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Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Semiotics of Kit Kat Commercials

I think that everyone who lives in America is in tune to the iconic "crunch" sound which accompanies every Kit Kat commercial. This itself shows what the company values in their product- eating it. Each Kit Kat is filled with a crunchy wafer, and the sound of the "crunch" from the commercial is supposed to make the viewer wish they were also crunching into one. There are no current solid still frame advertisements for Kit Kat, however the 30 second commercials shown on tv can be picked apart for semiotics as easily as a still.


This commercial features Chance the Rapper, a popular musician, walking down an aisle in the store and encountering a singing Kit Kat bar with Chance the (W)Rapper written on it. Towards the end the singer looks at two other characters and says, "Oh, I get it." The main "sign" in this commercial is the revamped Kit Kat jingle. It's completely redone, but still is recognizable as the old jingle only by people who have been exposed to the old jingle. Chance himself is a sort of sign, as he is only recognizable by people who have been exposed to him and his music before. There are clues within the commercial as to who he is, therefore he is more like a "symbol." I believe the use of a celebrity such as Chance the Rapper denotes that he's the type of person who would eat a Kit Kat. Viewers and consumers tend to purchase and utilize products when they're tied to a symbol of wealth and fame, such as this singer.
On the other hand, this Japanese Kit Kat advertisement:
Shows a pretty young girl with a package of Kit Kats. Her clothing looks like that of a school girl, which denotes that she is young, probably around high school aged. The cherry blossoms featured all over the ad may either be hearkening back to Japan's relationship with the flower, or be demonstrating the flavor of the Kit Kat. Using a young girl, a symbol of health, happiness, and youth, is what really drives this ad home as a Japanese advertisement. Many of the ads seen in this country focus on showing fresh-faced people, typically women or young girls. This connotes that the Japanese public values health and wellness over wealth and fame. 


3 comments:

  1. I think you choose two good advertisement to analysis, in the American one it is show this brand's feature, the " crunchy" sounds, and I think that it does can make people toe buy their products. And in the Japanese one it has the Japanese style which we can see the young girl is next to the chocolate which makes people feel sweet fresh. But because these are the same brand's products, did you think that you might can has a comparison which this two ads, like how the company make importance on the different places in each of the ads from different countries?

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  2. I'm wondering if you have anything more to say about the specific visual elements of the video? On its own, there's a lot going on, and you can do more to contrast it with the Japanese ad.

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  3. You make a good contrast between the Kit Kat commercials in America and the ones in Japan. However, I think you could have gone into more depth about the Japanese commercial. Maybe even a video if is was possible. But i think it was still a good comparison of a similar product.

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