They say the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. In my case, this is possible in 2 ways: food and laughter. Food makes me full, and laughter can make me have gas. It may not be the desired effect, but it got to my stomach. As this saying usually applies to finding a partner, allow me to apply it in New Media PH–in finding advertisements that I learned to love.
Obviously food advertisements don’t work here. In fact, they promote the opposite. Seeing the food ads make me hungry, not full. So what really sticks to me? They have to be funny (or laughable, because of how cheesy it is).
This first ad, I saw months ago. It’s a banned Pepsi ad (but safe for viewing); you’ll know why when you see it. Pepsi, internationally, is known for making ads that have no remorse and aren’t afraid to go directly against societal norms or their competition. (The Pepsi in the Philippines is a much nicer group, though.) Check out the ad below.
When I first saw this, I laughed my lungs out. I like watching football, and this was about the time that the World Cup was ending; lucky me that I saw this around that time (this ad is an old ad). What I liked about it is that they had a story in the ad and cleverly used that seemingly unimportant story element to resolve the issue.
How does this help their brand recall? The football player’s memory included the time when he drank the Pepsi from the kid. To the naked eye, this is obvious–their product is shown twice in a memorable ad and is reinforced by a memorable situation. But the psychologist in me detects a deeper implication: he learned and remembered because of Pepsi. Subconsciously what it conveyed to me is that Pepsi is so memorable that if we attach something to it, we can use as a tool to recall. The football player associated the bow with Pepsi and he remembered a possible solution to solve his dilemma.
The Panda
This second ad is a series of ads which I just saw yesterday on Facebook. This is hilarious, and you’ve probably already seen it if you’ve been active in the online world. It’s about a cheese brand named Panda. It has the right mix of silliness and fear-provoking thought that it makes both the ads and the brand stick in your head. You’ll know what I mean when you see the ad below.
How can you say no to Panda? Didn’t you see that cute thing, which probably reminded most of us of Kung Fu Panda, looking into your eyes asking you to buy its product? If you still say no, then Panda throws a tantrum. I’m no psychic but let me guess your reaction process: Panda looks into person’s eyes. You say “Cute”. Panda throws tantrum. You laugh your heart out. Panda image and tag line come out. You say, “galing! (good!)”. But deep inside your head, you wouldn’t want that to happen to you.
Panda is silly, his tantrums are silly, and it’s scary and/or annoying if it happens to us. But the fear in this ad is so subtle and covered with silliness that fear doesn’t elicit the usual fear reaction–it isn’t fear per se–it becomes part of the charm of the ad, making the brand stick. In my opinion, they took cuteness a step further by challenging a norm–that tantrums are bad. The tantrum they show is a part of their tag line, just a more comical and dumbed down way of showing it. Now with those two working together, it’s easier for them to say: Never say NO to Panda. Moreover, it’s easier for us to say: We won’t because Panda is cute, and we wouldn’t want that to happen to us.
I don’t know about you, but I’ll forever remember that brand of cheese when I’m in Unimart, so I can avoid my cart toppling to the side and having this giant panda jump on and kick my groceries. I suggest we all prepare for when Panda cheese enters our market, because I wouldn’t want to say no to Panda.
Panda <3
IS SOOO FLUFFEEH IM GONNNA DIEEE!!!!!!
FLUFFEEEHHHH!!!!
Despicable Me FTW.
Carlo, the Pepsi ad actually made me laugh because the football player used his memory of the boy’s bow after handing him the Pepsi, borne out of his culture, to “trick” the opposing team to bow as well. So that was banned pala, ha? Maybe because of the subtle cultural slight. But on the other hand, the Panda ad gave me goose pimples. Hahaha. For me it was pretty sinister. It’s like those horror movies where the cute panda turns out to be a terrifying one. Frankly, I did not like that ad. But as far as memory recall, yeah it worked. I love cheese and I love pandas but that ad did both of them an injustice, IMO.
Yup, it was banned due to the cultural thing! I kinda agree with you on the Panda issue since I’m a huge panda lover myself. This is the first time I actually saw a panda being depicted in an evil manner, lol.
This is so nice.
I literally laughed out loud after watching the Pepsi commercial. Hahaha.
My brother had me watch that Panda ad a few days ago and I tell you, I still remember those eyes. He’s scary and the song kept repeating in my head ’til now. Ack.
Love this article.
Makes you look at your panda stuffed toys differently at midnight. Haha