The Meaning of Coca-Cola

In my freshman composition class, I've been teaching Visual Rhetoric over the last couple of weeks.  Last Friday, my students had to pick an image (an ad, movie poster, famous photo, political campaign, etc.) and write an essay that looks at the meaning of the image.

I'm about halfway through grading them and, overwhelmingly, the most repeated image chosen is Coca-Cola ads.  Although a slight coincidence, it speaks volumes.  When you look at the span of Coca-Cola's advertising history, they have been somewhat remarkable in their continual evolution of their product and how those ads become cultural icons.  Coca-Cola is such an omnipresent drink for us, that when Tom Standage wrote the book, The History of the World in Six Glasses, he listed Coca-Cola as the one that defined the 20th Century. 

So, this week, I'm going to do a series of post on the meaning of Coca-Cola as seen through its advertising.  Filling in with a documentary on Coca-Cola that I watched a couple of months ago, I wanted to get a sense of how Coca-Cola has become not just a something we drink, it is an icon that reflects us.

I'll start my first ad on Tuesday.  Hope you enjoy it!