Marketers place ads on social media sites, mass media, and print media to advertise their products or services. An advertisement is a communication tool that presents persuasive messages, increases product or service awareness, and influence consumer buying behavior towards buying or purchasing that product or service (Hollensen, 81). This paper analyzes a single ad that focuses on consumers’ social characteristics. Noticeably, the most common social features that marketers use in advertising are sex, race, class, gender, and family. To this end, marketers can connect their products or services with a social group, desirable lifestyles, upper-class luxury, and masculinity.
The ad analyzed was published by Coca-Cola and promotes Sprite; one of the company’s famous soft drinks. The ad is as illustrated below. A review of this ad reveals that it uses social characteristics that include age, sex, gender, race, nationality, family roles, and class. The ad consists of both males and females, white and black races, and family roles where parents appear taking care of the kids as they witness the movement or amusement rides of the carousel or the merry go round inside the amusement park
Link to External Site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzY3d2ioze8
Social Groups that the Ad Aims
The social groups that this advertisement (ad) aims at are teenagers; this is the reason why it is entitled Vince Staples Random Teenagers. In essence, the ad illustrates how teenagers win a free sprite soft drink at the promotion base. Markedly, the ad encourages teenagers to use a sprite to quench their thirst whenever they feel thirsty. According to Giddens et al. (110), social groups mainly comprise of primary groups and secondary groups. Notably, a close look at the far end of the ad reveals adults or parents with their kids closely watching the movement of a carousel or a merry go round in an amusement park. Adults and their children represent a primary social group as it is a makeup of a nuclear family. The other target group comprises of the teenagers who walk up to the Sprite promotion base to get some free soft drinks inside the amusement park. The group is secondary since it is merely about friendship and partying inside the amusement park.
Ad and Social Norms
According to Wolfe, Christina, and Sean (237), norms are guidelines or principles that govern the behavior of a social group. Examples include respect, active participation, shaking hands, and punctuality. A review of the ad representing sprite commercial reveals that this advertisement does not violate social norms but instead reinforces them or their applicability. A close look at the ad shows a group of three teenagers walking towards the sprite advertisement base while the male character first recognizes the presenter of the commercial as Vince Staples. This positive recognition is a representation of friendship and quest for further interaction and urges to know what is contained in the Sprite soft drink that quenches the individual’s thirst.
More Products the Ad is Selling
In addition to advertising or selling Sprite soft drink, this advert sells leisure, freedom from thirst, and individuality. Notably, for leisure, the commercial bears a slogan “6 hot lyrics by six hot rappers”. For individuality; only one character from the social group takes part in the game at a time to try winning a free sprite, while for freedom from thirst; the urge the teenagers to take sprite to quench their thirst and to stay refreshed.
To sum it up, the most common social characteristics that marketers use in advertising are sex, race, class, gender, and family. To this end, marketers are able to connect their products or services with social group, desirable lifestyles, upper class luxury, and masculinity. Marketers use these features as they target different customers and as such want to influence their buying behavior. Marketers need to create ads that increase product or service awareness and which attract both existing and new customers towards buying the products or services on offer.
Works Cited
Giddens, Anthony, et al. Introduction to sociology. WW Norton, 2016. Print.
Hollensen, Svend. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education, 2010.Print.
"Sprite Commercial 2017 Vince Staples Random Teenagers." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2018.
Wolfe, Christina, and J. Sean Callahan. "Introduction to sociology." (2017). Print.
