"Crystal Pepsi the ad they don't want you to see" - Sum Of Us misremembers the 90s to protest Palm Oil use

Sum Of Us, "a world-wide movement focused on creating a better global economy" who apparently also have protesting palm oil as a hobby misremembers the 90s in this advertising spoof.
First of all, when Cindy was in that Pepsi ad it was for diet Pepsi's new can in the 1992 Super Bowl (45 edit & 30 edit) - not Crystal pepsi. The point being of course that the boys are checking out the can, not the top model of the decade.

Crystal Pepsi, now revived and in stores thanks to die-hard fans, which is why these guys are riding on the name recognition, was launched with the Jack Handy style deep thoughts like "right now the future is ahead of you". Yes, right now.

Either way this ad attempts to do what the bloody orangutan fingers / KitKat bizarre break ad did, gross us out while educating us about palm oil and how the gathering of that hurts orangutans out there. "Conflict Palm Oil", it is called, when you buy from the companies that deforest while making the palm oil. In the KitKat spoof it wasn't all too far fetched, as palm oil most commonly used in soaps also exists in some chocolate bars - though KitKat made a statement that they never bought from the company associated with the deforestation.
This ad idea is simply riding on spoofing a classic but with the added "uuuugh" of a pretty woman trying to guzzle what looks like cooking oil. It gives no education of how Pepsi uses Palm Oil, how this affects orangutans, and it doesn't even get the ad parody brands right. I give it a D for effort, at least. Pepsi has been under attack before, in 2015 by RAN & Sum of Us, when Pepsi responded with this statement:
“PepsiCo has repeatedly stated that we are absolutely committed to 100 percent sustainable palm oil in 2015 and to zero deforestation in our activities and sourcing. This latest public relations stunt, focused on fiction rather than facts, does nothing to foster positive dialogue or affect positive change. We find our policies effective and stand by them,” PepsiCo added when responding to an ad that was slamming Doritos. That too was an ad that "they" don't want you to see, according to Sum Of Us who apparently lack enough creativity to come up with alternate titles.

Client: Sum Of Us

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Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
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kidsleepy's picture

This Sum of Us spot represents a disturbing trend in advertising I had hoped would only stay in Hollywood: The reimagining of something old. Is everyone so intellectually bereft they can't come up with a new idea or execution?
I don't care that Crystal Pepsi is coming back. Co-opting that news to get some earned media is conceptually lame.

CindyFan's picture

I think the reason 'conceptually lame' ideas is because earned media is all they can afford. This is very lazy thinking, and it does nothing to educate the viewer on Palm Oil.

Gloria's picture

Do you know the name of the song playing in the background