Few things can propel the imagination like sex. So, the pairing of a soft drink with two young, beautiful people hardly seemed like strange bedfellows, at least in the minds of German advertisers. The result is a thirty-two second spot more potent than many of today’s American network television offerings, the contents of which continually push boundaries of decency and FCC regulations.

            The clip provides a pure example of the use of sex to sell an unrelated product while offering a hegemonic idea of young woman and manhood.

 

           

            I think I need a cigarette.

            Indeed, certain goods and services allow accessibility to sex. Clothing, travel, perfumes, and shampoos, for example, seemingly guarantee physical beauty oozing sexuality through purchase and use of these products. Other items, such as tires, prescription drugs (excluding ED medications), legal services, and toilet paper require creativity and imagination of commercial-makers and viewers alike.

            In the Sprite commercial, a man and woman appear naked while engaging in the act of sodomy. Of course, we do not see this as the position of the couple—the posterior of a woman kneeling before a man standing facing forward—combined with careful picture frames (head shots), minimal activity (head bobbing, stationary camera), and limited dialogue (moaning) seem to support our suspicion. Amid the activity, without interruption, the woman looks away for a split second as if she is preoccupied. She thinks (subtitled) “I could really go for a Sprite.” She pauses, leans back, then, moves in as if to finish “the act.” Her reward: an eruption of white, sticky contents (semen) spurting horizontally straight into her face. Its source, a green bottle (penis), perfectly poised adjacent to the man’s groin pointed directly at the woman.

            To this woman, the achievement of the perfect blow job if, instead of a burst of cum, she could experience the blast of the refreshing taste of Sprite.

            The role of the woman is a far cry from the subordinate figure in earlier commercials and advertisements. Products used by both male and female, such as automobiles, were marketed showing draped “…blondes in evening gowns over the hoods like ornaments” (Steinem, 224). The leading lady in the Sprite commercial, while “servicing” the male, is clearly in control and she uses her imagination to create a more personally pleasing experience.

            Of course, for the viewer, this arrangement is only effective using attractive, vibrant, healthy-looking individuals, affirming hegemonic values, receptive to anything—interracial relations, sex outside of the bedroom, sexual freedom beyond traditional missionary-style intercourse—given the liberties available to this pretty pair. There is no negotiated stance here since we are led to believe, once again, that a certain lifestyle is only available to those who possess certain physical qualities. It is a commercial designed for a consumer mentality.

            Imagery is paramount in the commercial, from what we perceive are the actions between the man and woman to the required use of our imaginations transposing male sexual climaxes for unruly bottles of soda.

            According to Sut Jhally, “ If goods themselves are not the locus of perceived happiness, then they need to be connected in some way with those things that are” (251).

            And what invites happiness any better than a good, old-fashioned blow job?

 

Jhally, Sut. Gender, Race, and Class in Media. Thousand Oaks: Sage P, 2003.

Steinem, Gloria. Gender, Race, and Class in Media. Thousand Oaks: Sage P, 2003.