I know from personal experience that the smell of coffee in
the morning is invigorating. As someone who needs caffeine at the first sign of
consciousness, I am the first to admit to that. I firmly believe that
advertisements for coffee should be representative of an energetic awakening
for those who have an addiction to caffeine.
The Folgers
jingle, “the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup,” is surprisingly
accurate. Every morning, the thing I look forward to most is a hot cup of
delicious coffee. And since I am a student and can’t afford to go to Tim
Hortons on a daily basis, Folgers is my first choice for a brand of coffee
grounds. Some of the ads Folgers has used to sell their product, however, do
not quite live up to expectation past the jingle.
The first Folgers ad that did not live up to expectations
that comes to mind is the following holiday ad. Essentially what happens is a
young man returns home to his family for Christmas, and together, the family
wakes up to steaming mugs of Folgers coffee and bond over the breakfast table.
As
much as the ad attempts to be heartfelt, it loses its purpose in that the
coffee plays no role in the advert. Yes, the brother and sister are pouring a
cup of coffee as they have an unnaturally heartfelt conversation between
siblings. And yes, the mother smells the coffee and automatically knows that
her son must be home. But really? They aren’t happy about the coffee, they’re
happy that their family has been reunited.
According
to Barry, the objective of the advertisement precedes the concept and the
campaign. The objective in the Folgers ad is clear: the product must be sold to
middle-class families. Following the objective, the concept is created (the
holidays are a time when families get together) and the campaign for Folgers is
displayed as a form of television advertisement.
The campaign also follows Barry’s theories in an alternate
manner: the targeted audience should be persuaded to buy the product by using
four categories:
1. Demographics à Folgers coffee is
generally sold to middle-class families. Generally there are both parents and
children involved, though children may have aged significantly.
2. Lifestyles à Such families have busy lifestyles and may not have
time to see one another on a regular basis. They are often on the run, but use
a morning cup of coffee as a catch-up time.
3. Behavioural à The family in the
advert is depicted as functional and calm, despite the commercial taking place
over the holidays when most families find themselves in a constant state of
panic or chaos.
4. Psychographic/Attitudinal à Those in the
commercial seem particularly happy and show a strong focus on building family
relationships.
As I have previously stated, I believe that the tone of a
coffee advert should be energetic, as coffee is used to help people have an
energy boost after a much-needed sleep. Folgers has taken energy in an opposite
direction, however. They have opted to show a family in their pajamas as they
wake up happily to the arrival of their son and brother. Personally, I don’t
think this works because there are very few families who can be calm when they
wake up, before they have had a cup of coffee. In this way, the coffee isn’t
being used by people who would generally use it to feed an addiction.
Of
course, Folgers effectively uses an appeal to emotion (pathos) by having a
happy family reunite over the holidays. As someone who has just returned from
an 8-month term of studying in England, I can honestly say that the Folgers ad
did give me a feeling of nostalgia, and made me remember my parents and
brothers meeting me at the airport.
Do
I think the Folgers ad is successful? In a way, yes. It is not a typical advert
for coffee, so it is distinctive from others, such as Maxwell House and Tim
Hortons. However, I do feel that information concerning the coffee itself was
left to be desired. Personally, I did not like the advert. I thought it was
corny and far too sentimental to adequately represent the feeling that coffee
gives me. I don’t know how well sales went following the advertisements, but
since Folgers is still available today, I assume it did well.
