5 Gum Advertisement: Solstice

The entire series of TV advertisements for Wrigley's 5 brand of gum is stunning, although one of them stands out in my mind as the most effective.  It is for the winter mint flavor, named "solstice."  The commercial takes place in a dark and snowy setting, in which a large iceberg are present.  A woman emerges onto a platform above the iceberg.  She presses a button which engages a machine below the iceberg from which flames emerge, causing the iceberg to melt.  While it melts, the woman proceeds to dive off of the platform and into the pool that forms from the melting ice.  This juxtaposition of fire and ice is the visual representation of how this flavor of gum simultaneously cools and heats up the inside of the chewer's mouth.  I found this to be an effective ad because of its visual beauty.  It looks nothing like an ad for gum.  Rather, it looks like a 30-second long Hollywood summer blockbuster.  This is the type of creativity that is found in automobile commercials.  The people who created this ad clearly put a lot of effort into it, effort which is usually not put into advertisements.  That helps me to buy into the ad more than I do for a J.G. Wentworth ad or a Free Credit Score ad.  That's what I, personally, like so much about it.

This ad appeals to the aesthetic senses of consumers.  In order for an ad to appeal to aesthetic senses, it has to display clear, artistic qualities of its own, meaning that it cannot be shoddily crafted.  It has to have time, care and creativity put into its craftsmanship, such as an artist would put into his/her own work.  I think that another characteristic of this sort of ad appeal is that the ad has to have a distinctive color palette.  This can help to set it apart from other ads and make it stick out in someone's mind, although the argument can be made that this would be a matter of opinion.  Also, these kinds of ads have to be at least 30 seconds in length.  A quick 10 or 15-second ad is not enough time to completely stimulate someone's aesthetic senses enough to make the ad remain in his/her mind.  That requires a minimum of 30 seconds (unless it's a print ad, of course).

The solstice ad clearly contains all of these qualities.  A person can tell, just from viewing it once, that the designers put a lot of effort into this ad and wanted it to have the maximum effect that it could on viewers.  Nothing happens in this ad that ruins its effect on viewers.  Everything that happens serves a purpose in it.  In my opinion, they succeeded.  Also, the color palate is a dazzling mixture of blue, black, and orange.  There are no off-kilter colors that ruin the illusion.  Finally, the ad lasts 32 seconds, so it lasts long enough to make an impression.  It definitely does leave an impression.  This is one of the most aesthetically appealing ads that I have ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE4CHTiHS_8