Coca-Cola’s “Mean Joe Greene Commercial” was first aired during the Major League Baseball playoffs and then later on during Super Bowl XIV in 1979. In this commercial, Coca-Cola aims to convince the public that a bottle of coke can bring happiness and give back to the world. The 60-second spot uses the three most influential and persuasive ways to get Coca-Cola’s goal into the public; the use of ethos (appealing to ethics), pathos (appealing to emotion), and logos (appealing to logic).

The commercial won a Clio Award for best ad of the year. It was part of the "Have a Coke and a Smile" campaign that started airing in late 1979. Coca-Cola's heartwarming commercial became immensely popular and was listed as one of the top ten commercial of all time by many documents, one of which is the famous magazine TV Guide. The commercial aired in many other countries, one of which was the United Kingdom where Greene wasn't well known. The actual footage of the commercial was taken in May, 1979 in a little stadium in Mt. Vernon, New York. It was released on October 1, 1979 but most of its popularity and viewings were from the 1980 Super Bowl.

The Coca-Cola Company advertising agency did an excellent job at hand selecting a notorious and well-known football icon, Mean Joe Greene, to be the intimidating man- someone who rejects and declines others. Mean Joe was a famous defensive football player in the 1970s who is now in the Hall of Fame. He is known for his notorious and tough temper he leaves on the field. Joe is also well known for his intolerance to losing and for challenging, many say, one of the meanest football players on the field, Dick Butkus. Overall, Joe was a cruel and unkind football player, hence his nickname Mean Joe Greene. He was excellent at his job though, playing defense. That is why people loved and still love him and why he made it to the National Football League’s Hall of Fame.

The commercial begins with Greene limping away from a well-played football game and heading towards the locker room. He is followed by one of his fans, a small boy who is holding onto a Coca-Cola bottle. The boy asks Joe if he needs any help and Joe responds by telling him no. This leaves the starstruck boy in an emotional state because his biggest role model turned him down. He replies by saying to Mean Joe that he is the best ever and still gets put down by Greene's response, "Yeah...sure." The little boy then holds up his Coca-Cola bottle begging Greene to take it. After some hesitation the football player does take it from the boy and chugs the whole bottle down in one long gulp. The boy starts to walk out of the tunnel empty-handed and heartbroken. Joe is left in a state of happiness because of the Coke so he then throws his famous number 75 jersey to the boy, “Hey kid, catch!” as a sign of thanks and starts to walk off without a limp.

Pathos, or emotion, is used throughout the whole 60 second commercial. One of the first things that can be noticed is the gloomy scene of a hurt football player exiting the field. Then comes along the kid and the coke. The boy brings a sense of kindness, someone who needs, and is seen as innocent. This can be seen as the battle of someone in need against someone who rejects. Putting an innocent, kind, and little boy next to a gruesome, mean, and intense football player can seem a bit odd at first. But using this technique draws in the audience having them wonder what will happen next. Imagine yourself next to Mean Joe and staring up at him offering your coke. Now that leaves and emotional state on anyone. The use of music also doesn't start to get upbeat until Greene drinks the coke. In this sense, once the coke is chugged then the tired emotional state turns to happiness. The audience can even hear a jingle as Joe guzzles down his coke, "A Coke and a smile Makes me feel good, Makes me feel nice. That's the way it should be. I like to see, The whole world smiling at me. Coca-Cola adds life. Have a Coke and a smile." Coke is also known for giving back to the community and the world so once Joe drinks the coke he has the need to give back to the boy, his "biggest" fan, by giving him his worn jersey. The viewer is left with a sense of rejuvenation and happiness. Isn't that what coke is after? To bring and give back happiness to the world? Well, this commercial did just that and the battle between the needing and the rejecting is clearly won by the needing, innocent boy with his key to victory, the coke.

Logos appeals to reason, or logic, which attempts to persuade by means of an argument. Coca-Cola is able to back up their promotion that every coke brings a smile and happiness by enabling the little boy to share his coke to Greene and getting his jersey in return. This brings smiles upon both of their faces and allows them to move on with smiles on their faces for the rest of the day. Coke is both sport and family oriented by the fact that the audience is able to connect the ad to the super bowl and their family or friends around them. Mean Joe Greene is a wide known athlete that definitely has an influence over athletes and anyone who gazes upon his size. In the opening frame, Greene credibly made a mood shift from tired, to dismissive, to grateful. By having the actual football player, Mean Joe Greene, promote Coca-Cola and confirm that coke does alleviate the pain and brings smiles to faces is a true form of logos to the public. Anyone would assume that Joe would've ignored off the boy and not wanted to deal with him because of his tired emotional state and injury, but nevertheless he did. For in return, Greene was able to feel happier by drinking the coke and giving the boy his jersey in return. As a result of convincing people that coke brings happiness, Coca-Cola is also convincing viewers to buy the coke product as well. This is what the intentions were supposed to be; Coca-Cola brings smiles and happiness, so individuals should buy a bottle.

The use of ethos, or credibility, is very strong throughout this commercial, but what is the most prominent is the cause and effect logic of drinking a coke. The coke seems to bring happiness to both the boy and Joe. Without the coke, the little boy wouldn't have been able to get Joe's post-game jersey and Joe wouldn't have been able to feel better and refreshed. Here though, Coke is also able to give back to Mean Joe Greene and give him happiness as well. This can be taken as pretty significant since coke is able to cheer a "mean" guy up like Joe Greene, then having a bottle of coke will be able to cheer anyone up. The little boy following Greene into the tunnel leading to the locker room is a bit out of context in real life. This makes the commercial seem not so credible anymore. But, this can easily be understood by the audience because the point isn’t about sharing a coke with a Hall of Fame football player exiting the field, but sharing a coke to anyone anywhere just out of pure kindness and happiness. This brings the same exact response that Coca-Cola wants. Sharing a coke could bring the same response of getting something in return and bonding with a new friend. That's exactly what Coca-Cola is trying to portray their coke as; a feel-good mojo that bonds people together.

Through the effect of rhetorical tools and the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, Coca-Cola effectively persuades the audience that sharing a coke brings happiness and smiles to the world. In attempt to make a lasting impression upon the audience, Coca-Cola used its expertise by focusing the viewers’ attention on the reactions between Greene and the little boy. By displaying the differences of the two characters, Greene and the boy, coke was able to bring smiles upon both. Through the use of emotional, credible, and logical language, Coca-Cola was able to appeal to the viewers’ imaginations and sympathies and leave them with a reminder to “Have a Coke and a smile.”

Works Cited:

YouTube. “Coca-Cola Classic ad: Mean Joe Greene.” YouTube, 17 July 2007. Web. 28 August 2014.

Deal, David. “”Hey Kid, Catch”: How Coca-Cola and Mean Joe Greene Launched a Legend.” SuperHype, 3 February 2013. Web. 11 September 2014.