Alessandra Gilardini

ANALYSIS COCA COLA ADVERTISEMENT

1st part
Denotation verbal part
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“Celebrate 125 years with Coca Cola”, “125 years”: information about the anniversary of the
brand
The term “celebrate” indicates that it is a moment of celebration, something remarkable.

Connotation verbal part

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The text used links the brand to its history, the fact that it has 125 years of history underlines
the tradition.
The fact that Coca Cola wants to celebrate asserts its role of giving moments of happiness
and fun and most of all sharing these moments.

Denotation visual part

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The image represents a well-dressed family. They’re all smiling, they’re holding a glass of
Coca Cola. The boy is also holding the typical bottle.
The style is classical, elegant.

Connotation visual part

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Everybody smiling → happiness, sharing; the brand is joyful and refreshful
Family → Coca Cola is for everyone (every age and sex)
Red → traditional colour of Coca Cola (identity, passion, energy)
Boy holding the bottle → reference to the packaging.
Classical style →
• it may resemble to an old advertisement without the 125 years text → history
(giving moments of happiness for so long)
• Fifties/sixties family, representing other time periods (vintage atmosphere →
nostalgia trend)

2nd part
Type of text: iconic (densely figurative, resemblance to the real)
Figurative Analysis
• Figures of the natural world: people (man, woman, girl and boy), glass, bottle
• Meanings: people enjoy drinking Coca Cola
Plastic Analysis
• Plastic formants
▪ Topological: arrangement of figures (first man then woman and children)
▪ Eidetic: Coca Cola logo in a circular shape
▪ Chromatic: saturated colours, red
• Meanings
▪ Symbolic correspondence (attribution because of cultural conventions): smile
→ /happiness/; circular shape → /perfection/; left/right → /more importance/;
red → /passion/.
The colour red also represents the identity of the brand. The fact that there is
a whole family means that Coca Cola drink is for everyone (both sexes and
every generation).
Narrative Analysis
• Discursive structures:
▪ Actors: family (mother, father, daughter and son)
▪ Spaces: not possible to identify particular spaces
▪ Times: dresses, hairstyles → fifties/sixties
▪ Themes: celebration, happiness, sharing moments, love, tradition
▪ Figures: glasses, bottle
• Semionarrative structures
a) Narrative level: actantial model
▪ Subject: family
▪ Object: Coca Cola drink, celebration
▪ Sender: Coca Cola brand
▪ Receiver: clients of Coca Cola
▪ Helper: not represented
▪ Opponent: not represented
b) Deeper level: basic values (semiotic square)
▪ Happiness, sharing, celebration, tradition
In the advertising it is really perceivable the value of sharing. It isn’t represented its contrary,
unsociability, but a semiotic square can be realized starting from the word “sharing”.

Sharing Unsociability

Social Asocial

Not unsociability
Not sharing
(sociability)