Summary of a Coca Cola Advertisement from The Cosmopolitan Vol. 51 No. 1

In the magazine,"The Cosmopolitan" Vol. 51 No. 1 which was edited by Narcross C. P. there is a particularly alluring advertisement that in some ways show the influence between the actual content itself and the advertisements in that magazine. This magazine was created in June 1st 1911 and this magazine seems to be directed toward more of the middle class and their culture and mentality at the time. This is apparent as a lot of the editorial content describes people going into higher education, or about senators costing the taxpayer thousands of dollars. This becomes increasingly apparent in the advertising, but in this particular example, it is quite intriguing as this advertisement is about selling people Coca Cola. This advertisement, on page four, is a pleasant picture of a seemingly middle class woman talking with a middle class man at a what is called a soda fountain, which seems to be what an equivalent of a bar would be if it only sold soda beverages. It describes how it makes walks so much more enjoyable when people could take a break and have some Coca Cola. It is pleasant and welcoming in its presentation, with an air of cultural importance as in the background, many people are observing the two people having a pleasant drink. What relates this to the editorial content and its audience is the contrast between the advertisement and the content within and this becomes increasingly apparent with the intent and general message of the advertisement itself. This advertisement shows no regal persona in it, rather the people are casual, in their clothes and their general posture, but the people in the background seem to be very fixated on the two people in the forefront, as if in partaking in this beverage, these people in the forefront seem to be elevated culturally, which would appeal to the aspiring rich class that many of the other advertisements also do. This magazine seems to try to distract from the more chaotic time that these people where in to draw them in by showing how nice this moment would be with a soda product. This contrasts from the content of the magazine as it shows many stories of events that could impact their lives, or how they should quickly learn new skills to keep up with the ever-quickening pace of the Industrial Revolution. This seems to be placed so early in the magazine because it shows what seems to be a nice moment before all of rampant change in the times. That might make the audience want to go back to that moment in the beginning of the magazine and maybe have that beverage in a pleasant soda fountain.

Comments

This is a good description of the ad, using the pictorial elements to summarize the argument that it makes. Identifying the audience up front was a good way to contextualize the following description so that its importance is clear to the reader. Watch out for run-on sentences and number agreement.