwill or credibility of the speaker. In the TV show “Coca VS Pepsi taste test;” I hear that Pepsi won a taste test. So did Coca. How can this be? Coca tastes better than Pepsi, and Pepsi tastes better than Coke. What this shows, which we already knew, is that there is not much difference between Coca and Pepsi. Some people prefer Coke, some prefer Pepsi. Most people do not have a preference. But, I am mystified. Why do they even conduct taste tests? Do people really decide on what they drink based on other people's preferences? Don't they try both, and then decide for themselves? Or are people really sheep who will follow other sheep? That must be it. By the way, they are probably cheating on those taste tests. They probably report only favorable taste tests, and throw out the unfavorable ones. In the advertisement the director just wants to make some funny to the audiences. The ethos expresses an appeal to character. In the general, coke or Pepsi taste the same, and it is hard to tell them. The creator states emotional statement that relies on the character of the speaker to be believed; the strong line of reasoning employs by a speaker to build authority. The rhetorical appeal of the logos is used because we know the Pepsi can’t make people death; maybe we can say it is just a silly advisement. From the advisement we can see the man does not swallow the Pepsi; he just spouts the Pepsi out from his mouth. It just likes a “soap opera;” using the pathos appeal to generate a certain feeling in the audience.

This advisement uses all three of the rhetorical appeals to support the author’s argument. The showing that the tasting of one soda over the other one; it is not really a matter of life & death. It just like a “soap opera” satirical approach really cause audiences to reconsider what it feels like to drink either coca or Pepsi. The humor is included in this commercial, and it just wants to make for an enjoyable experience for all the audiences. Let the audience know that this is not a commercial advertisement; it provides universal entertainment.

Print based source:

1. the Envision2.pdf (from the english 1020 information.)

2. website pepsi coke taste test, Copyright 1997, Jim Loy(http://www.jimloy.com/issues/coke.htm).