I know I'm not the first person to notice the unfortunate similarities between the new Pepsi ad campaign and Barack Obama's presidential campaign, but I feel compelled to weigh in on it. It is pretty obvious that it is an obvious imitation of the Obama campaign. Pepsi denies that any similarities are intentional, but come on, an all caps san serif HOPE with a red white and blue circular logo for the 'O'? You aren't fooling anyone.
The campaign is pretty lame all around. The logo itself is pretty bad. The different variations for regular Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi Max are supposed to represent a smile, a grin, and a full blown laugh, respectively. But why even have it relate to the old logo if you are going to change it so much? It kind of looks like they just ripped off their own logo. Although, I guess I have to give them a little credit for having the balls to go with something that feels so unbalanced, I also have to condemn them for going with a logo that is pretty uncomfortable to look at. I don't mind the new font they use for the word Pepsi, and it is kind of nice that they went all lowercase, but that smile thing seems like it probably worked a lot better in concept than in reality. Almost every time I see the logo I just see the high-priced ad agency in some conference room pitching it, and using words like 'hip' and 'urgan' and 'internet age' and 'viral marketing' and all of those other words that nobody in the those target demographics actually use, but everyone else think they use, and all of the executives sitting there just thinking it is great. I kind of don't want to know how much they spent on the facelift.
So why HOPE? What does Pepsi have to do with hope? Do I have hope that there really is a delicious beverage out there? I understand that these huge food and beverage companies need to come up with new slogans on a regular basis, but can you at least have it have something to do with what you are selling? Pepsi makes a drink. Shoot some pictures of "urban" people with afros and the latest fashion accessory, throw some semi-hip slogan on there (like "I'm Lovin' It"...because "I'm Loving It" wouldn't be urban enough) and call it a day. Don't try to make it seems like you are changing the world with your popular new black president (who has confirmed he is a Coca-Cola man, by the way). It's just lame.
The part that really makes me cringe is that in the bottom right of all of these ads is a little logo that kind of looks like a refresh button on a browser with the line "refresheverything.com". I can also see the ad agency getting to the 'refresh everything' powerpoint slide and being like "its a reference to the internet, all of those in the "blogosphere" are going to love it. I hesitated to even go to the website because I didn't want to give them another unique visitor, but I had to...kind of like how I end up seeing all of M. Night Shyamalan's movies, just so I am properly informed on why I hate his movies. The Obama ties really hit you over the head once you get there. They have all of these requests for your suggestions on how "Mr. President" should "refresh America". Again, Pepsi, you aren't accomplishing anything. You make beverages. Making a refreshing beverage isn't going to stop the war, or end global warming, or fix our health care system. It is going to be tasty. And the whole 'upload a video' thing is so old. Note to everyone: you aren't YouTube. Just because you are asking people to upload their own video doesn't make you 'viral', it just makes you look like a huge corporation trying to cash in on the popularity of YouTube.
While the fact that Pepsi has so blatantly tried to steal some momentum for Barack Obama's popularity is super lame, it is the pathetic attempt to join the new marketing strategies of the 21st century that really makes this whole campaign contemptible.
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