Professor Fleury-Lawson
Business and Society
25 October 2011
Coca-Cola’s Iconic Commercials
When talking and thinking about advertisements you truly remember or even jingles you remember, there are very few. Coca-Cola is product and company that proves that wrong. Coca-Cola has many iconic commercials and jingles. One iconic commercial is found on YouTube.com. This commercial is the one from 1979 with “Mean Joe Green”. This commercial is considered to be one of the all-time best Super Bowl commercials. Charles Edward Greene, known as “Mean Joe Green”, was a former all-pro American football defensive tackle. He played for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL. Joe Greene’s nickname, "Mean Joe Greene" stems from his alma mater, the University of North Texas' athletic teams, which are nicknamed the Mean Green. Greene appeared in this famous commercial for Coca-Cola which aired during the 1980 Super Bowl, and won an award for best advertisement of the year. This commercial first aired in late 1979 and was part of the "Have a Coke and a Smile" advertisement campaign. A child (Tommy Okon) gives an injured Greene a Coke, prompting "Mean" Joe to smile and toss the kid his team jersey. The heartwarming commercial became immensely popular by the 1980 Super Bowl. The pros of this commercial are that it had a jingle that was catchy and it made “Mean Joe Green” smile. This touched people’s hearts because they love when a child can make someone smile and by the young boy giving Greene his Coca-Cola, Greene smiled at him in return. It leaves people with a happy feeling inside. The one major con to this commercial is if people did not watch football or know who “Mean Joe Green” is, then they would not understand the essence of the commercial. “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large” (pg. 246). Clearly this commercial was a great marketing choice because it hit each of these points and truly touched people. In the Coca-Cola Movie that we watched in class said the advertisements had to hit key elements. This commercial has a great story behind it, a jingle and a deeper meaning which hits three key elements to drawing people in. All in all, I believe this commercial is a Coca-Cola classic hit.
1 comment:
First of all, I really liked how you gave the whole story and history of the “Mean Joe Green” because I never understood why this Coca-Cola commercial was so significant to others. I just figured that he was an angry football player who stormed off the field because he did something wrong. I appreciate finally knowing what the commercial was about and I also appreciated your analysis on the importance of how this Coca-Cola ad attracted consumers. You mentioned that they used a cute little innocent boy to win the hearts of the NFL watchers. This in my opinion was a very smart idea coming from the Coca-Cola industry. What person in their right mind would ever deny a sweet boy a smile, especially after he kindly gave you a Coca-Cola? They used the cuteness card very well with this ad along and with the fact that the giver of the smile appeared to be a tough, mean, and angry football player. Once “Mean Joe Green” smiles in gratitude towards the little fan, everyone’s hearts melt with happiness. I think that the company did a great job on delivering the message that Coca-Cola brings happiness to everyone no matter what. They did a great job linking the two. The commercial makes the watcher believe that a kind gesture and a Coca-Cola can make the world a better place.
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