In today's society it is nearly impossible to go anywhere or do anything without seeing some kind of advertisement. Whether it's a billboard on the side of the road, a commercial on the radio or television, a pop-up on someone's electronic device, etc. they are everywhere. Many people only read or interpret what they see at first glance, but the reality to these advertisements is that there is an even deeper meaning to the ad itself. A meaning that connects the individual to the advertisement on a personal or even a serious level. This couldn't be more prevalent in the 2015 #MakeItHappy campaign presented by Coca-Cola. In this advertisement the audience is shown that with the help of some Coca-Cola magic, a little empowerment or positive messaging can transform scary and negative feelings into happy and pleasant feelings regardless of race, age, gender, or lifestyle.

In the beginning of this advertisement we are given the perspective of an unknown heavily breathing online user frantically typing "I hate u I hate u ... " over and over again on what seems to be Facebook. The urgency and the realistic image of a major social media source grabs the attention of the audience because of its relatable properties. We all use some kind of social media source and we have all been subject to bullying, or as seen in this day and age, cyber-bullying. When we see his face he is in a dark room wearing dark clothes and crying at the only thing illuminating his environment, his computer. The first ten seconds of this advertisement is a frenzy of negativity and a variety of people reacting to such. The audience is shown distraught faces and bursts of anger to deliver this uncomfortable feeling. This feeling is then emphasized via a personal point of view of the attacker and of the victims. What Coca-Cola is trying to say is that regardless of what end an individual is on, nobody benefits from such negativity.

The audience is shown a silhouette of a man in a blank corner until it is illuminated by this bold white lettered "HATE" written across the corner. To me this symbolizes the fact that anyone can hurt anybody even if they don't know who the other party is. The setting in which this is presented is in a plain but dark room, just like the word "HATE". It has no meaning or motive other than to hurt people. It seems so plain and simple but it conveys such a dark message that can be sent or seen from any corner of the world. 

Today's society is so wrapped up in the digital era that we often see our internet connection as a means of escaping, relaxing, and entertainment. It's our source of light and happiness, but when we solely rely on this source for comfort we are easily impacted by the same negativity that we were initially trying to avoid. Messages of "you're a stupid ... ", "ugly", and "loser" fill up our point of view until we are presented with a mostly blue internet server room with some occasional red circles. Blue coloring often alludes to feelings of depression, but beyond that Coca-Cola is promoting its product. It is not directly messaged or told to the audience, but it is implied that Pepsi, their main competitor, a product of blue and red coloring, is responsible for transporting these negative messages. Although the majority of the audience may be obliviously to this message, they may still be able to relate the intense frenzy of negativity of the first ten seconds to the color choice of the internet servers, the technician, or Pepsi. 

The audience then sees the classic glass coke bottle with its contrasting red labeling spill into one of the servers of a major city with pretty lights, liquid sound effects, and peppy music. As the pleasant and magical properties of Coca-Cola mysteriously transform the negative content streaming through various electronical devices into positive ones, the users are delighted. As shown in what seems to be a violent videogame tournament, the users are not alarmed by the change but rather intrigued and captivated by this glorious Coca-Cola background. Then the audience is shown a tired and bored middle aged family man who is streaming a negative video off of a tablet on what seems to be YouTube. The video's background goes from a multitude of various images to one unanimous Coca-Cola background and the title of video changes from, "News interview gets violent" to "news interview gets happy" with a red and bold contrast on the word "happy". He then has this expression of joy and awareness to what is now nothing but positivity. Coca-Cola is trying to say that even a violent stream can turn into happiness and captivation but only with the capabilities which make up Coca-Cola.

We are then witnessing a sad, lonely, and unmotivated girl on her phone at a bus stop at night until she sees an internet meme with an invigorated baby picture, a contrasting red background, and a caption saying "WE GOT THIS". She feels empowered and even cracks a smile tear-free after seeing whatever negative content was on her phone. One can allude that Coca-Cola is trying to motivate this woman to have a baby or to keep trying to have a baby and not give up. The audience is then subject to a sad kid sitting alone on a school bus looking at his phone. We are given his point of view of the phone and again we are shown what seems to be Facebook. His phone displays a message saying "No one likes U" in a bold black font with white spacing and texture. The size of this message and the texture around it displays its significance or hierarchy. The post has only a couple likes and comments but when Coca-Cola's magic properties take over, the message reads, "There's no one like U #MakeItHappy" in a contrasting red font with hundreds of likes and comments. The sunlight then creeps over his shoulder emphasizing the happiness he expresses after reading the new message. 

The last two victims of bullying force the audience to sympathize for more emotional fragile people. We feel sorry for a distraught woman and a bullied kid and can't help but want empathize for these individuals because we feel terrible of their circumstances. The audience is able to connect with these scenarios because we have all been the victim of the harshness of others and feeling as if we are nothing. But that's when Coca-Cola capitalizes on this moment of self-reflection and saves the day. They are the good guys and are here to save the day and give us all that happy giddy feeling that we all crave. 

They'll take the negative, dark content of the night and make it into this positive and bright message of the morning for mutual happiness. No more small, dark areas filled with negativity, Coca-Cola will provide us all with an open and bright, happy feeling as we look at the morning sunrise of another city somewhere else in the world. To appeal to us all Coca-Cola diversifies the commercial by consisting it of characters of young and old, various races and ethnicities, geographical locations, and genders. The commercial ends with the phrase "The world is what we make it. #MakeItHappy" and the song's last lyrics are "Show me love. Show me love. Show me love." It is at this moment that Coca-Cola shoves their happiness agenda down our throats as the last thing we see is the classic red and glass coke bottle reminding us once again that Coca-Cola can give us all happiness. 

