Drinks are unique products. Within an instant of being consumed, they become an integral part of our bodies, and are capable of altering our perception of both our own selves and our environment. It should not come as a surprise, therefore, that TV commercials for drinks often attempt to convey the experience the advertised drink provides using some kind of highly inventive virtual world. As the following videos demonstrate, this can be achieved in a whole range of different ways.
The first example is the now famous Coca-Cola commercial which proposes an unusual explanation for the unique taste of this drink. The taste we experience, according to it, is the result of a special treatment which each bottle receives whenever we purchase it. Thus, the vending machine – an otherwise mundane element of our urban environment – is presented here as a channel to a vast enchanted world dedicated to our drinking experience:
The second example advertises the Nespresso coffee capsules, following similar lines to that of the previous video (and possibly influenced by it). This time, however, instead of presenting the delivery of the drink, this commercial rather focuses on its production process: It proposes that its advertised coffee capsules of different tastes come from a magical world which harmoniously blends nature and industry in order to produce them. We may never be able to visit this world ourselves, but the taste of its products – as is hinted at – can give us the experience of somehow having done so:
The third example takes us to alcoholic drinks, starting with Guinness beer. The ‘other world’ which is suggested to us here is not that of the production of the drink or its delivery, but a world that lives and breathes right there within our immediate reach. This lively, dynamic, and exciting world, as this commercial proposes, is precisely what we are invited to incorporate in ourselves whenever we consume this drink:
The next example brings us to Smirnoff vodka, but instead of an outlandish world, the commercial proposes that this drink can transport us to places and situations taken straight from the movies. Using the bottle itself as a lens trough which to view the world, it becomes a portal to a sequence of action and adventure scenes which the drink can both deliver us to and save us from their dangers:
The final example brings us to Heineken beer, and unlike the previous examples, the world that it suggests taking us to is not some separate, magical or fictional world, but rather the very same physical world in which we live – but with a twist. Furthermore, it proposes that the effect of the advertised beer on our perception is so strong that just the desire and search for it is enough to transform the way we experience our normal environment:
Whichever your preferred drink or alternative world may be – cheers!
