At first, I thought it was just a blow up Coke can (I blame the b for really looking like a capital c), but that didn't make any sense even if it was 100 degrees out. As commercialized as our world may be, you don't advertise soda at schools, and the person holding up a Soda Kills sign tipped me off. After a little squinting and tilting my head, I figured out that the can said Type 2 Diabetes, and it made a lot more sense. However, I still had a few questions.
Part of me thinks displaying the bottle was a smart tactic. Anti-soda advertisements cannot outnumber soda ads because you cannot sell anti-soda and finance advertising with your profits, so piggybacking on a soda ad makes sense. If you can have just enough of a presence that people think of the diabetes can whenever they see a real Coke advertisement it is possible that people would consume less soda. It's also an ad itself, reminding you of the dangers of sugary soft drinks, so ideally it works both as a message in itself and a defense against Coke's messages.
The part of me that wanted a soda even after seeing the can is a little more skeptical. I don't drink Coke very often, but I've had it enough and seen enough advertisements that seeing a giant Coke can on a hot day makes me a little thirstier. Obviously the point of the ad is to look like the ones we see all of the time, but I wonder if it is a little too similar. The bright red color and curly script appeal to the need for aesthetic sensations the same way a real can does, and the writing is so similar it would be possible to not even read what it says.
I also think that my initial reading of the can might reveal another problem with the message. Coke ads are all over the place--I'd be willing to bet that everyone who reads this blog will immediately recognize what the image is parodying. As a result, it seems possible that the altered can will just blend in with the vast number of normal ones we see all the time. At this point, just about everyone knows soda is bad for you, so saying so on the bottle won't surprise anyone for more than a couple of seconds, and I worry that because of that reality (or not reality, but I'll assume I'm right) the ad will not be able to break through and be memorable to people who aren't always on the lookout for something to write a media blog about.
Thinking about the can also made me wonder how effective advertisements against any given product can be. It seems an inherent disadvantage to have to show the thing you want people not to buy, because there's probably already an ad for the product that uses similar images, and trying to break out of that trap often leads to over the top ads. The documentaries we've watched this semester and the bit of research I've done indicate that no one really knows how much advertising helps sell products, so I'd guess the same is true for ads trying to hurt products.
It was also ironic that around 20 feet away German club was selling root beer floats.
Another piece of irony: the school vending machines sell Dasani bottled water, which is owned by Coca-Cola.
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