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Dancing Goats

The advertisement for Dancing Goats coffee is an interesting one. It certainly attracts attention. But what, really, does it accomplish? In my opinion: nothing. The advertisement is a miserable failure at selling the product, and it succeeds only in driving away customers.

1) Point of support

The name Dancing Goats itself conjures up undesireable imagery.

Evidence

Goats, as a rule, are not known for their appeal. Goats are smelly farm animals known for their ability to consume anything, no matter how poisonous or offensive. Tales abound of goats eating tin cans and barbed wire fences, and they are generally held to be foul-smelling, hairy, ungainly animals. The addition of the word "dancing" doesn't assist, as goats are also, according to superstition, symbols of the ultimate evil in the Christian mythos - Satan. Satan is depicted as being a man with the legs and horns of a goat, and is supposed to dance around the fire at witches sabbaths. The malevolent implications are not limited to the Christian cultural heritage. According to the Greeks, beings with the upper halves of men and the lower halves of goats are called satyrs, and they were renowned for their brutality, not to mention a penchant for casual rape. The best-known satyr of them all, the god Pan, was supposed to drive men to insanity with the power of his piping. His name is where we get the word "Panic".

Explanation

All of these images are negative ones. Unappetising, to say the least. A coffee whose trademark symbol is an odiforous Satanically linked farm animal with indiscriminate eating habits is not one that most people I know would care to drink. It makes the coffee sound as if it is a foul-smelling concoction which could contain any substance at all.

2) Point of support

The graphics of the advertisement, while drawing attention, do so in repellant ways.

Evidence

The background of the advertisement is black, and the text and imagery of it are white, reinforcing the negative imagery already brought to mind by the name. The two images, images (as one might expect) of dancing goats, look as if they might be dancing around a ritual circle, and they each hold in one cloven "hand" a sprig of some unexplained plant, and in the other hand a cup of coffee. The coffee is drawn in such a way that the wisps of substance above it might either be emanating from the cup itself or from the goat's armpit immediately above, making it equally likely to be steam, armpit hair, or simply the goat's background stench.

Explanation

None of this is exactly what I'd call appealing. The black coloring which makes up approximately 80% of the ad has negative connotations - darkness and evil. These are hardly things which would appeal to the everyday coffee connoisseur. The goat images, as I've shown, are also negative ones, and the addition of the plant sprigs simply serve to puzzle rather than entrance. The fact that the wisps of substance above the coffee cups might be emanating from their armpits again reinforces the vilely smelling reputation goats have to begin with, and to associate this stench with the coffee is not the best move on the part of this advertisement.

3) Point of support

The verbiage of the advertisement has nothing to do with the imagery, creating a sensation of dissonance which can't help but destroy any remaining credibility the ad might otherwise have had.

Evidence

The verbiage of the ad reads as follows: "New Year's Resolution: Drink Better Coffee". Down below, it says, "We can help you to keep your resolution~ Experience the rich, caramelly smoothness of our signature coffee blend: Dancing Goats." Down at the bottom, it finishes with "DANCING GOATS. A LEGENDARY COFFEE, ONLY AT WWW.BATDORF.COM".

Explanation

None of the main text of the ad has anything whatsoever to do with goats, dancing or otherwise. It doesn't provide any reasoning behind the name, or even play off it in a humorous fashion, leaving one wondering what the ad might possibly have to do with the name. The fact that there are images of goats prominently placed, while being utterely unreferenced in the text, adds to this feeling that the text and the images were simply placed together at random with no sense of consistancy maintained throughout.

Some may question this thesis. At least it attracts attention, they might cry. This is not enough, in my humble opinion. An advertisement must do more than that. It must attract attention in a positive manner, or else it must be judged a failure, disproving the old assertion that "there's no such thing as bad publicity". This advertisement fits firmly into the category of bad publicity, and should be held up as an example of what not to do to advertisers around the globe.