Commercial Deconstruction

Century Link

Is this commercial an example of corporate media's attack on the American workforce? How? In a blog posting link to the Century Link deconstruction and answer the question.


After watching the commercial a few times and reading the deconstruction, I feel that it was an attack on the American workforce. The commercial seemed to only show connections between a particular class of people, although there were different races and ethnic groups shown, I didn't see a connection with maybe an urban to rural area. The fact that Century Link purchased Qwest and left 660 people without job did not help me think any better of Century Link.





1. Whose message is this? Who created or paid for it? Why?

Yoplait Yogurt created this commercial to sell their product.

2. Who is the “target audience”? What is their age, ethnicity, class, profession, interests, etc.? What words, images or sounds suggest this?

Young to middle aged, professional, middle class women who are worried about their weight. There is a woman who is at work that opened the refrigerator and is bargaining with herself to have a piece of cheesecake.

3. What is the “text” of the message? (What we actually see and/or hear: written or spoken words, photos, drawings, logos, design, music, sounds, etc.)
The woman is standing in front of a refrigerator in what looks like a break room at work, she is also dressed up like at work. The woman is bargaining with herself to have a piece of cheesecake.She is not talking, but a voiceover makes it seem like she is thinking. She is debating on what she will have to do in order to eat the piece of raspberry cheesecake. (Extra exercise, eating celery to cancel out the calories) A coworker (also a woman) comes along and grabs a raspberry cheesecake yogurt and lets her coworker know that she has been waiting to eat it all day. The woman that was debating comments on the weight that her coworker has lost. The coworker thanks her and walks off, the woman then grabs up the yogurt and ignores the cheesecake.

4. What is the “subtext” of the message? (What do you think is the hidden or unstated meaning?)

Yoplait's raspberry cheesecake dessert yogurt is a good as a piece of real cheesecake and healthier.

5. What kind of lifestyle is presented? How?

A healthy lifestyle because yogurt is considered a healthy food and the woman chooses it over a piece of cheesecake.

6. What values are expressed?

I don't think that it shows good values because one piece of cheesecake would not have hurt either of the women. They were both thin.

7. What tools of persuasion are used? See "The language of persuasion"
The women were clearly plain folks. They were average in beauty and dressed like a typical average, middle class woman might dress to go into the office. The one woman was wearing a shirt and cardigan, the other a blouse over a tank top. There was also an analogy of raspberry cheesecake yogurt being like a piece of raspberry cheesecake.

8. What positive messages are presented? What negative messages are presented?

The positive message that is presented is that you can eat a yogurt to satisfy a sweet tooth. The negative message is that an obviously thin woman is worried about her weight and what one piece of cheesecake will do to her.

9. What groups of people does this message empower? What groups does it disempower? How does this serve the media maker's interests?

It empowers those who are trying to eat healthy. It disempowers those who may have eating disorders. (This is the commercial that was pulled because of the National Eating Disorders Association's claims of upsetting those with an eating disorder)It does serve the media maker's interest because I myself am always trying new diets and ways to watch my weight as are many of the people (especially women) that I know. I would try a yogurt that tasted like my favorite dessert in order to eat something that I loved.


10. What part of the story is not being told? How and where could you get more information about the untold stories?

I think that the story that is not being told is that women are not the only ones who struggle with their diet choices. Google or another search engine on people and their dieting trends could help to find more on the story.