I haven’t done as many ad criticism posts lately, as I haven’t seen as many new ads lately, but I
can’t avoid doing this one, as it’s so silly.
Okay, so this one starts at a gas station, and some cute
young woman in a white (with red polka dots) sun dress catches the attention of
the gas pump attendant, and so he pops his cherry™, er, that is, he pops open
his Pepsi Wild Cherry, and it blows the young woman’s dress up, like what
happened to Marilyn Monroe in The Seven
Year Itch. Except that Marilyn Monroe was consenting in the
skirt-blowing-up thing, seeing as how she did it to herself. But in this
instance, some anonymous gas station attendant is doing it, which looks a bit
like sexual harassment. But never mind, because when you pop your cherry™, um,
I mean, when you open a Pepsi Wild Cherry, all the lovely ladies will
appreciate your unwanted attentions, as demonstrated by the unbelievably smiley
and flirty reaction of this young woman. And then all the red polka dots
dissolve off her dress. (And then the whole dress disappears; but you must go
online to “see what happens next”. {She calls the cops, and the guy gets beaten
with nightsticks.})
Oh, but then we’re off to the pool, where a guy gets
punished for flirting with a girl. (So that makes the last bit fine, doesn’t
it?) Yes, this guy, floating in a giant red tire inter tube in the middle of
the pool, winks at some cute girl, only to have her pop her cherry™, um, I
mean, she opens her bottle of Pepsi Wild Cherry, and it assaults him and then
dissolves his inter tube floatation device, drowning him. (We don’t get to see
the aftermath, but I have it on good authority that he ate less than 30 minutes
before he went in the pool, and so he drowned. But at least in this instance
Pepsi is guarding against sexual harassment! {They do it every other time,
apparently.})
Then, in the last segment, some guy pops his cherry™, uh, I
mean, he pops open his Pepsi Wild Cherry, and the neon cherry on the bowling
alley sign sets off like a bunch of fire crackers, turning it into a hollow
cherry outline. This isn’t as suggestive, but at least they didn’t make the only
black guy be part of some questionable flirting/sexual harassment situation. Although
it does look a bit like vandalism, what with the sign being defaced and all.
What are they trying to say here? (Of course I’m joking with the insinuation,
but so many people are looking for stuff to be offended by, so you have to look
at every angle with stuff like this so the ad doesn’t end up working against you.)
Okay, so this ad is silly and tacky and questionable in
places, but it fails to deliver in the key area (based upon its imagery): as it
is clearly selling sex and such, and the ad shows people making a difference by
popping open their Pepsi Wild Cherry, shouldn’t the slogan be: “Pepsi Wild
Cherry: Pop Your Cherry”? Or are they suggesting it enough as it is so that we
think of it ourselves, and they maintain plausible deniablilty? (I mean, the
first part is the only one that’s really kind of yucky, but the whole ad is
saying, nay, screaming: “Pop Your
Cherry”, so shouldn’t they just come out and say it?)
Here’s the silly cherry popping spot:
