Related Sections: Culture
Gamespotting: Coke Zero Superbowl ad
The Coke Zero ad during the Super Bowl had a weird take on videogaming, riffing on the online avatars most commonly seem in MMOs and console systems trying to get a piece of the Wii pie. It's already creepy enough, but consider the lyrics of the song, which is a cover of Elvis Presley's "Stranger in the Crowd".I was watching all the people
The implication from the rascally folks at Coke is that online interaction will fulfill our social needs. Swell. It's not enough to sell Coke, but the ad also hopes to reassure people that online interaction is a suitable substitute for real interaction.
Passing by me, going places
Just the loneliest guy in the town
Looking for a friendly smile
But all that I could see were faces
And then my cup of love was overflowing
I knew the stranger in the crowd
And I would be strangers no more
Although there are obvious nods to real videogames (the chick is at the end is totally a World of Warcraft orc), there aren't any actual products or games in there. Or are there? Check out what that little guy up there is holding. It's only for a second, but that's totally a bit of PSP placement!
Here's the full ad:
(Thanks to Sean for passing this along!)
UPDATE: As a couple of commenters have pointed out, and I agree with them, I seem to have missed the point of the ad. But that's still a PSP in there, so I got that part right!
By Pete S at 1:34 PM ON 02/02/09
Well that ad was on during the super bowl, it wasn't a superbowl ad (I'd seen it before) which makes it seem even more weird. We're kind of used to seeing truly bizarre ads during the big game, but when I saw this watching "regular tv" I was pretty puzzled.
By Berneck at 2:29 PM ON 02/02/09
Wow, I think you completely missed the message in this commercial... It tells us that there is WAY too much online interaction, and that we are missing out on the good things in life!
By Faust at 3:11 PM ON 02/02/09
Agreed... Ya missed the whole point of the ad.
By Lizard Dude at 5:42 PM ON 02/02/09
I like how I had to watch a Coke ad before it showed me the Coke ad.
By Tom Chick at 5:44 PM ON 02/02/09
Berneck and Faust, yeah, I have to agree. It does look like I missed the point. I guess I just reacted to all the cute happy avatars, but the point seems to be that the real genuine human interaction occurs when the dude actually touches the chick and pierces her online persona.
But that's still a PSP in there!
By Bacongrease at 10:10 PM ON 02/02/09
Honestly when I saw this ad during the superbowl I was really confused I didn't even get the avatar theme till later and I'm still confused about how this is supposed to make me want to drink coke maybe I'm going to drink coke instead of coffee in order to stay up all night raiding?
By jlove0928 at 12:48 PM ON 02/04/09
This was Coke Classic's spot. Not Coke Zero
jlove0928:
This was Coke Classic's spot. Not Coke Zero ...More »