Tagmemic Analysis P. McKercher

I sometimes do a rather hurried job of introducing tagmemic analysis, so I'll demo it now. Most of us were brainwashed in school to get the right answer, when really what's more important is the right question. Tagmemic analysis was created to help us all do what creative people naturally do; look at something from many unusual perspectives--to look at what everyone else is looking at and seeing something different. The idea came from Pike, a linguist who noticed that every language in the world has ways of talking about things (particle), things changing (wave) and things in relation to a larger context (field). If we couldn't think and talk about these basic concepts, we'd die.

PARTICLE: (what are its features?)

So I have this Pepsi can on my desk i haven't figured out how to recycle yet. It is painted aluminum (of the absolute minimum thickness, thus reducing demand on the environment and its cost); colorful (red, white blue and silver--not a coincidence, tho it for some reason doesn't strike me as particularly patriotic. Maybe it's because the background is variegated blue, to look like ice cubes. Blue is very big this year, with iMac and all. A cool color in several senses?) It's absolutely covered with info: 5/6th is logo; on the 6th side is the info the gov't requires, nutrition (yeah right) facts and ingredients [1% of the salt but 14% of the carbos I need today; no fat). Second ingred after water is high fructose (sounds good for me) corn syrup and/or sugar [heard a great talk last year which touched on how central sugar was to American history: it essentially destroyed the Carribean, brought Castro to power, created the familiar triangular trade route that allowed New Engl to become a shipping power, brought slaves, and (this was the really new part to me) sort of powered the people (cheap carbo fuel) in England who worked in the factories that sparked the Industrial Revolution. [maybe sugar still powers the workers: I hear programmers live on coke, pizza and twinkies, for example; Snickers are hawked as a lunch substitute. Hmmm).

So I paid a buck for sugar water.

On the botton 1/2 of the 6th side is who the mfr is, in very small print, an 800 # for comments and questions , and in red the website address, inviting me to "visit". In small blue letters I'm invited to recycle (it shows they care), to store in a cool place and (this is new) for best taste I shd drink this by Nov 24. I suspect this is a ploy, and that Nov is about when the stock wd be sold anyway, but maybe I'm just cynical.

I'm struck by how much this product is a part of the Info Age. There's a UPC code so it can be scanned (very convenient to buy--none of that tedious punching in of prices (used a rotary dial phone lately? sheer torture! not to mention second class citizen status in a phone tree: wait for an operator to assist you, you loser). And this is really amazing: this can is numbered. If we knew the code we cd figure out exactly where and when this as made. Also may be an anti-tamper measure or if a bad batch gets out the damage can be quickly isolated; scary times we live in).

But I digress: how does it differ from similar things? Well, chemically it's probably indistinguishable from other soft drinks, a little less sweet (proved by, i assume, hundreds of thousands of dollars or marketing research). You might recall the great New Coke disaster of some yrs back; I think new Coke was closer to Pepsi formula, which was more popular, yet it failed despite of a huge ad campaign. Why?

So Pepsi differs largely by means of its image. it now has a blue tab on top. it looks cool and fancy, but it's there because blue make it different from Big Red, the enemy [not unlike the Cryps and Bloods](that swooshy thing on the middle of the Pepsi logo is suspiciously like the very famous dynamic________ (I forget the name, you cd look it up) of the Coke logo, which originated on the distinctive (that is different in semiotic terms) Coke bottle [and somewhat preserved even on the plastic bottle today].

Consider the word Pepsi. To be peppy, energetic, optimistic. Coca(aine)-Cola.

WAVE: how has it changed over time? For a long time associated with youth:Come alive! Join the Pepsi generation/revolution (apparently some softdrink slogan of this type mistranslated in the East as Pepsi brings your ancestors back to life). Currently [ several years now; what is thge current campaign? Aerial snowboarder?] it's the choice of a new generation. (Compare to Mtn Dew ads). Formula not changed? name gone from st'd logo (like Air Jordans, no words required). See above for other changes. I guess it come in varieties: diet, low caffiene? Diff flavors (that is, same co makes root beer and orange and such?)

How much cd it change? Cd it become healthier like the new fruit drinks? More caff and it's Jolt or red Bull. Clear uncola? An Evian model? Typically taken with meals, esp fast food, but can be food subst. Some people have it for breakfast. At movies. (really any entainment event [except high class? Not at opera). What about cola wars some years back? Which co's have biggest mkt share?

FIELD: How is it part of a bigger system? the plant is part of a city system. Co is part of biz/eco system [here's the subcomponent part: it's a franchise operation, I beleive, and it owns other franchises such as KFC; I was on a plane a while back which proudly announced it did not carry Coke (?) products: what's up with that?] (and an ecological system). part of a public health system. part of a popular culture system (sponsors programs, charities, sport events). part of a political system (I'm guessing, but it may well have given half a million bucks to both Demos and GOP last election). Softdrinks, esp Coke, is seen as the epitome of American cultual imperialism.

OK that took the better part of an hour, but I could go faster if I wrote and no one else had to be able to read it. Also it was kinda fun. Looking back over it in a week might provide different ideas, but if I cd write on any angle I wanted, I might explore:

Importance of youth culture (big multinational corporation coopts whatever young people value/create and sells it back to them, even though values are exact opposites?))

Cola wars = Crips vs Bloods (battle for turf, market share; difference between the two sides non-existent or merely symbolic). Student sent home for wearing a Coke t-shirt to a school rally sponsored by Pepsi recently (later got apology). San Jose and many other schools get big bucks for making one company their exclusive vendor; why would a company pay so much for that right?

What is (was) the role of sugar in the world system? How much do poor countries spend on colored water? What health effects (tho in some place it's the only source of clean water so it's given to babies).

Does Pepsi get any kind of "corporate welfare"? I know that the American sugar lobby has traditionally been very powerful. What effects of that?

Analyze (BTW, watch the spelling on that; avoid those embarassing Freudian typos) the current ad (often launched/debuted at the Superbowl ( eg kid in bottle,).

Other than the last, the semiotic approach is kinda tangential, but there's some overlap with the semiotic questions at the bottom of the page on the HTBB handout. I'd be interested in your response to this.