Coldplay Kiss Cam Scandal Inspires a Pepsi Super Bowl Ad
Pepsi is turning last summer’s “kiss cam scandal” into a playful, soda-filled Super Bowl moment — with fur. In a new ad released ahead of the Feb. 8 game, one of Coca-Cola’s iconic polar bears takes the Pepsi Challenge and, to his horror, accidentally picks Coke.
Rattled by the choice, the bear heads to therapy. His therapist, a bearded psychiatrist played by Taika Waititi, gently helps him unpack the emotional fallout of the brand mix-up, according to TMZ.
Afterward, the bear wanders through the city, meets a female polar bear who offers him a Pepsi, and the pair end up at a concert. That’s where the joke becomes clear: as Queen’s “I Want to Break Free” plays, the bears appear cuddled together on the arena’s big screen, sipping Pepsi. Unlike Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and HR executive Kristin Cabot, who famously ducked out of frame during a viral kiss cam moment at a Coldplay concert last year, these bears happily stay put and embrace the spotlight. Byron and Cabot later resigned from their roles.
Whether this polar bear will return for another Super Bowl appearance is uncertain. AdAge notes that while Coca-Cola has featured polar bears in ads since 1922, they haven’t appeared in Coke’s Super Bowl commercials since 2012. The company itself hasn’t aired a Super Bowl ad since 2020.
Waititi also directed the spot. The Oscar-winning filmmaker and actor from New Zealand continues to work in advertising and helmed three Super Bowl ads last year, Fast Company reports. Known for directing two Thor films, Waititi says commercials offer a creative playground where he can experiment with ideas and techniques that may later show up in his movies. “Selfishly, I’ve used the world of making commercials as my filmmaking gym,” he said.
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