Media Analysis of the "Olive Fingers" Advertisements

"Believe in Olive Fingers!"

One famous ad campaign is the "Olive Fingers" campaign for Musco Family olive Co. The campaign includes three television commercial advertisements depicting people with olive fingers (olives at the tip of there fingers on both hands) and the hard ships they endure because of it.
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The first commercial, Birds, is the story of a kindly old man throwing bird seed in a park. We see a mother and her son come to him and he offers bird seed to the child. The mother notices his "olive fingers" and promptly pulls the child away. The old man is obviously upset at this and looks at his olive fingers in despair. He begins to throw the seed again as another mother, her son and a baby carriage come by. They walk to him and he offers the seed again. The young boy takes the seed and begins to feed the birds. The old man looks at the boys fingers and his mothers, neither have olive fingers. He looks to the mother and she gives him a curious smile as the baby begins to giggle. The old man curiously peeks his head to see the baby and smiles. The happy little baby also has olive fingers.
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The second commercial, Orphanage begins with a young boy, Philip, who looks to be about seven or eight, in the office of an orphanage. A man begins to tell Philip that he's sorry but no one will ever adopt him because he has olive fingers and "parents just don't want a boy with olive fingers." Philip stares out the window watching a �normal' child get into a car with a new family and drive away. Finally out the window comes a black car which stops at the orphanage. A man walks to the passenger door and opens it helping his wife out of the car. They both have olive fingers. A singer tear of joy runs down Philips cheek.
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Finally the third commercial, Worker, shows a lower class worker with olive fingers. The worker tries to get his punch card but his fingers are too big, he tries to open a bottle of white out but spills it all over his type writer, he sits at a table full of people during lunch and they all get up. Finally the worker walks out with all his stuff, sadly because he was fired. As he drives home, tears in his eyes he sees a female hitchhiker with olive fingers. She looks up toward him noticing his olive finger with a look of hope.
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At the end of all three commercials a whispering voice says "Believe in olive fingers" while the screen hays the phrase written on it and ends with he voice says "Pearls" as the scene cuts to the Musco Family Olive Co. logo (a crest with an olive fingers hand) and widens out to a can and four jars staggered behind it of Musco Family Pearl olives.
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All three commercials use sympathetic characters, which represent normal society figures, to convey the message. A kindly old man feeding birds, a poor orphaned child waiting for a loving family, and a lower class worker who loses his job. By using these characters the audience feels an instant connection and are made to associate with their obvious feelings of sadness and perceived handy cap. Furthermore the presentation of plane folks, that is people who can, under normal circumstances, be considered your typical person, adds to the audience connection with them.
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In Birds the commercial uses the snob approach to build on the plain-folks theme. The first mother sees herself and her son as better than the old man because they are �normal' people and he has olive fingers. Similarly in Orphanage the adult social worker who tells Philip he will never be adopted looks down on him for his olive fingers. And finally in Worker their is a background worker who is disgusted by the Worker's inability to do his job and gives him un-approving stares and gestures through out because he looks down on him. Many people at one time or another in their life have been �snobbed' by someone who thinks they are superior. By identifying and utilizing the use of plane people, being �snobbed' the audience can feel the pain of the characters. The viewer wants to be associated with the �hero' of the story (who have olive fingers) and not the snobs of the story (those who look down on them) and there fore would want to buy the Musco Pearl olives.
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Using myth analysis to understand the commercials and their intended impact of the advertisements on culture. All three commercials tell a narrative story that begins with a hard ship and ends with hope. The message is to "believe in olive finger" and ultimately to buy Musco Pearl Olives. By successfully getting the audience to �believe' in the message they will want to buy only Musco olives because it will make them feel as if they have supported the characters. these commercials are intended to make a potential customer want to buy the product because the product will give them hope.
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The ads all feature hardships, conflicts of the abnormal characters against the perceived normality of society. The old man in Birds sees hope in the young baby because �his people' will not die out with him, and will continue be excepted and loved by their family's. In Orphanage Philip is given hope because for the first time in his life he knows that he will be adopted, and that there are other people like him in the world. Finally in Worker the poor Worker, after a day of hardship, loss, and disapproval, finds someone he can identify with and who is like him giving him hope.� The ending of all three ads, the slogan "Believe in Olive Fingers" followed by images of the product, associates Musco Pearl Olives with the feeling of hope instilled within the audience by the stories. This association is intended to carry over when the viewer is face to face with the real product and perhaps they will purchase some based on these feelings.
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