Soft Drink Advertisements

Rhetorical Analysis: Soft Drink Marketing Strategies

We have spent much time focusing on rhetorical strategies this year.

Select a major soft drink brand. Research the history of the company’s marketing strategies.

1. The advertising slogans used by the company over time.
2. Print ads used by the company in association with each of the compiled slogans.

YOUR TASK: Using the slogans and print ads, identify the image that the soft drink company wished to portray. Who was the target audience? How was the projected image intended to affect the audience? How did the company’s marketing strategies change over time? Why?  Furthermore, what does the company’s changes in marketing strategies suggest about corresponding changes in American culture?

For example, the McDonald’s Corporation has diversified its menu over the past 20 years, offering salads and vegetarian options. Recently, McDonald’s has announced plans to remove trans fats from all foods. These changes, of course, are all in response to consumer demands and scientific research. (You do not want, for example, to slowly poison your patrons over time.) Soda companies work in the same manner—repositioning their product with each generation to meet changes in values and attitudes.

This will be a major research project. To begin your project, first compile the company’s slogans and advertising campaigns. (Sites such as Wikipedia make this information readily available.)

Selected Coca-Cola Advertising Slogans:

• 1948 - Where there's Coke there's hospitality.
• 1949 - Coca-Cola ... along the highway to anywhere.
• 1952 - What you want is a Coke.
• 1956 - Coca-Cola ... makes good things taste better.
• 1957 - Sign of good taste.
• 1958 - The Cold, Crisp Taste of Coke
• 1959 - Be really refreshed.
• 1963 - Things go better with Coke.
• 1969 - It's the real thing
• 1975 - Look Up America.

Dr. Pepper

Royal Crown Cola

Coca-Cola

Pepsi Cola

7-UP

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