Observing Evaluations in Advertisements

Visual texts on Coca-Cola Advert 1 above would help in analysis of VALS (values, attitudes and lifestyles) of consumers. It has been artistically worked out to enable the consumer to predict behavior of both men and women through a carefully selected words and pictures. VALS framework indicates that men and women are arranged in a rectangle, and are based on both vertical and horizontal dimension segments according to their levels of consumption. The vertical dimension places people according to the degree to which they are innovative, and based on their access to resources such as income, education, talents and capability. At the same time, the horizontal dimension involves primary motivation which comprises of consumers who are guided by knowledge and principles, and known as ‘thinkers’ and ‘believers.’ This group of consumers is motivated by ideals. The other group of consumers is the ‘achievers’ and ‘strivers.’ The representatives of this group are mainly motivated by achievement. The final group of consumers is the ‘experiencers’ and ‘makers’ (“Coca-Cola”, 2011). This group of consumers is mainly motivated by self-expression, and their driving force is a desire for physical and social activity. The consumers get satisfaction and pleasure in diverse activities and risk taking businesses. On top of the rectangle are the innovators who possess great resources; at the bottom of the rectangle are the survivors. Different values, attitudes and lifestyle of men and women can be carefully analyzed using a professionally chosen advertisement. Therefore, this analysis focuses visual text for messages or ideas about gender, which are conveyed by Coca-Cola advertisements.

The above mentioned ad typically portrays VALS framework about gender. Such advertisement is placed on a billboard or is run on a television. For example, an advertisement on a bill board with the picture of a young charming lady who is taking a glass of Coca-Cola drink. This advert targets potential buyers of the Coca-Cola product who are mainly young people and young adults of both genders. This can be understood from the kind of character portrayed in the advert. The young lady is smartly dressed in modern fashionable attire and footwear. The product therefore targets people of good lifestyle. The female model on the picture consumes the product at a time when women’s rights are limited despite constant struggle against their male domination. The Coca-Cola product gives women freedom to enjoy the product, which was male-dominated all over the years. The Coca-Cola advertisement aims to instill into women the values of hard work as the product is portrayed as energizing and refreshing. The words on the advert “Enjoy…Coca-Cola” would mean that the artist wanted to tell everyone that women have succeeded in their gender struggle against oppression, and are now free to take a product of their choice.

The Coca-Cola text advertisements are usually displayed during the television series, and some of them are put on bill-boards.  For instance, a Coca-Cola text-advertisement with the words “Everybody is happy…Have a Coke,” displayed on a bill board with pictures of healthy-looking men, would provoke some thinking of the viewer. In comparison to the advert 1, the text portrays people who are having coke to be happy and strong. At the same time, it shows some kind of gender imbalance that is not showed directly by the artist. The people in the second Coca-Cola advert are mainly men who are relaxing after a hard day of work. This can be interpreted that Coca-Cola is a drink that is mainly meant for men but not women. This would sound a little awkward since the text in the advert stated that everybody is enjoying coke, and here everybody was supposed to mean both men and women. The artist might have intended to target the male-gender drinkers. The reason for that is because women were not given an absolute freedom to drink and enjoy together with men; it was before the women liberation movement started.  The place for ladies was taken for granted, it was in the kitchen. Before then, women did not have enough resources and time to learn and compete in comparison to males. This limited the chances of women in getting good employment in order to attain financial freedom. This was a problem that was witnessed mostly in the developing and the under developing countries. As we see, such visual advertisement is far away of enlightening women in order to rise and fight for their own freedom.

The Coca Cola advertisements aim to educate the general public about their lifestyle and health. It educates one to take a refreshing drink to regain energy after work and to minimize strain and associated illnesses. The advertisements were mainly appealing to men in the olden days since they were the ones who had money. This advertisement also aims to educate young people to value education so they can earn more money in future (Kim & Quinn, 2011). The Coca Cola ad aims to portray comfortable life- style, a positive attitude and sound values in an effort to target young people who have a strong desire for the product; it also makes people forget about their problems.

In conclusion, visual text messages about gender do tell directly what the artist intended to communicate to the targeted audience. It is through the analysis of words used in the advertisement that we get to understand the messages behind them. The Coca-Cola text adverts convey a lot of message about gender; its values, attitudes and life style that are not directly communicated. It is only through the detailed and careful analysis the audience can be in a position to interpret the meanings of the texts used in the advert. In comparison to the advert 1, the advert 2 is more effective in relaying information on VALS analysis because of the use of elaborate marketing pictures and messages.