You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …

The Product:
Pepsi-Cola

The Promotion:

The Pitch:
Who doesn’t love free Pepsi? (don’t answer if you’re a pizza delivery driver)

This ad feels like a gamble.

On the one hand, it’s obvious how it could work. Lots of people like to order pizza, and if you make them believe drinking Pepsi is a core part of the pizza experience, like eating popcorn is for movies, that could definitely boost business. And, of course, people love getting free stuff. Even if the people watching this ad never get a free case of Pepsi themselves, the thought of Pepsi giving away free cases to random people is gonna make folks feel more charitably towards the company.

On the other hand … you’re stalking delivery drivers.

Like, the ad straight out acknowledges that this behavior is “weird”, makes the delivery drivers uncomfortable, and is a legal “gray area”. It’s the old “we acknowledge this is a problem, and make jokes about how it’s a problem, therefore it’s not a problem anymore” strategy. But it still seems risky, because we spend far more time in this ad with the weirded out delivery drivers than we do with the folks getting free Pepsi. So if viewers end up empathizing more with the delivery drivers, this could all backfire.

How did the ad work for you? Were you charmed by Pepsi’s random acts of goodwill? Or were your sympathies with the drivers being hassled by these weirdos from Pepsi?