Imagine you had to choose between
two competing products, let’s say Pepsi and Coke. What would you prefer? And
why?
Okay, you could say that one tastes
better than the other but apart from that it’s all about the advertising. And
in this case I would definitely take the Coke! Their TV commercials just make
me happy and create the need to be part of the big Coca Cola family where
everyone loves and helps each other and where a hug is all you need to get a
drink.
What excites me most about
advertising in general is how it manipulates people in order for them to buy
something that they actually don’t need. Coca-Cola uses music and appeals to
your reason (“Believe in a better world”) as well as your emotions (“open
happiness”). Their advertisements are all about friendship, peace, happiness
and love and who wouldn’t like to support that? Even if you don’t like any type
of Cola (like me), you have the feeling that Coca-Cola is a good company and
you’ll spread the word.
One psychological effect that
Coca-Cola is using is the in-group out-group bias. It means that you need to
evaluate your in-group better than your out-group in order to improve your
self-esteem. As I already said, everyone wants to be part of the Coca-Cola
family so that would be the in-group and that makes Pepsi the out-group. The
next time you choose Coke over Pepsi think about how that makes you feel and
tell me about it!
So I guess all that’s left to say
is: Stay on the coke side of life!
