Can someone please tell me what the new Pepsi ad is all about? I confess to dozing off when the professor was explaining the intricacies of branding in my B School class but is it too much to expect that the ad should tell something about the product it is trying to market?

Instead we have a plot that is thinner than the latest microchip. Ranbir Kapoor is looking for a Pepsi (and possibly a clue as to what he is supposed to do in this ad) and asks his GF Deepika if he can get one in her house. She says he will, provided he is willing to face her bodyguard of a brother. Enter Shahrukh who is given a clichéd geeky look and is clutching a silly looking magazine on extra-terrestrials. On being confronted by him Ranbir takes advantage of his sort of disheveled look to project himself as an extra-terrestrial and thus gains entry to Deepika’s room!

Now I am wondering what this ad is supposed to convey. That drinking Pepsi helps you in thinking “out-of-the-box”? This ad is so “out-of-the-box” that the box is practically invisible. Or that people will do anything to get their hands on a bottle of Pepsi? This seems possible though the message isn’t conveyed clearly.

I wonder why is it so difficult to construct ads around 2 basic reasons why people want to go for soft drinks – one, because they are thirsty and two, because they are out to have some fun. How I miss good old Thums Up ad – “Happy days are here again, food, friends and Thums Up”. Simple, wasn’t it?

Oh, BTW, what in the world is meant by “Youngistan”? I would really love to make US President Bush look for that country in the world atlas. :-)

P.S. Am I becoming too cynical? I am suspecting a Pepsi ploy in the recent news of Deepika’s breakup with Yuvi and linking with Ranbir :-)