Hypodermic needle theory + Coca Cola advert

Hypodermic needle theory suggests that media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audience. In 1940s and 1950s the mass media was perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change.
Several factors contributed to this "strong effects" theory of communication, including:
1. The fast rise and popularisation of radio and television.
2. The emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising.
The theory argues that mass media could influence a large audience directly and uniformly by "injecting" them with appropriate messages designed to trigger desired response, as there is a powerful direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver.
The theory suggests that media messages are injected into a passive audience

Coca cola - " Living a healthy lifestyle" advert:

This advert shows the contrast between two different lifestyles as well as it shows contrast between generations. 

On the left side we can see what life looked like back in 70s and on the right we can see what life looks like today and although the environment and surroundings vary the routine is the same.

Which could suggest that although the world has changed and technologies have developed there is still stability and it reassures the viewers that the things are still the same. 

Coca cola is seen as an unhealthy drink and yet the slogan of the adverts slogan is "live like grandpa, move more, eat well, take it easy" which promotes healthy life style. Which can be ironic to the viewers, who are aware of unhealthy properties of coca cola, however in the advert "grandpa" is leading much healthier life style then a man in modern world.

We can see that life in 70s was much less busy and people had more time to spend with each other, which is shown through characters having breakfast, as man on the left enjoys his breakfast with his wife and is not in hurry at all and then it is contrasted with the man on the right who barley has any time and leaves half way through the breakfast.

Next we see both characters getting to work, however man on the left is able to get to work in much quicker and healthier way by biking. On the other hand we can see a man on the right struggling to get to the work, as he's stuck in traffic and is wasting his time, whereas he could have got a bike and got to the work much quicker. I think that creators of this advert are in a way mocking modern society, as although technologies are developing and improving (e.g. development and availability of cars) they are not as helpful as they might seem in everyday life, as due to easy access for the cars and their increasing amount we cause traffic and therefore waste our time. Therefore I believe that creators of the advert are encouraging healthy lifestyle.

Next we see both men getting to work, however man on the right got to work on time and has time to talk and greet his colleague, whereas man on the right is still in hurry and has no time for his colleagues.

Furthermore we can see both men snacking while working, however man on the left is eating an apple and man on the right is snacking on crisps, which again is suggesting that modern society is much unhealthier and therefore the advert is further promoting healthy lifestyle.

Then we see both men having lunch and although they have similar lunch, one is still having healthier diet then the other. Man on the right is having a pre-prepared sandwiches which are also much fuller compared to the man on the right, who is having home-made sandwiches and an apple.

In the next scene we can see both characters going down, however one of them is using stairs and the other one is using escalator. Which again is representing today’s society as unhealthy and perhaps lazy.

Again is the following scene we see a man on the right using a spray whereas man on the right is eating a sandwich.

In the next scene we can see what both men are having for dinner. Man who is representing the 70s is having home-made dinner whereas man representing today’s world is having pre-prepared dinner, which again highlights how unhealthy and lazy society has become.

As well as showing how unhealthy and lazy, the advert proceeds to tell the viewer how we have become less social, due to proliferation of technology. This is seen in the scene where we can see both characters having dinner, man on the left is catching up with his wife while having dinner whereas man on the left is catching up on a TV show and there's no conversation between him and his wife as they are too busy watching TV.

However, although advert shows how different generations are there's one thing that links both of them and that is Coca Cola.

Therefore the slogan is not as ironic as it might seem at first. As "live like grandpa, move more, eat well" is encouraging the audience to challenge their life styles and perhaps adapt a similar lifestyle to the 1970s and "take it easy" refers to peoples attitude towards Coca Cola, as Coca Cola is probably more acceptable if you lead healthy life style.

As well as the advert promotes Coca Cola as a social drink that connects generations and people, as in the last scene we can see both men drinking Coca Cola therefore suggesting that it is a lifestyle in a way and it is able to connect people.

Hypodermic needle theory states that mass media can "inject" information into the audience and therefore this advert is "injecting" into the viewers the idea of a healthier lifestyle in order to promote their product and challenge the idea that Coca Cola is unhealthy. This is done by presenting the audience with two different lifestyles, to which older and younger generation can relate. It shows how society has changed and how it used to be, suggesting that is society used to be much more social and much healthier. Therefore encouraging to "live like grandpa".