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Is this a subliminal racist message?
A sexy outline of a woman on top of a can of Coke
Coca-Cola, whose advertising is best known for schmaltzy images of Americana, has nude youth frolicking on the beach in its latest TV campaign being aired in Italy. But this being Coca-Cola, the party takes place at midnight, with only car headlights illuminating the scenes of skinny dipping. And in the close-up shots, most of the young women have their arms strategically placed to cover their breasts. Bare buttocks can be seen. The Italy-only spot for Coca-Cola uses an off-screen narrative voice and images of young people having fun to connect the soft drink icon with summer fun. One young male remains on shore, though, in silhouette, dancing in front of the car lights. The female narrator reads in a dramatic voice, "It's the first time that I've done it, the midnight swim.
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The advertising campaign for Coca-Cola's new high-end milk has been heavily criticized for apparent 'sexism'. Featuring pictures of naked women dripping in barely-there dresses made of milk, Fairlife is being launched to much fanfare this month in the United States. The photographs, which appear to be working under the logic that 'sex sells', are loosely based on iconic poses from the past, such as Marilyn Monroe's famous skirt rising in The Seven Year Itch. Scroll down for video. Twitter has erupted with fury at the allegedly 'sexist' ad campaign for Fairlife milk which is to be launched by Coca-Cola. Designed to appeal to the health lobby, Fairlife will contains 50 percent more protein and half the sugar of milk and accordingly will be priced at twice the normal price. With falling sales in their traditional soda division, Coca-Cola are pinning a lot on Fairlife, especially on the pin-ups they are using to sell it. The cheeky and controversial photographs have slogans such as 'Drink what she's wearing', 'More good, looks good' and 'Better milk looks good on you. One particular picture has one of the models standing on a set of scales wearing a horrified expression, presumably because she needs to be drinking Fairlife. Attractive: Coca-Cola is hoping that its new high-end milk will help combat its falling sales among sugary soda drinks.
Subliminal advertising -- placing fleeting or hidden images in commercial content in the hopes that viewers will process them unconsciously -- doesn't work. Recent research suggests that consumers do sometimes respond non-consciously to cues they aren't consciously aware are there. Subliminal exposure to the Apple brand seems to make people more "creative" than if they are exposed to the IBM brand, for instance. But extremely brief stimuli that consumers are unaware they're looking at is still unlikely to give them the urge to go shopping.
