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 negative feelings into positive feelings regardless of race, age, gender, or lifestyle.

In the beginning of this advertisement the audience is 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. Everyone uses some kind of social media source and has been subject to bullying, or as seen in this day and age, cyber-bullying. When his face is shown 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 are 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. Strengthening this claim, one can look at the lyrics of the song in this commercial. "Don't let me show cruelty, though I may make mistakes. Don't let me show ugliness, though I know I can hate. And don't let me show evil, though it might be all I take." The meaning behind these lyrics is that when subject to a certain environment or situation, one will reciprocate those actions, a product of one's environment. Such as our mysterious writer is experiencing, dark, hate-filled rooms project nasty comments on Facebook and 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. 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 an internet connection is seen as a means of escaping, relaxing, and entertainment. It's today's source of light and happiness, but when it is solely relied on for comfort the public is easily subjected to the same negativity that they were initially trying to avoid. That "light" is supposed to make us happy and effect one's overall perception, but the illumination of messages of "you're a stupid ... ", "ugly", and "loser" fill up the audience's point of view with a small negative window of judgement and contempt, until a mostly blue internet server room with some occasional red circles is presented. 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 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. A middle aged family man, who is streaming a negative video off of a tablet on what seems to be YouTube is tired and bored of said negativity. 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 has this expression of joy and awareness to what is now nothing but positivity due to Coca-Cola. What 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.

Later on 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. The audience feels sorry for a distraught woman and a bullied kid and can't help but want empathize for these individuals. The audience is able to connect with these scenarios of harshness and belittled feelings, 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 everyone that happy giddy feeling that public craves. 

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 an open and bright, happy feeling as the audience looks at the morning sunrise of another city somewhere else in the world. To appeal to everyone 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." It is at this moment that Coca-Cola pushes their happiness agenda and embraces the audience to be positive as the last thing they sees is the classic red and glass coke bottle reminding us once again that Coca-Cola can give us all happiness. 

