“Meeting for coffee is no longer so innocent.” This statement is featured on a bold advertisement in People magazine along with the phrase, “Sweet with a dark side.” The ad says if you buy Godiva Brand’s new beverage, you won’t just enjoy a dark chocolate mocha coffee. The experience will be luxurious and special. The ad is deceiving. It’s designed to create desire for what will happen to the consumer when they drink the beverage. It’s just coffee; Godiva Brand used The Big Lie technique, and it’s too obvious.

According to the National Coffee Association of U.S.A., coffee drinkers are between the ages of 14 and 94. This advertisement targets 18-30-year-old Americans who meet for coffee as a social gathering and dating opportunity.

The bottle of Godiva Brand Chocolate Dark Chocolate Mocha Coffee is pictured on a dark brown page with fancy decorations and text saying, “Meeting for coffee is no longer so innocent,” and, “Sweet with a dark side.” Both are written in a fancy cursive font above and below the bottle of coffee. At the bottom of the ad, “Introducing a premium coffee beverage from Godiva Chocolatier” is written in a smaller more secretive font.

The designers of the ad want to create a luxurious, fancy feel around their product. They utilize dark, rich color and detailed lacey designs. The “G” logo is pictured decorated and the color around the bottle of coffee on the page is lighter to create the allusion the coffee is emitting light. It’s glorified and appears to glow. This adds to the luxurious atmosphere. It’s also unclear as to where you can purchase the beverage, how much it costs, and what it tastes like.
The product is unhealthy. According to the article, “Coffee and Your Health,” The average American adult consumes three or more cups of coffee each day. Putting that amount of coffee into the body has been proven to be harmful. Non-filtered coffee, like Godiva Coffee, has been known to elevate the cholesterol level by up to 10%. This means the coffee being advertised can lead to heart disease when consumed regularly. The risk of spontaneous abortion is increased when pregnant women drink more than one cup per day. No warning is present. People with high blood pressure are told by doctors not to drink coffee. The detrimental effects are solidified when the withdrawal effects of coffee are observed. The list is long: headaches, nausea, depression, fatigue, anxiety, muscle pain, and vomiting.
You can’t be “not innocent” and “bad” just by drinking the mocha coffee. No unhealthy beverage can change the way a person acts, or the events that happen to them. The ad is clearly lying to the reader. We know it’s a big lie, and it doesn’t evoke desire for the product because the statements are dumb.
Godiva Brand didn’t advertise their product. I don’t buy what is said on the advertisement; I won’t buy the coffee. Godiva Dark Chocolate Mocha Coffee is not “Sweet with a dark side.”