Mean Joe Greene Commercial Analysis

February 1979, a Coca-Cola commercial staring “Mean Joe Greene” aired for the first time and was loved by every American watching. The commercial won a Cilo Award for best advertisement of the year. Thirty-Eight years later it is still believed to be one of the best Super Bowl commercials of all time. Never mind the fact that so many great commercials have been played during the super bowl since 1979, but to be considered by the public as one of the best commercials with the lack of quality and technology they have today is amazing. The author’s main goal was to show that drinking Coca-Cola will make you happy and the creator of this commercial should be praise by the simple yet effective delivery. Penny Hawkeye, the author of the script, effectively …show more content…
Greene played twelve seasons in the National Football League for the Pittsburg Steelers as a star defensive tackle. He is one of the greatest defensive lineman in history for his fierce competiveness and imitation on the field. His style of play is what earned him his popular nick name “Mean Joe Green.” The other actor in the commercial was a nine-year-old boy who was very innocent. In the ad, Green is limping back to the room after an apparent hard fought game and a young boy comes up to “Mean Joe” in the tunnel. The star struck boy offers him his Coca-Cola, Joe first declined his cola than decides to accept the bottle and drinks the soda in one single gulp and continued down the tunnel. The boy turns around very disappointed to be empty-handed, and all the sudden Joe turns around, “Hey kid, catch!” Joe tossed the boy his #75 jersey with a big smile on both their …show more content…
A current star on the toughest team on sports and his nick name was “Mean Joe,” it could not have been a better fit. Greene wasn’t very involved with the media during his career so people didn’t know much about his true character but fans assumed he was mean from his nick name. The ad starts with his “Mean Joe” persona limping off field as a tough football player and ends with a nice, happy Joe as soon as he starts drinking the Coca-Cola. Joe was a mean, gritty, tough football player who did not like to lose and was great at his job, which is why people still loved him. The use of Ethos was extremely well done. The Coke in the add is what brought happiness to both Joe and the boy. The pathos is coke bring everyone’s a smile and happiness. Joe felt energized and happy after drinking the coke and decided to give back to the boy because of the coke. The little boy also wouldn’t have been able to get Joe Green’s jersey and walk away with a huge smile. Coca-Cola is portraying that if a Coke can cheer up “Mean Joe,” it can cheer up anyone. It leaves the audience with a similar smile on their face after watching this big mean football player become all happy and nice just from a