Reading Response 2- Pepsi Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVndvFoQt34&feature=related

This video shows a little boy buying two cans of Coca Cola from a vending machine just to use them to stand on so that he can reach the button for Pepsi. He even leaves those cans of Coke at the vending machine, walking away with his Pepsi. This video was banned from TV because it is rather offensive to the Coca Cola Company. Although this is a short video, I think there is a lot you can gather from it. My reaction to the video is that money is not the most important thing, what America cares about and strives for, is the best. We will spend our money on something we don’t particularly want, just to get the best thing out there. But it can also show that America is not completely selfish. This is shown by the boy leaving his cans of Coke behind instead of taking them with him or throwing them away. Even if Coke isn’t the best in some peoples’ minds, someone could come along and find those pop cans, possibly making their day. The cultural narrative this video is selling is that we want the best, even if we have to use the underdog to get there.
I think that the only cultural knowledge someone should have when watching this video is of the competition between Coke and Pepsi. There has been a rivalry over which pop has the best taste and what not for years. You should have this knowledge so that you know that for some people, Pepsi is the best pop there is. Therefore, you can understand the cultural narrative that I gathered from this commercial. The only thing that doesn’t make too much sense to me about the video is that they end it by saying “The Joy of Pepsi” I don’t understand where the joy is shown in the video. Is it because the boy was able to get his Pepsi? Even though he had to spend twice as much money to get it?
This commercial is not just selling pop, it is selling the idea that everyone can achieve the best. I suppose that the joy Pepsi is referring to lays in the fact that the boy got what he wanted. It means of course, that if the little boy is smart enough to stand on two Coke cans to reach the Pepsi button, then the rest of us are smart enough to figure out a way to get what we want. The boy could have brought a chair with him and saved his money, but I guess that would have taken away from the Pepsi vs. Coke rivalry.