Interesting, valuable and resourceful so did I find Li Jin Xin’s blog on how red bull doesn’t actually give us wings. From Li Jin’s point of view, it was unethical for the red bull company to use a slogan “Red Bull gives you wing” because scientifically one does not grow wings by drinking red bull. This is very true.

I couldn’t agree more with Al Ries and Jack Trout however when they compared positioning to a battle for the mind. Consumers have information overload when it comes to advertisements and not all these information can be recalled by the consumers. I would however support the strategy used by Red Bull Company, since first information is more likely to be recalled, it should therefore be appropriate. The Red Bull advertisement designed its slogan to target the consumers’ power of imagination. The strategy which is rarely been used by other energy drinks or caffeinated companies, major competitors of Red Bull, could give Red Bull Company a competitive advantage. Imaginations evoke emotions and can therefore last longer in mind.

Using the slogan “Red Bull gives you wing”  makes the consumers for a moment imagine that they had wings and could actually fly. In this context, wings are used as metaphor to represent that fact that red bull provides high energy that can enable the consumers get to higher levels in their activities. I feel like the Red Bull advertisement is not fraudulent in this case since it has utilized the idea of imagination as a strategy to form long term memories in consumers’ minds.

Reference:

http://blogs.ubc.ca/cindyjiaxinliblog/