Coca-Cola has taken full
advantage of the western world's fascination with Christmas. So much so that
the image of Santa Claus was actually coined by Coca-Cola. Many people don't
even feel like it's Christmas until they see the iconic Coca-Cola advert with
the delivery lorries travelling through snow filled streets.
Accompanying this image is
Coca-Colas own Christmas theme tune that features the vocals of a choir. This
is more effective than a solo singer as the western culture around Christmas
time traditionally features groups of people singing Christmas carols
together. The choir repeats the line “Holidays are coming.” This is
deliberate as saying “Christmas is coming” would alienate the Coca-Cola consumers
who do not celebrate Christmas. The repetition of this phrase is consistent
throughout the advert. It is therefore very difficult not to be aware that the
holidays are in fact “coming” when we’re being told it over and over for an
entire minute. This repetitions also helps to build excitement that the
holidays are coming.
In amongst the body of the
choir there are smaller groups of singers (maybe 3 or four people) singing very
cleverly written lyrics. These lyrics include "T'is the season"
which is normally used in the Christmas song 'T'is the season to be jolly' and "watch
out" as heard in the traditional Christmas song 'Santa Claus is coming
to town. The latter song is again exploited as the singers sing
"something is coming to town." If by this point it wasn't clear
that Coca-Cola wasn't comparing themself with the arrival of Santa Claus then
they persist by singing "something magic, in the night. Can you see it
shining bright?"
On
top of all of this, the company’s two part slogan “Always the real thing –
Always Coca-Cola” is repeated in what sounds almost like subliminal messaging
gone wrong, excluding the last and final rendition.
The
sounds of this TV advertisement are very effectively designed to harness the
emotion of Christmas, specifically through the perspective of a child. In
amongst the music there are various glissandos of high frequencies to emphasis
the visuals, for example, Christmas tree lights switching on. These glissandos
have connotations of magic, as they are commonly used to portray the act of
vanishing or appearing.
The
combination of all of these elements creates a very effective piece of music
for a Christmas themed advert.
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