Explore how gender is represented in the coke zero advert

I am going to explore how gender is represented in the advert for coke zero, through the use camera shots, sounds and characters. The advert starts with the hero getting a bottle of coke zero and then his ex-girlfriend walks in with her new boyfriend. Jealous, the hero drinks the coke zero and becomes stronger and confident as another girl walks in and escapes on a helicopter with the hero. The coke zero advert introduces a product that is aimed at men. This product was created for men who want to go on a diet and still keep their pride as men. Coke zero as a product is similar to diet coke but the advert takes the product to a whole new level as it defines what it is to be man. The slogan for the coke zero advert: Real coca cola taste and zero calories, The word real gives off the idea that real men should be drinking coke zero as it is the real taste. In the slogan, the word zero and the way the letters become smaller from z to o is used to connote a loss of weight instead of diet which connotes the female view of food and dieting. The advert uses dark and bold colours to represent men being superior and stronger compared to diet coke which uses more subtle and gentle colours.

The advert uses both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Diegetic sounds included the voices of the characters. Both the girls in the advert spoke slowly and confidently. This reinforces the female stereotypes as women want to sound pretty and confident. The males used deep voices to show their manliness as men want to sound like real men not little boys. The non-diegetic sounds used are soundtrack, which was rock. This is because men are stereotypically associated with rock. They were explosions which are linked in with action as men stereotypically like action. The voiceover in the advert was deep and rough which connotes the product is aimed for real men. The advert uses dark and bold colours to represent men being superior and stronger. Animals like a horse and snakes are shown in the advert because they are animals that are at the top of their food chain and this is linked to men wanting to be the predators rather than the prey. According to Abraham Maslow, adverts are designed to show you how buying or using a product can satisfy certain needs. This is linked in with Maslows hierarchy of needs as people always want the real products; the real designer bags, watchesbut in this case coke zero is offering the real taste of coke and with no calories.

Maslows hierarchy of Explanation needs. Adverts for food, Need to survive drink, housing

Link to the advert When the hero drinks coke zero he becomes stronger and more confidents which therefore

Desire to be popular Need for affiliation or friendship

connotes that drinking coke zero makes you stronger, more confident and manlier. After drinking the coke zero, he becomes more manlier and could

The advert uses variety of camera shot to subvert and reinforce the male stereotype. This is a medium shot showing the hero as quite weak and not confident. He looks vulnerable and helpless which subverts the male and hero stereotype as men are shown as strong and confident and heroes are stereotypically dressed in a hero suit. This camera shot makes the hero look scared and intimidated and this also subverts the male stereotype as boys want to look confident in front of the girls they like.

This is a 2 shot used to show the villain and the ex-girlfriend together. Here the villain is showing off his masculine features and that hes stronger than the hero, therefore reinforcing the male stereotypes as boys like showing off that theyre stronger and better. He is immediately spotted as the villain. He reinforces the villain stereotypes by his smirk and him standing behind the exgirlfriend to show he is in power and control. And this idea of power and control is also shown in advert for the Yorkie bar as the shop owner shows power over the female customer.

Todorov suggested that all narratives follow a three part structure. The equilibrium; where everything is balanced. The disturbance of the equilibrium, where something comes to disrupt the balance. The reinstatement of the equilibrium; where the balance is restored.

Todorovs narrative stages

Explanation

equilibrium

The hero walks into the shop to get a bottle of coke zero. The atmosphere is quiet and everything is balanced. The hero is shown as ordinary, weak and lonely which this subverts the hero and masculine stereotypes. His clothes are scruffy which reinforces the male stereotypes as stereotypically men do not care much about clothes as long as they look presentable. He doesnt appear tough or extraordinary nor is he popular. We can see h is not popular because he is alone which makes the audience doubt the hero. The ex-girlfriend appears with her new boyfriend, who reinforces the male stereotypes. He appears: strong, confident, intimidating and characteristically an opposite of the hero. He is tall and strong and uses his features to show his overpowering masculinity. He is presented as the villain. The villain is wearing a leather jacket which connotes him being a rebel or living dangerously and this reinforces male stereotypes of a type of masculinity. Being the villain, he poses as a threat to the villain and uses the exgirlfriend to arouse jealousy within the hero, making him vulnerable as stereotypically, men tend to get jealous when their ex-girlfriend in with another guy: especially one more masculine that they are. The hero drinks the coke zero, which is the helper. Drinking the coke zero makes the hero more masculine, as he has more confidence and a match for the villain. Another girl comes on as the heroine; stereotypically, she is pretty and acts as the prize for the hero. The hero and heroine both escape together in a helicopter. The hero escaping with the heroine reinforces both genders as stereotypes show the hero and the heroine getting together in the end.

Disturbance of equilibrium

Reinstatement of equilibrium

advert

similarities The yorkie advert shows a woman attempting to purchase the yorkie chocolate bar, but the only way she can do this is by gluing on a fake beard, dressing up as a builder with hard hats and asking in a deep, gruff, fake-male voice: which are the characteristics of a stereotypical man. It reinforces the male stereotypes as stereotypically; men should know the offside rule, be able to easily open jars and are not afraid of spiders. It also reinforces the female stereotype as women stereotypically like compliments, especially on their facial features. The yorkie advert is similar to the coke zero advert as it introduces a product aimed for men. The coke company offers coke zero and the yorkie offers yorkie: not for girls therefore bringing forth the message that men can enjoy things associated with women, as long as they are demonstrating that they are still men. The Specsavers/Lynx advert shows women from the jungle running and crossing the ocean following the smell of Lynx only to be disappointed by the man waiting for them. The advert subverts the female stereotypes as women are shown as wild, competitive and fearless which is the opposite of a stereotypical woman. Men are stereotypically associated with the jungle but here women are inhabitant to the jungle and are fearless to swim across the ocean. The advert also reinforces the female stereotypes as the women in the advert are shown doing their makeup, carrying shopping bags, hesitant to go into the puddle and wearing quite revealing clothes therefore showing stereotypical women care about their make-up and appearance.

Yorkie

Lynx Specsavers

The Independent Television Commission (ITC) works to the broad requirements and objectives defined by Parliament in legislation. The ITC is responsible for licencing and regulating commercial television services in the UK, including ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5. Its duties include putting up codes of practice, ensuring good quality of services and reporting on complaints and ensuring competition. Companies find making diet drinks appealing to men difficult because men have strong pride and their own idea of how men are. This includes the clothes they wear, how they talk and what they eat. The coke zero adverts has been successful in making these drinks socially acceptable by the aesthetics of the coke bottle and can and their slogan. They have also been successful with the way they made their advert by subverting and reinforcing the male stereotypes.

By Annie Gonyora