More on Pepsi Ads

After consultation with Ms Jinchi last week, we decided to choose the ads that Shu Man found, which is

" The Pepsi with Chinese Monk"

Description

This ad is about a young boy who is brought to a buddhist monistary. There he is taught the ways of of Kung Fu and learns how to be a monk from an old Buddhist Shaolin Monk master. The final scene is of him doing his final test in order to become a monk., His final task is figuring out what the symbol on all of their heads means. As he looks down at the Pepsi he just drank, he realizes that crushing the can with his head would give him the same symbol.

The story happened in the Chán Buddhist temple at Song Shan near Zhengzhou City Henan Province in Dengfeng, China. The monetary was founded in the 5th century, the monastery is very famous for its association with Chinese martial arts and particularly with Shaolin Kung Fu and it’s the Mahayana Buddhist monastery perhaps best known to the Western world.(Ortwin.O, 2010, online)

Shaolindisciplesunion. The Shaolin Temple. [electronic print] Available at: <http://www.shaolindisciplesunion.com/SHAOLINTEMPLE.html> [Accessed 31st October 2012]

1. Source : Pepsi
2. Target Audiences  : Ranges from children as young as 12 to adults in there 40's.
3. Media : Television commercial
4. Context : Nov 29, 2007
5. Objective : To make people feel like drinking Pepsi
6. General selling proposition  : If you drink Pepsi, you will feel fascinating and can show people your real strength.
7. Product Attributes : delicious, addicted
8. Customer Benefits : Become stronger and more relax
9. Personal Value : sociable, pleasure 

       (

Phungvuchaulong, 2011, online)

They showed a few things about Chinese culture.

1. Kung Fu. It is a symbol of Chinese culture. The origin of martial arts (Kung Fu) is surrounded by the vague mysteries of the Shaolin Temple and the Shaolin monks, who also play an important role in this ad.

2. The Shao Lin Temple. It was built in 495, is the most famous temple in China, and has many legends and mysteries, Chinese people are very familiar with it because there are famous literature and movies about it.

3. Music - Unlike other Pepsi commercials, which always use pop music like R&B or rock, it uses the music played by a traditional Chinese instrument.

Symbol in the Pepsi Ads

The message of this Pepsi ads is effective to some and to others maybe not so much. It need to depends on the person and how they are feeling at that moment of viewing, if they are thirsty but cannot think of something to drink and then see this commercial the action blended with the humour touched up with the Pepsi can might be enough to sell someone who is desire need of a drink. That is why this ads is not effective enough. (Alane.B, 2010, online)

The point that drink pepsi will make the people feel stronger is not believable because in the ads it only show they drinking pepsi after he breaks all the bricks. Parody and fantasy is different because the audience doesn't expect reality. People may not understand that the symbol on the monks' head is the pepsi can print. All the carbonate drink cans look almost the same.

Screen shot from ''Pepsi with the Chinese Monk'' ads

Zoofari,2011. Top of a coca-cola can. [electronic print] Available at: <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coca-Cola_can_top.jpg> [Accessed 31st October 2012]

References:

1. Ortwin Oberhauser, 2010. The Pepsi Shaolin Monk Boy Commercial Video.[online] Available at: <http://www.ortwin-oberhauser.com/the-pepsi-shaolin-monk-boy-commercial-video/> [Accessed 29th October 2012]
2. Alanbane.blogpsot, 2010. The Critical Mind - The Pepsi Monk.[online] Available at: <http://alanbane.blogspot.com/2010/05/critical-mind-pepsi-monk.html> [Accessed 31st October 2012]
3. Wordpress, 2011. Entry2_Phungvuchaulong.[online] Available at: <http://ct09e24.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/entry2_phungvuchaulong/> [Accessed 31st October 2012]

by Shu Man and Nicole Yong