Folgers "Can-Do Nation" commercial
The CODE-X series catalogs a vast codex of source codes (aka “signs”) extracted from past audits.
The object of study in semiotics is not the signs but rather a general theory of signification; the goal of each “audit” is to build a model demonstrating how meaning is produced and received within a category or cultural territory. Signs on their own, therefore, only become truly revelatory and useful once we’ve sorted them into thematic complexes, and the complexes into codes, and the codes into a meaning map. We call this process “thick description”; the Code-X series is thin description.
“GET ’ER DONE” NORM: My coffee should have a proud hardworking vibe.
“GET ’ER DONE” FORMS: Working-class heroes. Uncontroversial blue-collar types: e.g., nurses, firefighters, steelworkers, fishermen, community volunteers, EMTs… also coffee roasters. Pride in having a blue-collar work ethic… with a bit of an aggrieved chip on the shoulder: “’Round here, Labor Day comes 365 days a year.” “Hard work — like coffee — will never betray you.” “The taste enjoyed for 125 years by those who proudly work hard.” “It takes a hard-working coffee to get the job done.”