Nissin Noodles Commercial Analysis

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFwz-SvcBV4

Media Language

The typical advertisement for instant noodles may be plain and boring, often presenting family friendly images  with bright colors where a subject usually expresses their satisfaction with the product or mentions the product's benefits , this brand has subverted that expectation and set itself apart from other brands as the advertisement utilizes comedy and (mainly) absurdity to attract a new audience for Nissin namely young people as their current consumers are families and older people. 

The fact that it did not mention any nutritional facts or utilize jargon or even any text at all other than the lyrics of background chants allows the advertisement to be universally understood just by the images, the utilisation of Japanese style cartoons allows for the domestic audience (Japan) to view it as family friendly or conventional at first as animated commercials especially those with cutesy characters dominate japanese TV which allows for expectations to be subverted later, for an audience abroad the usage of Anime will associate the product with Japan and thus Japan's soft power as their products are often perceived to be of good quality.

Representation

The advertisement plays with the guiltless reputation of its mascot also the main star of the advertisement  "Hiyoko-chan", being a well established household name in the Asia Pacific region including Japan where Nissin's products are sold people are familiar with the petite yellow duck character which in the beginning of the advertisement is portrayed doing something as innocent even dull like the character itself which is preparing a pack of instant noodles while accompanied with nursery rhyme-like music. 

This is later contrasted applying Binary Opposites where the childish and sinless sentiment is broken in the next scene as Hiyoko-chan is illustrated offering the aforementioned noodles to a representation of Caim , one of the 72 demons listed in the Lesser Key of Solomon, while being accompanied with cultist chanting , now far gone from being innocent, this is still topped of by transforming the simply designed yellow duck to its more pencil drawn demonic form girating to the sound of heavy metal.

Audience

The audience of the advertisement posted on Nissin's twitter account are mainly young people as millenials dominate the platform, they can interpret the sudden change in mood as a hyperbole used to express how good the noodle was or how good the character thought the noodle was. 

This advertisement appeals to customers via Diversion where this ad which plays at the evening will provide entertainment and distraction after a dull day of work or study which will make it memorable, another way it appeals to customers is via Social Interaction where people can bring up the advertisement during conversations with friends who will also have watched the ad thus allowing their conversation to connect well or if not then will spread the word of the advertisement.

Industry

The fact that the marketing team of Nissin specifically planned the advertisement to go viral online and spread brand awareness shows us that modern businesses take advantage of the relatively cheap ad spaces offered by Youtube and other sites while exploiting the fact that the internet makes unique and weird things viral thus the advertisement reached its form in order to fulfill the whims of the internet, they did not mention any nutritional facts or include any voice over at all as internet ad spaces for videos do not allow the same amount of time as TV. The same ad may not have been strategic in a TV space which is costly for the business and the advertisement may have looked radically different if it did not have to catch attention and spread quickly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFwz-SvcBV4