Take an Extra Second to Make the World Better with New Coca-Cola Campaign

As part of its mission to refresh the world and inspire moments of optimism and happiness, Coca-Cola presents a campaign to raise awareness of prejudices and invite people to take an extra second in order to be able to overcome them. With the aim of spreading a message of optimism in the societies where it operates, Coca-Cola addresses a key theme such as inequality, and bets on the conquest of prejudices to achieve a more egalitarian and happier world.

According to the “Threat Theory”, by social psychologists Walter S. Stephan and Cookie White Stephan, when developing a prejudice, certain stereotypes get associated to negative events. This leads us to perceive the other as different from us, and therefore, as a threat. Through this campaign, Coca-Cola seeks to change that process and the construction of that perception.

The campaign “Let’s take an extra second” is made up of a main piece called “Experiment” plus three additional videos portraying, among other, the real stories of a grandmother, a model, and a group of children, whose personal experiences show that behind a prejudice there is a person and a story worth learning about.

Created by the Spanish agency The Cyranos McCann, creatively led by Leandro Raposo, produced by Landia, and directed by Andy Fogwill, the campaign can be watched all over the world through Coca-Cola’s online platforms.

“Our mission in Coca-Cola is to inspire moments of happiness, and today we can achieve that thanks to a campaign that invites us to take an extra second to get rid of preconceptions and stereotypes, and to get to know the people around us, and appreciate their uniqueness. This means being able to open ourselves up and to accept the others just the way they are. From this place, we put the enormous outreach capacity Coca-Cola has at everyone’s service, since we are convinced that if we get rid of prejudices, we will be able to establish more supportive bonds, and the world will undoubtedly be a happier place,” says Guillermo Giménez y Brotons, Communication Director for South Latin Coca-Cola.

“Today, all the world’s leaders agree on one thing, inequality is the biggest problem humanity is facing, and the main driver of inequality are prejudices,” comments Leandro Raposo, Creative President of The Cyranos McCann. “Coca-Cola is probably the brand that talks the most about equality in its communication, and also as product is one of the most democratic in the market. That’s why is only natural for us to be developing this campaign where we speak about prejudices, but not by stigmatizing ourselves as a society, or being politically correct, but by portraying real cases in an almost interactive way; prejudice in first person. To a greater or a smaller degree, we are all biased, what is serious about that is to live without questioning it or going against it. This campaign asks us to take one more second to get rid of generalization as a way of looking at the other,” he adds.

Andy Fogwill, Director of Landia, said: “In this fast lane we are living, with lack of time, a campaign that is a call to take one more second, and to reflect, is already quite provocative. In terms of communication, it is very important for Coca-Cola to lead a message such as this, with its own point of view, and a real commitment to the present; and in turn be able to intelligently contribute towards the development of a less biased world. From the formal point of view, we portray stories that are absolutely true, with real protagonists, and in their real spaces, trying almost not to interfere, and letting stories unfold their own narrative. Stories that are an example of optimism, and that show us that today “meaning” and happiness are related to some sort of commitment to life, to the other, and to the times we live in.”

  Advertising, Beverage, Campaign, Coca Cola, Let’s take an extra second, Non Alcoholic, The Cyranos McCann