Once upon a time, Corporate Buffoons took the general populace for imbeciles. Then, Pepsi came out with, literally, the worst ad in the history of advertising. This woke marketers and agencies up from a deep sleep. They ditched account planning and started making great ads again. … The end.
For those of you not living under a rock, Pepsi is officially the laughingstock of the world due to THIS AD. It continues to be mocked unmercifully, thanks to God.
Colbert takes it down like no one else can. (skip to the 5:30 mark)
Prior to the explosion of ridicule, Pepsi’s CMO said this about the spot: “it captures the spirit and actions of those people that jump into every moment. It features multiple lives, stories and emotional connections that show passion, joy, unbound and uninhibited moments. No matter the occasion, big or small, these are the moments that make us feel alive.”
That monumentally idiotic statement in conjunction with a commercial that is practically surreal in its stupidity, sum up everything that is wrong in the business today:
#1 – Pepsi ditched their agency and tried some “magic killing” account planning by themselves (almost prophetically, SNL saw this coming for Pepsi as a result).
#2 – the amount of recycled grandiose marketing babble in the business has reached a tipping point.
#3 – the state of creativity in advertising is at an all-time low.
#4 – The negative effects on branding as a result of all of this is at an all-time high (“Live for Now” has been viewed 10 Million times).
See the below links for more sarcasm about it:
…on the amount of recycled nonsense that is marketing lingo
…on the terribleness of TV ads
…on the ridiculousness of applying grandiose language to marketing
…on poking fun at the marketing hype machine
…on how marketers talk to one another at conferences
…on the state of creativity as displayed during the Super Bowl
