Rhetorical Analysis-“Feed the Rush”

Jake Linz
10/9/09
ENG 111
Rhetorical Analysis

“Feed the Rush”

Growing up during the prime of soft drinks, there was one drink that was the most amazing thing to happen to kids since the happy meal: Surge. The Surge soft drink came from Norway in 1996 when the Coca-Cola company decided to produce the product formerly called “Urge” in the United States (Vault). In 1996 kids and teenagers were influenced by various commercials with the slogan “Feed the Rush”. As a kid you wanted to be daring and try anything and everything to see what it is. Seeing commercials with various athletes from the X-games showing how they drink Surge, makes you want to “Feed the Rush”. Even the bright green and red colors on the bottle make you want to experience this new soda and taste the amazing flavor. In this advertisement, put out by the Coca-Cola Company, it shows how Coca-Cola is also trying to appeal to an older audience like teenagers. Although the advertisement makes Surge look like something extremely appealing and hip, where did it go? In not knowing what actually happened to Surge one wonders what did happen. People start to make up scenarios and assumptions to where it went. What truly was the controversy with Surge? Was there even a controversy?

The commercial starts out with a teenager who is going out for the night, possibly a Friday night. The teenager and his friends start the night off by going to a local convenient store and each getting a Surge soft drink. The commercial emphasizes the look of the Surge in the fridge, making it appear quite refreshing. As the kid opens the door cold air comes out, causing the Surge to look cold and invigorating. Also each soda is glistening with condensation making you want to grab one and drink it right away even if you weren’t thirsty. The product takes up the entire refrigerator eliminating all other brands from the audience’s line of sight, as if Surge is the only soda you should purchase. After this, the kids are go to various other hot spots throughout the night. The kids go to a bowling alley and while drinking their Surge sodas they check out a girl around their age in another lane. Later, the teens are listening to music and scratching on some vinyl records. This group eventually end up at a house party where everyone is listening to music, drinking Surge, and in partying in general.

The lack of communication in the advertisement makes the commercial appear to be intended for teenagers because like real life, this advertisement shows how teens don’t really communicate with their parents. The teenager from the beginning of the commercial gets dropped off at his house. He is greeted by his father who has the only dialogue in the advertisement saying “Woah, what’d you do tonight?” and the kid responds by saying “Nothing”. This makes teenagers believe that the advertisement is credible because of the fact that this lack of communication is true. In making the advertisement relate to teen life, it truly shows how this Surge commercial is intended for teenagers. Teenagers don’t want to be annoyed by their parents constant nagging and in return respond with short answers. The conversation between the teen and his father at the end of the commercial directly corresponds with teenagers. This advertisement also appeals to this age group because of the places the teenagers go to throughout it.
This advertisement shows how these teenagers interact in various places while drinking Surge. It is intended for teens because of the various events that go on throughout the advertisement like the party, the bowling alley, and also going to a record shop to listen to music. Each of these being stereotypical places for teenagers to go on an average Friday night. Adolescences can’t go to bars, casinos, smoke shops, or strip clubs because of the products being sold. They can’t go to these places because of either alcohol or other products being sold, however Surge allows them to still have a good time with their various friends at other destinations. This makes you wonder what product the commercial is trying to have Surge take the place of. It’s almost as if this advertisement is substituting Surge soda in the place of alcohol.

People above the age of 21 are able to drink and it’s what they do for a good time, however, what do teenagers do? Teenagers drink soft drinks and energy drinks in order to be able to go all night. Surges connotation is that when you drink it you are taken over by some sort of burst of energy, almost like a sonic boom of energy. This idea of a burst of energy makes teenagers want to drink this product because of the fact that it will give you the right amount of caffeine to allow you to go through your day and not get tired, like in this advertisement. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online, the actual definition of Surge is a swelling, rolling, or sweeping forward like that of a wave or series of waves (Surge). It makes you want to buy the product because you believe that you will be given a rush of energy and therefore able to go all night without getting tired. Even though this idea is clear to the audience, how do they know they can believe it?
The Ethos for this advertisement is the fact that it is a product made by the Coca-Cola Company. Coca-Cola has been a company since 1892 and is the largest distributor of non-alcoholic beverages in the world (the Coca-Cola website). In knowing that Surge is a product of the Coca-Cola Company it makes the audience assume that it will follow through in making your night a great night. The commercial also uses the idea of Pathos through appealing to the audience’s imagination in thinking about what they could do if they were to drink Surge soda. They think about how if these people are drinking Surge soda and having a very fulfilling and entertaining night that they also can have the same night by drinking Surge. This advertisement makes the audience want to try Surge to see if it really gives you the ability to do all these different activities in one night and also still have a great night with your friends without turning to alcohol. It just makes you wonder what happens when you drink this soda.

Looking at this advertisement, aired around the time of 1996-2002, of a soda that ceased production makes you wonder why. This curiosity led to various assumptions and theories about what actually happened to Surge soda and why. People, including myself, began to speculate that the ingredients in this soda did have some sort of alcohol in them or that the caffeine level was so high that it had more caffeine than two cups of coffee. Even my mom tried to restrict me from drinking Surge because of rumors being spread about it. This advertisement supports how each one of these could be true causing more rumors to possibly be spread. This commercial demonstrates the idea of Surge replacing alcohol because kids aren’t able to drink it so they turn to high caffeinated beverages in order to get some sort of caffeine high. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, caffeine is bad for you because it causes chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, iron deficiency, osteoporosis, etc. (Holm). Surge soda was and is meant for kids and young adults who can’t drink alcoholic beverages. This soda did have a lot of caffeine in it and a lot of sugar. Although this may be true these are not the reasons for the disappearing of Surge. At the homepage of an organization for the reproduction of Surge, SaveSurge.com, it states that Surge was not banned by the Coca-Cola Company or any other source, but rather it was simply taken off the production line because of decreasing sales. This product caused numerous areas of controversy between various people. Parents who heard that it was bad for their children’s health would call in and complain about its production. People thought it was taken off the production line because it had some sort of alcohol in it causing kids to act crazy. Whether this alcohol was liquor, rubbing alcohol, or even some other sort of alcohol, the idea or rumor of alcohol being in this product caused people to worry about Surge soda. Although this is what is believed by many, this simple soda was just canceled because people stopped buying it. This could be because of the wild rumors going around about it. It was simply just another soft drink, somewhat like Mountain Dew but actually had less caffeine, according to Glenn Collins who wrote the article “Coca-Cola, in Direct Attack on Pepsi, to Introduce Challenger to Mountain Dew”. This advertisement makes you wonder as a consumer what other advertisements have ceased to exist along with the production of its products and for what reasons. Controversy is not always real; people take it upon themselves to judge various ideas and information. This advertisement appeals to these various emotions and ideas. Why are these kids having such a good time simply drinking Surge?

This commercial causes people to question this soft drink and wonder about the various reasons for the enjoyment of this product. The Coca-Cola company intended this advertisement to appeal to a young adult and teenager audience. Surge soda was also intended for this age group because it is a non-alcoholic beverage and is what the time period’s youth was all about. Even though it ceased total production in 2002, as stated by the Coca-Cola Company’s website, Vault has been started in its place to compete with Pepsi’s Mountain Dew (the Coca-Cola Company website). It wasn’t stated anywhere that this is true, however consumers know that this is the reason. Although this may be true, Surge and Vault are not the same products, but do share similar ingredients such as yellow 5 and various nutritional facts such as, having carbs, sugars, caffeine, etc. (Coca-Cola Company website). This advertisement makes you wonder, what is in it and how much in order to cause these kids to have such a good time and be able to go all night while doing these various activities? According to Drink’s Heaven, Surge soda has 12 calories, 3.1 sugars, 51 energy (kj), 3.2 carbohydrates, 3.4 milligrams of sodium, 14.5 milligrams of caffeine, and also yellow 5 (per 1oz. serving) (Surge Citrus Soda). Although in knowing that this product truly is okay for the consumer, Coca-Cola had to stop the production of this fantastic soft drink because of the constant sales decline and constant bombarding of criticism by consumers. Even though this product is out of production, this advertisement makes you wonder if these kids can have this much fun drinking Surge why can’t you? It also makes you question if this commercial is reality or if it is an ideal night that doesn’t happen all that much. Even if it is an ideal and not a reality, it still makes you want to go out, grab a Surge on a Friday night and possibly have a good time like the teens in the commercial.

All and all the commercial directly appeals to the logic and emotions of teenagers, making this advertisement centered around the teens of the time period. This commercial makes teenagers want to go out and buy a Surge soda and have a great Friday night like seen in this advertisement. Although people had various assumptions to where Surge soda went, the Coca-Cola Company’s website disproves the rumors about stopping the production of the soda because of it being bad, rather because it wasn’t making as much money as people thought. The places shown in this commercial make the viewer feel that this is what can happen when you drink Surge that you will have an eventful night. This advertisement uses all sorts of techniques to appeal to the viewers in order to sell the product. Even though Surge soda ceased production, this advertisement definitely did its job.

1.) “Surge Citrus Soda”. Drinks-Heaven. 10/19/09 .
2.) Holm, Paige. “Caffeine…Is it Really That Bad?”. Campus Health. 10/18/09 .
3.) “Surge”. Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online. 10/18/09 .

4.) Collins, Glenn. “Coca-Cola, in Direct Attack on Pepsi, to Introduce Challenger to Mountain Dew”. New York Times. 10/20/09 .
5.) Lund, Avery. “About: FAQ’s”. Save Surge.org. 10/18/09 .
6.) “Coca-Cola North America’s latest brand innovation is a unique hybrid energy soda that “DRINKS like a soda, KICKS like an energy drink'”. the Coca-Cola Company. 10/19/09 .