Culture Code: Luxury and Food/Alcohol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqeMwcl6p_E

According to Rapaille's Culture Code, the Code for luxury is MILITARY STRIPES. The purpose of luxury is related to money, which according to the Code is PROOF of one's success. Luxury not only proves one's success and status in America, but also shows it off for others to see.

In this recent Acura ad for their Driven By Reason Sales Event, we see four different individuals who are all showing off their most prized luxury items, and explaining why they are so important and unique. The tagline of the ad is "There are excuses for spending money on luxury; and then, there are reasons." The ad attempts to explain that some people purchase luxury items for the sake of them being expensive for whatever reason, but they are not truly a smart investment because all the items presented are purely for show. While an Acura not only shows off one's luxury and military stripes, but also shows off more since it is a smart buy and the car serves more functions for the owner than just to show off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-3qncy5Qfk

These previous two videos are obviously parodies of energy drink ads and not ads themselves. However, they play on the same concept of the Code for food: FUEL. The only reason we have energy drinks is to give us whatever fuel we need to wake us up and get us through the day. Energy drink companies and ad agencies play on this need to make their product more desireable by making them appear "extreme" or "in your face," as these videos demonstrate.

I also find it funny how one of the flavors in the second video is "gun," which is also the Code for alcohol. Sometimes products like energy drinks and their effeccts on people can be so overwhelmingly powerful even with substances like caffeine that can also be seen as a dangerous weapon as alcohol can be.