Social Class Representation in Toyota Commercial Series Film: Ending Love in 3 Episodes

Abstract

Mengakhiri Cinta Dalam 3 Episode is a movie series directed by Yandy Laurens and produced in 2018 as part of Toyota's promotional strategy to introduce one of their latest models, Yaris. This hatchback type vehicle was first marketed in Indonesia in 2006 with a market segmentation of consumers from the middle class and the age range of 35-50 years and in the latest model, Toyota shifted the target market of Yaris by targeting the 20-30 age group with the middle to upper economic level called young and affluent drivers. The purpose of this research is to find out how the young and affluent group is represented in the movie series Ending Love in 3 Episodes, as a way for Toyota to reach the new target market. Stuart Hall's representation theory is used as the main theory, along with Rothschild's semiotic theory which is used to analyze the images shown in the film to represent the young and affluent drivers. The research was conducted by analyzing the film series Mengakhiri Cinta Dalam 3 Episode which aired on Toyota Indonesia's Youtube channel, the method used is to separate the signs that appear throughout the film that relate to the representation of the young and affluent driver group.[JV1] The results of this study found that this film series represents certain social groups which are their target market through the depiction of the main character, storyline, setting that represents the traits inherent in the target market.Keywords: Movie Series, Toyota Advertisement, Social Class, Commercial, Representation