THE SEX SELL
Britney Spear’s is commonly known for her sexual portrayals in the world of entertainment and advertisement. While she often flouts sexuality, in this Pepsi commercial, the sexual overtones are less prevalent. However, when studied closely, we can still see how this ad has used sexuality to appeal to the younger generations. Throughout the decades that are shown throughout this ad, the awareness of sexuality becomes more noticeable as the times become more modern. One could even say that this allows the commercial to be appealing to a variety of audiences.
In the 1958 portion of the commercial, we see Spears dressed rather modestly although in very fashionable attire.However, the gentlemen around her seem very attracted to her, including one gentleman that is leaning on the bar next to her. This may appeal to the audience members that are from that era, appealing to the schoolgirl and soda shop memories of the older generations. Yet quickly the commercial goes to a concert in which girls are performing in flashy dresses during 1963. This scene also has the young gentlemen appearing to be interested in the ladies dancing and singing. However, the real switch towards a more sensual take on the commercial comes in the video of 1966, the beach scene.
With the beach scene, Spears is in a modest bathing suit that would have been typical attire for the 1960s. However, now there are young gentlemen surrounding her with no shirts on, and almost praising her every move. While the scene could still be considered modest, we can begin to see how the scenes are slowly transitioning into a more sexually appealing commercial. The next scene is of an outdoors “hippy” party. Now the genders are becoming more mixed in that they are seen laying together on blankets and hugging and that boundary between the sexes that was previously seen is slowly disappearing.
The 1989 scene is perhaps the biggest transition in that Spears is dressed as a man, and yet surrounded by numerous girls that are wearing black, slinky dresses and dancing. The dresses that are worn by the ladies tend to reveal more skin and are tighter than the clothes previously worn in the earlier scenes. As well, the dancing seems more sexual that the previous dancing.
The commercial ends with a scene from the present times in which Spears is dressed in a jumper outfit that is very tight, extenuating her curves and showing more skin, including her stomach. The dancing as well is more provocative than the previous scenes and we can see how it has evolved throughout the scenes and generations. Pepsi, included each of these generations for a reason and showed the evolution of sexuality in order to appeal to a certain audience. They used the different scenes in order to appeal to different audiences, including parents and grandparents who remember the soda shop days, to teens that are interested in pop culture. The use of sex for advertisement was not as prevalent in the 1950s, so Pepsi made a distinct decision to make the 1950s scenes clean cut and modest. However, with the generational differences, they chose to appeal to a younger audience, which is adept to more sensual advertisement in the modern culture.
RACE AND MYTHOS
Pepsi presents no cultural diversity in the first 3 sections of the video montage: it is a celebration of stereotypical utopia Americana. Certainly Spears herself is in the forefront, yet the background dancers and actors that are in each section do not seem to reflect much, or any, racial diversity. The decision to keep ethno-cultural diversity out of the early decades of the commercial show Pepsi reinforcing the American perspective that before the civil rights movement of the early 60’s America was at the peak of its cultural, economic, and military strength.
Thus in the ‘50’s commercial Spears is dancing at the soda shop with girls in poodle-skirts and young men snapping their fingers in their cardigans. The film is all in black and white, or rather all in white – there are no African-American, Latino, or Asians in the foreground of the shot.cuts. Pepsi has intentionally erased any sort of multi-cultural discourse from this part of their text.
Yet from about the time the civil rights movement came to the forefront of America’s epistemological self-examination – the mid-1960’s – Pepsi has included racial diversity in their historization of their own advertising. Thus the 1969 Britney Spears is accompanied by a black man with an Afro playing guitar, perhaps something of a trite cliché, but representation nonetheless (and its not as though we expect insightful representation in a Britney Spears commercial anyway). The Robert Palmer commercial parody in the 1980’s is not a reflection of Americana the way that the earlier elements of the montage were, so any critique of the lack of multi-racial representation are better focused on Palmer’s decision to make all his models skinny W.A.S.P.s. From about the time the civil rights movement came to the forefront of America’s epistemological self-examination – the mid-1960’s – Pepsi has included racial diversity in their historization of their own advertising. Thus the 1969 Britney Spears is accompanied by a black man with an Afro playing guitar, perhaps something of a trite cliché, but representation nonetheless (and its not as though we expect insightful representation in a Britney Spears commercial anyway). The Robert Palmer commercial parody in the 1980’s is not a reflection of Americana the way that the earlier elements of the montage were, so any critique of the lack of multi-racial representation are better focused on Palmer’s decision to make all his models skinny W.A.S.P.s.
What is most interesting about Pepsi’s advertising slant, about the myth they are creating of a whitewashed America, is the way they themselves break down the 4th wall at the end of the commercial and show the shortcomings of their own ersatz ideology. At the end of the video Spears and her dancers are in color and are diverse, but they the earlier sets are shown in a final mini-montage where there ARE multi-racial dancers and performers. Pepsi originally had other races represented in the first 3 segments, but then removed them IN EDITING. The only time they were willing to break down the fantasy of a white American was when the lens was revealed to be a modern one, and a retrospective through the modern, and therefore racially aware, lens showed the ethnic diversity of each set.
THE MUSIC
The changing sounds of rock ‘n roll and blatant references to musical icons contribute to the nostalgia of the Britney Pepsi commercial. In addition, the type of clothing, locations, and Pepsi logos appeal to the viewer’s ethos. All of these factors make the multiple settings realistic flashbacks for the potential Pepsi consumer.
The commercial opens with Britney drinking Pepsi in 1958. Her platinum blonde pin curls and perfect skin allow her to resemble Marilyn Monroe. When she starts singing, Britney even produces a Marilyn-esque sultry-sweet voice. Britney’s attire is perfect for the year 1958. She sports the standard high heel and cotton knit coordinate where her bosom is defined and waistline is shaped in (Americanized Empire style). The vivacious fabric colors of the decade helped name it the “Era of Intense Color.” The viewer does not know until the second half of the commercial, but Britney even dresses vibrantly in pink and turquoise. Britney is set in the typical high school or college soda shop hangout. In order to give it a final authentic touch, Pepsi retrieves a Pepsi logo from the vault. The logo in this portion of the commercial is the actual logo that was used in 1958.
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After hanging out at the soda shop, the viewer travels with Britney to a simulated American Bandstand in 1963. She’s dressed in true Supremes fashion. Again, Britney’s music sounds like she’s right out of 1963 with her Motown doo-wop song. She even makes mention of the “Pepsi Generation.” Marketers began the “Pepsi Generation” marketing campaign in 1963. So, the baby-boomers became the “1st Pepsi Generation.” Everything about this portion of the commercial is reminiscent of the early 60’s and Pepsi advertising during the period; however, the advertising executives goofed on the most important part: the logo. In 1962, Pepsi updated their logo. The advertisers must have forgotten about this because they used the 1950-1962 logo.
The next segment of the commercial fast forwards three years and lands on the beach. The music and location are reminiscent of Gary Lewis and the Playboys rocking out in the 1966 beach movie “Out of Sight.” The only difference is a female is singing. Shockingly, Ms. Spears seems overdressed compared to her male and female peers on the beach. Two-piece bathing suits were very in-style; however, Spears appears in a covering one-piece. At least the Pepsi people got their logo right this time.
After bumming around at the beach, Britney literally drops out of the sky into 1970. She is the typical hippie dancing around in a field. The rayon gypsy top that fades from white to pink and hip-hugging bellbottoms combine to create a convincing outfit from 1970. She is surrounded by loving friends, tents, and a school bus covered in day-glo paint. The 1970 portion of the commercial captures the free-love feeling of the late sixties and early seventies. Pepsi even plays into the psychedelic kaleidoscope symmetry that was admired so much by people during this period. And, of course, Britney and co. are sipping on their bottled Pepsi colas (correct logo and all!).
Next, Robert Palmer’s 1989 classic “Simply Irresistible” Pepsi commercial comes back in an all new revamped Britney style. The 1989 clip of the Britney commercial is true to the Palmer commercial: setting, dress, and Pepsi can.
Finally, Pepsi brings Britney back into the present. She shows off her trend-setting style while singing and dancing to a pop, beat-oriented track. The commercial flashes back through all of the decades in color while her modern music blares in the background. At the end, the advertisers bring the commercial full circle with Britney repeating her line, “For those who think young (wink).”
For the most part, the Pepsi advertisers did an outstanding job when recreating scenes from the decades. They brilliantly started their flashbacks in 1958, right before the “1st Pepsi Generation.” It gives a little insight about Pepsi’s place in America’s past while appealing to people of all ages. Despite a few minor oversights, the commercial is pretty remarkable in its recreations of pop icons, music, clothes, sites, and Pepsi.
Ways to Use this with Students
Doing an assignment like the Media/Visual Literacy project would be very applicable in the classroom. As seen in the Pepsi analysis, a lot of themes arise when the commercial is examined closely. Some of the themes in this commercial include sexuality, race, stereotypes, civil rights, and fashion. Many of these themes are also seen in literature that students are asked to study in school. By doing these analyses, teachers could build lessons around student identified themes.
With this particular analysis there are many things a teacher could relate to literature. For example, stereotypes of Americans are constantly seen throughout this commercial. It would be interesting to ask students what the image of Americans is from a particular decade of the commercial. Next, they could consider the positive and negative sides of the stereotype. Students could also think of examples they’ve witnessed where people attempt to conform to stereotypes. This assignment would fit perfectly with Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese (a Chinese boy who wants to break free of the Chinese stigma and mold into the American stereotype). An assignment like this would help students consider the positive and negative sides of stereotypes of all cultures. Another possibility would be to pair this analysis with The Great Gatsby and the American dream. There are many other possibilities for this particular analysis to be incorporated into the classroom because of its many themes.
LINKS:
http://www.paperpast.com/html/fashion.html
http://pepsi.com/downloads/PepsiLegacy_Book.pdf
