Starting back in 1935, this sparkling and natural orange juice drink has been all the rage throughout Europe and more recently in America. Dr. Trigo, a Spanish pharmacist originally presented his new drink invention at the Marseille Trade Fair, where the recipe was quickly picked up by other producers. Juan Claude Beton, who started up the French Orangina company, envisioned this drink as reawakening the joys of summer and youthful spirits; and his idea has carried on to this day. While there are different owners of Orangina around the world, France is most famous for their advertisements of this product through the use of outrageous costumes, memorable music, and innovative animations.
This commercial is one of their more recent advertisements, adding in a very modern and avant-garde feeling to it. Comparing it to some of their original posters, the company has continued the tradition of bringing warmth and happiness to their ads. They keep the youthful spirit going with bright colors and animals dancing around, but add a level of sophistication to appeal to an older crowd. They push the limits of advertising by using animation to revert the audience back to their childhood. What young kid doesn’t dream of a fantasy land and happy, talking animals? For the same reason that Disneyland has continued to be a popular destination for people of all ages, this Orangina ad (as well as the rest in its series) will continue to be a hit for quite some time. Because of its uniqueness, the audience stays entertained even with the lengthiness of the video. France is famous for its experimental and avant-garde work which is probably why this commercial was so popular here, but may not have been considered as acceptable in other cultures like the United Kingdom, where is was disowned.
It can definitely be considered quite controversial in the sense that there is a very sexual and provocative undertone. Is this kind of media actually appropriate for public television? Although the drink’s popularity is growing among adults, there is no doubt that the target audience of this sweet, bubbly soda is adolescents. This means that the Orangina company is buying time on youth television networks to preview this advertisement. It is quite hard to doubt that most parents would not approve of their young children watching animals give lap dances to one another and dance on poles. A commercial like this can cause confusion in a young person’s mind as they wonder whether drinking Orangina will really make them that much more attractive and energetic. With its already proclaimed popularity, we must question whether there really is a need to inappropriately portray animals and use sexuality to increase their business.
One of the most important aspects of this commercial to point out is the use of sound. Until the end of the video, all that is heard is music. Although this is a French commercial, they mix tropical, exotic background music with singing in English. Perhaps this is because they want to aim at an audience larger than just French-speaking individuals. The words of the song are nearly unimportant because the background music is so upbeat and happy. This is another strong aspect of the ad, because no sound is needed for the message of the producers to be understood, and for the audience to be seduced into buying the product. The pictures do all the telling. The clip ends with the words “Orangina: Naturellement Pulpeuse” being said and written. This is their slogan for the new era of Orangina, and what is interesting about this is that it is translated as both ‘containing pulp’ and ‘sexy/voluptuous’. As seen in many other forms of French media, advertisements aim at bringing out the sexiness in oneself. This ad is clearly no different with its use of characters in bikinis, close-ups of breasts, sexual gestures, and dirty dancing. If drinking Orangina can really make a person feel that much more energetic, beautiful and sexually-confident, then the company deserves to be making as much money as it does.
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