The Power of Sprite

Advertisement companies spend billions of dollars each year to promote various products in the hopes that we the consumer will by them.  These ad companies also know that one of the best groups to target is a child.  Children still live with their parents and their parents are usually willing to buy them the things they want.  They know that if they can get a consumer in their youth than that consumer is more than likely to stay loyal to that company throughout their life.  In my life I have grown up drinking diet coke because that is what everyone in my family drinks.  It is without doubt my favorite drink, has been for many years and will likely be for the rest of my life.  Coca-Cola therefore knows they have a loyal consumer as long as they continue making it.  Based off of this information it is no surprise that the soft drink Sprite would use NBA stars and rap artist to endorse their product in the hopes that children will become loyal consumers. 

Sprite’s commercials have practically been centered in appealing to the African American child.  In the 1990s Sprite introduced a number of commercials involving NBA star Grant Hill.  Now their commercials have spread to involve NBA stars Tim Duncan and Lebron James, as well as being a sponsor of the NBA itself.  In 2004 Sprite then began introducing Rap and Hip-Hop artists’ in their commercials.  The one that is most famous right now involves rap artist Drake. The people in charge of Sprites’ advertisements know that many African American children aspire to be a famous athlete or rap singer like the ones featured in their commercial.  They have the kids hooked on the idea that if this person drinks Sprite then I can drink it and become like them.

The message is that these advertisement people feel like they can easily create an ad that appeals to all African American children.  All they need to do is involve African American NBA and rap stars that they children aspire to be like.   As racist as it might sound when thinking about what African American children like seems to be easier to find topics than what White children like or Hispanic children.  Our society has invented stereotypes about each other and then sells us products based on those stereotypes.  If these stereotypes are not addressed and corrected then I feel like a majority of American children will grow up labeling each other, for example labeling African American people as all liking Sprite.  Instead of seeing one another we only see the label, we need to look past that as a society.     

Information on Sprite gathered from Wikipedia