In American culture we’re obsessed with things that make us feel good. Typically, either in a physical or mental way. We want to eat and drink the best things. We want to wear and drive what’s hot right now. We want everyone else to think we’re cool, hip, or simply said popular. We spend so much time and money every year trying to achieve this and the people who work in advertising clearly know this. That’s why so many commercials rely on celebrities to sell their product. We typically see celebrities and think they have it all and relate them to the epitome of popularity. Pepsi’s 2019 super bowl commercial relies heavily on the popularity and influence of celebrities to sell their product. It uses humor and their catchphrases to drive the point home.
What you don’t see in the beginning of this commercial clip, because I couldn’t find the commercial in its entirety, is the customer ordering a coke and the waitress replying with, “We have Pepsi, is that okay?”. In the late 1970’s Pepsi and Coca Cola became involved in what was called the cola wars. Since then they have competed in the market in almost every soda flavor. According to the company’s vice president of marketing, Todd Kaplan, even though millions of people enjoy Pepsi everyday they’re continually asked if it’s okay. He says “We felt that it was time to address this question head-on”. (par 3) I think this was an excellent move on their part and a fun way of almost picking on themselves for being notoriously second best.
I think the celebrities they chose to feature in the commercial are very interesting. In this particular commercial we get the strange melding of funny man Steve Carell, famous in the 2000s rapper/partier Lil Jon, and the hot and controversial rapper right now Cardi B. The latter two have catch phrases that play off the word okay, so when you look at it that way it makes sense. But Steve Carell does the majority of the talking and carries the commercial. This was a tad confusing for me and I dug a little to find the reasoning behind this casting choice. Pepsi’s chief marketing officer Greg Lyons said, “The team landed on Carell because they felt he ‘could be strong and funny at the same time to talk about how great Pepsi is’”. Which is not really the explanation I was wanting but I guess it works. He is recognizable and he really is funny. Somehow the weird melding works for me in the commercial and I think it did for the majority of consumers. I found numerous tweets saying things to support that fact. One saying, “If you think I’m going to start drinking Pepsi just because Steve Carell told me to, then you’re absolutely right.” So, I think that means they did what they set out to do.
Most people would know Steve Carell from his numerous comedies in the 2000s or from his role on the Americanized The Office for nine seasons. He was also cast on the 2004 hit film Anchorman and his role was well received. After watching his performance Judd Apatow contacted him with a film offer for them to write together. It was 2005’s The 40 Year Old Virgin. It was a big success and lead to many more starring roles for Carell. He has been nominated several times for the Golden Globe awards and has one once for Best Actor in a Television Series. He also did a foray into drama films and was well received in the film Foxcatcher, for which he was nominated best actor at the Academy Awards. With a well-seasoned career like Carell’s it’s no wonder Pepsi reached out to him. I’m honestly surprised he accepted the part.
The next celebrity we see is Lil Jon. He began rapping in 1996 and is known for creating crunk rap. He was commercially successful in the early 2000s as Lil Jon and the Eastside Boys and in later part of the decade and into the 2010s as a solo artist. He is well known for screaming OKAY in his signature style in songs. You may know him from the hit songs, “Low”, “Yeah”, and “Turn Down for What” just to name a few. This wasn’t his first foray into advertising either. In 2018 he partnered with Kool-Aid and put out a Christmas song with a music video featuring the Kool-Aid man. It seems to work for him and has made him pretty well known, whether seriously or not that remains to be seen.
The third and final celebrity featured in the ad is new rapper Cardi B. In 2013 Cardi B began to catch the internet’s attention with viral videos on Vine and Instagram. In 2016 she released her first full length project. It was in 2018 that she really blew up. She was featured on Bruno Mars’ single “Finesse” and she became the first person of Dominican descent to reach number one in the history of the Hot 100 since it was launched in 1958. She is also known for her catchphrase which is “okurr” and is her rolling her r’s heavily while saying okay. She was extremely popular when this commercial aired and to me makes the most sense to be cast in the spot. An article I found says “she may not have been headlining the halftime show with Maroon 5 but Cardi B steals the show in the new Pepsi commercial.” (par 1)Which feels like a big success for Pepsi, especially considering this is the consensus.
So, once they got that part down, they had to write the commercial. They have three relatively big celebrities in their own right so now what. Why not make Carell do a monologue of rhetorical questions that follow the “is that okay?” tagline. He asks various things such as “is the laughter of a small child okay?” (0.8 seconds) Then proceeds to switch roles with the waiter and have him order “the best thing you’ve ever tasted, okay?” (20 seconds) Then he says to say okay with pride and this is where our star power comes in. First you see Lil Jon behind the counter yelling “OKAAAY”. (30 seconds) Then it quickly cuts to the doors and in comes Cardi B, her catchphrase, her signature laugh, and her song “I Like It”. (32 seconds) Which just so happened to be named the song of 2018 according to the Billboard 100. She sits down with the customer and Carell does one of the things he does best, makes things awkward. Don’t believe me? Maybe you should check out the 2010 movie Dinner for Schmucks. He says okay super obnoxiously like he’s imitating the other two stars and finally declares, “I’ve got to come up with my own catchphrase.” (56 seconds) And that’s it. Short and sweet and to the point. In under a minute Pepsi managed to make its soda just a little bit cooler to the masses.
Pepsi has always had a distinct way of marketing and it usually involves celebrities and whatever is hot at the moment. In the 1950s Joan Crawford married the president of Pepsi and became the first celebrity featured in commercials. In the 1980s Michael Jackson, arguably the most famous celebrity Pepsi advertiser, had a deal with the soda company along with his brothers. Some other memorable names include: Ray Charles, the Spice Girls, Aretha Franklin, Nicki Minaj, Jeff Gordon, and One Direction. That’s just a few but I didn’t choose that list lightly. I think they have always had a good way of casting popular, relevant people while also keeping a nice variety. There are legends, pop stars, race car drivers, and rappers in the list. Seems pretty smart to me to reach a much broader audience than just choosing one type of celebrity to get your brand out there and memorable.
This also isn’t their first time uniting mega stars in one commercial. In 2004 they matched up Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Pink, Enrique Iglesias, Roger Taylor, and Brian May in a commercial featuring Queen’s “We Will Rock You”. They are in gladiator outfits and are singing the song along with the crowd. Pepsi is featured heavily and I guess it works. They get their name out there and have it alongside the biggest celebrities of 2004 and the remaining members of one of the biggest rock bands, Queen. While this commercial relies more on the star power and not on humor at all, it’s the same sort of feel as the 2019 “okay” commercial.
Although their plan of keeping Pepsi hip by using celebrities hasn’t always gone off without a hitch, unfortunately. Most notably in January of 1984, while filming his second ad for Pepsi, Michael Jackson’s hair caught fire after a failed pyrotechnics stunt. Jackson was at the peak of his career when the incident happened. It is said that this event led to his lifelong struggled with pain medicine and eventually his untimely death at the age of 50 in 2009. Another huge misstep occurred in April of 2017 where Pepsi cast Kendall Jenner in an ad where she ends a violent protest by handing a police officer a Pepsi. That one is pretty hard to fathom how it was ever made. The social climate at the time was not a very favorable one for this commercial. It’s no surprise that it had such backlash. At the time the activist group Black Lives Matter were doing protests for the proper treatment of African Americans against members of law enforcement. This followed a rash of deaths at the hands of police officers and is not something to be taken lightly, like it seemed Pepsi was doing with their frivolous Kendall Jenner commercial. Other than those two examples most of the commercials with celebrities seemed to be popular. It seems to be a successful way for Pepsi to advertise and be remembered.
So, my next question is, why do catchphrases work in advertising? After some researching, I found this, “The role of a good slogan is to point towards the benefits of the product. Slogans are supposed to highlight your brand image and be memorable.” Which when you apply this theory to the commercial at hand, it all adds up. Pepsi highlights the benefits of the soda by saying it’s more than okay. Carell, as stated above even goes as far as saying it’s the “best thing you’ve ever tasted”. Which is a pretty huge compliment to give your product. Then it says the slogan, or in this case catchphrase, should highlight your brand image. I think this commercial makes Pepsi seem fun, hip, and relatable. This brand image alone makes me want to buy the product even though I don’t drink it. And finally, the quote above says the slogan should be memorable. I think with all of the humor and star power Pepsi definitely hit the mark on this one.
I love a good laugh just as much as the next person so it really isn’t that difficult to see why humor is also an effective tool used in advertising. In an article I found online by Nigel Hollis he says, “Why do so many advertisers use humor in their advertising? Here’s the easy answer: The first trick of advertising is to make people pay attention. Funny ads attract attention.” I thought this was an exceptional way of describing the logic of using humor in ads. The main goal of an ad is to get the person watching engaged. So that the next time they’re at the store or thinking about eating fast food, they end up remembering your ad and buying your product. I know I am personally much more inclined to buy products that don’t have irritating commercials or advertising strategies and I’m willing to bet I am among the majority in this day and age. Comedy is king in our era. Comedy movies are hip and sitcoms and television shows too. Even the biggest selling movies at the moment partake in comedic effect including the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Star Wars movies. Comedy and humor are a nice escape from the pressures of everyday and all of the negativity on the news that seems to grow into more and more every day. Pepsi did their research and knew this and paired it with the star power and hit it out of the park.
In conclusion, Pepsi’s 2019 super bowl commercial relies heavily on the popularity and influence of celebrities to sell their product. It uses humor and their catchphrases to drive the point home. This has been an effective advertising strategy for many years across the globe. With Pepsi being at the forefront of this movement way back in the 1950s with Joan Crawford, through the 1980s with Michael Jackson, and from the 1990s to present with a myriad of other popular celebrities. Even with the few misses Pepsi manages to leave their brand with a solid advertising image. Pepsi is more than just okay. Okay?