This film is part of Free
Uncommon Market
Different time, similar debates as Britain gears up to join the EEC.
Overview
Contrasting archive footage of the violent division of Europe after WWII with scenes of an increasingly integrated and cosmopolitan continent in the early 1970s, this documentary looks for visual appeal within its political subject matter. Using the topic of product marketing to explore the argument for the European Economic Community, it asks: how does a big brand manage to appeal to consumers who don't even share a common language?
It's perhaps unsurprising that clips from Coca-Cola commercials are used to help illustrate the exciting possibilities of a new European trading bloc. The advertising agency McCann Erickson had a hand in this film, and had also produced an international ad campaign for the soft drink giant the previous year. If the idea that multinational businesses could help smooth out a whole continent's cultural differences seems fanciful to modern ears, just wait for the discussion, 12 minutes in, of regional variations within England: the "tastes" of the north and the south.
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