Pepsi Max
Agency: BBDO, Düsseldorf, Germany
Creative Director: Toygar Bazarkaya
Art Director: Michael Plückhan
Copywriter: Kenny Blumenschein
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December 1st, 2008 at 11:40 am
It’s edgy, but it wouldn’t fly in some markets. Using suicide humour as a theme may seem callous.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:55 am
Wow, I didn’t think that Pepsi would be the company to push boundaries like that.
December 1st, 2008 at 1:20 pm
[...] morning I stumbled upon an interesting ad campaign for Pepsi Max. Despite the fact that it’s a cartoon character, I think the fact that “suicide [...]
December 1st, 2008 at 1:57 pm
That’s a pretty harsh route for that calorie to be taking. I agree suicide isn’t exactly the best way to go with this one.
December 1st, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I agree. The third one is awfully violet. Also, it takes awhile to figure this ad out.
December 1st, 2008 at 2:35 pm
[...] מהסוג ×›×ן « קרועה על ×סולין (הפוסט [...]
December 1st, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I wouldn’t touch it, granted the suicide theme. Can only wonder how the client managed to approve it.
December 1st, 2008 at 9:09 pm
i think it’s quite unjust that the illustrator is not credited in this campaign when he/she is the best part of this campaign. The idea is not very original nor insightful - it is the great and humorous illustration style that carries this campaign.
December 1st, 2008 at 10:23 pm
this is FUCKED UP. there are 35,000 suicides in america each year.
this is an incredibly callous way to sell a can of soda.
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
These print ads are fantastic! Finally a company with the guts to push the limits! Me and all my friends were rolling on the ground laughing. Like it or not, look at all the attention it’s getting!
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Unbelievable! I spend my time cleaning suicide scenes for families that do not have the insurance or money to have it be done. With 90 to 100 suicides a day in the USA we are over whelmed with requests as 80% of these suicides are currently being cleaned up by the surviving family members. I would sure like to have Pepsi executives accompany me on a couple of our suicide scene cleaning jobs and then maybe they wouldn’t think such a topic was worthy for marketing a soft drink. I’m the president and founder of ISP (International Suicide Prevention) a 501(c)(3) public charity. Please, stop this madness!
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:28 am
Most distracting and aggressive low calorie drink ad i’ve seen. It’s almost like the “very very very” is trying to justify the actions (for example, if it said ‘one lonely calorie’ it would not be able to fly…). Personally, I’m pretty put off by it.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:33 am
The emo calorie.
Like the commenter above said, this is a callous way to sell diet soda. Like there aren’t any anorexics in the world who die out of starvation.
Not to speak that aspartam and other chemicals that they put in died sodas to sweeten them are way more harmful than plain sugar.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:52 am
i don’t unterstant the discussion about suicides. this is a cartoon and we see much harder stuff in tv. i think this is a great ad with good concept and cool artdirektion.
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Unbelievable how low this stoops. However, as a marketing professor this ad campaign is going to form a series of questions for my students’ final exam in Consumer Behavior. We’ll see what marketing undergrads think of suicide as a marketing appeal.
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:55 am
I agree to Greesi:
It is not a human, it´s a calorie! If this puts you off, how do you feel about Tom&Jerry, Itchy&Scratchy, etc.?
It is just a boundary-pushing illustration and very well done! A perfect attention-getter, and that´s what advertising is about…
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 am
[...] Agence: BBDO, Germany Source: cpluv.com Suite des images chez Adgoodness [...]
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Anyone who thinks this is “cute” or “funny” or “good advertising” needs to wipe their conscience. This is no different than being OK with your children watching Mickey Mouse commit suicide because Minnie won’t go out with him. This is sick, perposterous and Pepsi shoud be ashamed. All youi’ve done is create Coke drinkers for life and completely lost the respect of your market segment. good riddance.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
To the people talking about preventing suicides: Do you REALLY think this ad will have any effect whatsoever on suicide rates?
If there is something thinking, “Hey, the Pepsi calorie is committing suicide. I should too!,” I think we’d be better off without that individual in the gene pool.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
[...] via FF] [images via adgoodness] View Poll Not rated yet.Rate this! Posted under: Advertising, Art Tagged with: [...]
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:36 pm
please, sodas are happy drinks…why pepsi did it?!
December 4th, 2008 at 4:50 am
I agree with the commenter above. There are more violent and agressive series/ movies etc. in tv. So what’s the problem with this idea?! I’m sorry Mr. Dovel, you’ve got a very very very hard job…
What would say the police about all the people dying in Hollywood-Action-Movies?C’mon get a grip on your weapons law. Every year thousands of people are dying in gunfights and nobody is crying, because of bloody and violent action movies.
In the past United Colours of Benetton proofed, negativ advertising is a lucrative alternative to etablish and promote a brand.
December 4th, 2008 at 6:26 am
Between this Pepsi ad and Diesel Rotting Meat Puppet ad it’s hard to believe Motrin took so much heat recently for that Mommy thing
December 4th, 2008 at 6:57 am
A Direção de arte e a idéia ficaram excelentes. E quem nunca viu suicÃdio em desenho animado? Quando era criança eu assistia isso o tempo todo. Meu Deus, as pessoas andam tão sensÃveis…
Congratulações à BBDO.
December 4th, 2008 at 7:40 am
I agree with Greesi
what is the worst this add could do?
There are gonna be more suicides?
If there was a cartoon about the economic crisis should we say “oh, this cartoon is being insensitive to the economic crisis! I wish the cartoonist would be living out the crisis himself!!” (?)
Suicide is a sensible issue, the economic crisis is also a sensible issue and there are countless sensible issues.
Sensible issues indeed deserve sensible treatment….
BUT NOT BY A CARTOON
I agree with Greesi
what is the worst this add could do?
There are gonna be more suicides?
If there was a cartoon about the economic crisis should we say “oh, this cartoon is being insensitive to the economic crisis! I wish the cartoonist would be living out the crisis himself!!” (?)
Suicide is a sensible issue, the economic crisis is also a sensible issue and there are countless sensible issues.
Sensible issues indeed deserve sensible treatment….
BUT NOT BY A CARTOON
how can you ask a cartoon to be sensible?
besides… the cartoon is aimed at people like you guys who can think and filter the concept and the joke and not just say “ohh my gosh! Suicide is great! Im going to commit suicide!”
December 4th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Bad idea.
Great artwork.
December 4th, 2008 at 8:35 am
[...] is the loneliest number! December 3, 2008 11:59 AM Subscribe Have you seen the new ads for Diet Pepsi Max? Reactions have not been kind. Some are comparing it to The Book of Bunny [...]
December 4th, 2008 at 8:42 am
what’s wrong?????? use tragedys in comedy is perfectly normal - well….use to be….
December 4th, 2008 at 8:47 am
You know, I totally get it as a creative. I love the illustration style. And while it is pretty over the top, that’s what we do sometimes to make a point. Is it graphic? Yes. Might it ruffle some feathers? Yes. But it’s just an ad and it communicates the message of 1 calorie pretty darn quickly. Society tends to want to act superior and point out the “wrongs” these days. It is what it is. Don’t buy Pepsi if you don’t like it.
December 4th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Please tell me that this is a morbid hoax.
December 4th, 2008 at 10:31 am
It is my understanding that the purpose of advertising is to sell something – a thought, a cause, a charity, an event, a product – in other words, to get people to part with their money or their time, which some say is money anyway. These ads have prompted me, as well as a good number of others, to spend time to comment on them. So in that respect, they’re successful.
But let’s step back a moment and look at the current global environment in which these ads are appearing.
World economy in turmoil. Global job loses and threat of a depression, with no foreseeable turnaround for the next 18 months or more. The holiday season and the inevitable spike in depression that accompanies it, fast approaching.
Maybe it’s not the best time to be selling a can of pop by promoting suicide as an alternative to loneliness and isolation.
Just a thought.
December 4th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Mhhh…
The concept of the advertisement is poorly executed, they tried to be funny but it failed. Or perhaps they want to shock to get publicity.
Anyway: Stop whining, Pepsi is free to do and say anything is their advertisements, if you don’t like it, don’t drink it.
@ Matthew Dovel: I sincerely respect what you do for these families, but that isn’t an agrument against this ad.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
[...] DYT From Adgoodness Share and [...]
December 4th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
[...] had a chance to see the new Pepsi Max “Suicide” ads. I found a few of them on the blog Adgoodness, and let me say that I am not impressed. Pepsi has always had fun and interesting advertising, even [...]
December 4th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
You’ve got to be kidding me! And Pepsi spent how much to come up with these ads? Trust me, my grandchildren could have done better—-and only for a iPod.
December 4th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I have to say that this new advertising for Pepsi was saddening to me. I work in crisis services and am a social work graduate student and to have this campaign be the best selling point they can think of disheartens me to what the public is asking for. While i can see the entertainment value, overall, I’d rather see the calorie playing with a blow-up calorie then resorting to violence.
December 5th, 2008 at 3:21 am
Living in a country with one of the highest suicide rates in EU, i can’t say that this would be a good idea to launch such campaign. Even the news about such campaign launched in such country already sparked some debates whether Pepsi is the company that should be in the market…
December 5th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Well, the main reason why this ad doesn’t fly is because it’s not a niche product. It’s a general consumer product and thus it needs to be marketed that way too. That’s what I think about it though… why would you want to confront people with suicide in an advertisement anyway. If it’s not funny then it will not reach its objective. And the goal of this ad is to communicate that there is but one calorie in the product. What’s the relevance with suicide, thats what most people will say anyway. Creatives are awesome people, but they don’t have the same ‘cultural’ patterns in mind than the target group.
Anyhow, I find this ad not appaling at all. But then again I’m pretty young and have not been confronted with suicide that often.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:25 am
pepsi isn’t promoting suicide. people are missing the point. it is a cartoon character. it’s not like you can kill it anyway. hmmm. have we lost our ability to tell real from fantasy? it’s just an ad. poor pepsi. this was unfortunate for them.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I think you’re all missing Pepsi’s expectations of this. Nobody in their right mind would expect this campaign to run successfully.
The idea is to shock and horrify people in order to attract attention, get people talking and then have the ads banned and withdrawn. This is supposed to be this week’s Motrin.
December 5th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
why didn’t anyone say that the ILLUSTRATIONS ARE AWEWSOME, yet!?!? caus they really are =)
December 5th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
[...] company’s in the spotlight once again after publishing ads for Pepsi Max in a German magazine featuring a dark-humor take on the suicide of a personified calorie. The [...]
December 5th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Our son just committed suicde on 9/21/08. He hung himself. This is just terrible. What is going on with Pepsi? Obviously, the person (s) who created this has never gone through the pain of this type of death. NEVER. The Board of Pepsi should fire the group that came up with this. There were 25,000 deaths by suicide in 2008. Most people know someone who has gone through the massive pain. I think the group that came up with this should sit with the family that has been in the worst pain of their life. And, then go back to the drawing board.
December 5th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
This ad’s “agenda” is pathetic. My brother took his life two months ago. Most of you are right…until you are directly affected by something like suicide, it seems “innocent” and “cute” and “funny”. It comes down to awareness and class. Pepsi has the right to sell their products however they choose, but at what cost? As for me and the hundreds of people I know who are still grieving and terribly shattered by loss of my brother, we will not contribute financially to PepsiCo. Every choice has a consequence, every action, a reaction. As for the comments comparing ads regarding our economic crisis or any current events or hollywood movies..just remember, those things are tangible and still very much alive, my brother however is not..granted by his choice..but the visuals of these advertisements are devastating to the people who have lost someone by suicide.
December 6th, 2008 at 6:29 am
[...] found on adgoodness [...]
December 6th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Losing calories in NO way compares to losing someone to suicide.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Pepsi in not promoting suicide yet they are NOT showing a possitive picture of one single calorie either.
Suicide loss is NEVER ‘gotten over’ and until YOU have lost someone to suicide, do not even think of saying ‘its only an ad’
How desperate and callous has this country become that they need to use something so devastating to sell their products? What’s next; abortion? Death is final and people get hurt and some never recover from the losses. Put the humor back NOT the tragedy in.
December 6th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
real, fantasy, if you’ve never lost someone to suicide or known someone who has, you might find this a cute cartoon.. but i lost my son to suicide and i find it very offensive… to those of you who find humor in saddness and heart ache i feel sorry for you and pray you never face daily what i do.. i am a pepsi drinker but if this ad were to come out i might change my choice of drink.. sorry but it is NOT funny or even cute… samielee
December 6th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
This is absolutely horrendous. Glorification of suicide is WRONG!
I lost a close friend to suicide and this is NOTHING to joke about.
Shame on Pepsi! I will never buy their products again.
December 6th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
There is absolutely nothing cute or commical about suicide. We lost our young son to suicide and I am ashamed to say that he loved Pepsi. There will never be another Pepsi product in our home. Do your research, Pepsi!
December 7th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
[...] scanned and sent to an advertising blog, where it was forwarded on like the proverbial wildfire. Message boards went crazy with predominantly negative feedback (although also quite a few “lighten up” [...]
December 8th, 2008 at 4:03 am
[...] Naturalmente, isso gerou muitos comentários contraries ao anunciante em diversos fóruns da internet, a maioria dizendo que o anúncio é insensÃvel em relação à questão do suicÃdio. Um deles é este. [...]
December 8th, 2008 at 9:01 am
[...] New ads for Pepsi Max. [...]
December 8th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
This ad is very offensive to a friend of mine who lost her son to suicide and I demand it not be publicized!!
December 8th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Those ads are purely twisted. The People at Pepsi involved with those ads should lose their jobs.
It would have made much more sense for the calorie to be proud that he’s unique. But instead of being proud of his individuality, the calorie is suicidal. Whomever created and greenlighted those ads is fucked-up in the head. I usually don’t use words that strong, but it needs to be said.
Are these ads already running in magazines? I highly doubt they’ll give consumers a hankerin’ for Pepsi. Thank God I’m already a Coca-Cola man. Looks likes Coca-Cola’s going to win some converts over this Pepsi fiasco.
December 9th, 2008 at 3:55 am
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December 9th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
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December 10th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Wow, I wished this ad was present earlier when I wrote my B.A. thesis on ads… ! This is unbelievable, but I like it, there is much to discuss about its connotations and the image as a whole. No need to be so pessimistic and conservative about its vision. Years ago there were the ads of Yves Saint with Opium or the Colours of Benetton… using most selling concepts of sex and controversy. This time it is suicide, but what kind of a suicide?!?! Do we really come to recognize what there is bellow the surface?
December 10th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
[...] to say, message boards today have been popping with much anti-Pepsi sentiment, most of it centered on the claim that these kinds of ads are [...]
December 16th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Take a look at how many comments most of the ads on this blog get. Compare that to the discussion generated by this ad.
Well done Pepsi.
January 21st, 2009 at 5:55 am
What is it Bill Hick’s says to advertisers and marketeers?
This is one of the motives for his statement, but on the level of art and provocation, this is what good art should do, provoke and manipulate feelings of rage or rapture.
Being a commercial fizzy drink maker is no different from MTV and let’s face it Bill Plympton has made bolder statements about challenging our maker than this.
What’s the big deal? The bigger picture is that viral campaigns get more people talking, especially against the big boys. Pepsi will only strengthen their market share for having the balls to appeal to the reality of our planet.
People, unfortunately, do take their lives. There is no actual mention of it being a sin either. The one good example of suicide in the bible almost says that God deceives mankind by avenging Samson after he takes his life. A forum on that would be far more worthwhile than this here cartoon campaign, which I personally find tasteful and funny. Kudos to Pepsi:)
March 1st, 2009 at 3:46 pm
This is the most disgusting, horrifying advertisement I have ever seen. I will make sure i NEVER drink Pepsi again, and for anyone who does, I’ll show them this. May the advertising team rot in hell.
March 25th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Well. Until you’ve come to a place where you respect the choice a person has made to take their life, you’ll find these ads offensive. My brother took his life and we cleaned up his house after the fact. Yes, it was a lot to go through and if I had seen these ads then, I would not have laughed. Ten years later though (today) I think they’re quite brilliant. Beautifully illustrated, raw sense of humor and smart. I love the irony.
These thoughts come from a suicide survivor and graphic designer.
No one deserves to rot in hell for offending another’s sensibilities. Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:05 am
[...] Unbelievable. Fantastic. F%&$* Up. Emo. Distracting. Madness. These are just some words used by commentators in reaction to Pepsi’s latest ad campaign for their Pepsi Max, One Calorie soda. Obviously, the [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
This is in VERYBAD TASTE Pepsi just lost me as a customer
September 5th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
thats just bad taste.