Seedhi ‘laat’: Sprite takes a pot shot at Pepsi’s Youngistaan

Sprite is at it again, armed with a pin (and a TVC) to puncture the strategy of its competitors. This time, the target is Pepsi, which recently invented the Youngistaan concept. Is this an indication that the cola wars are back?

Soft drink brand Sprite is back to its old tricks: pulling the rug from below the competition’s feet. The brand, known for making (and receiving) digs at PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew and Pepsi in the past, has created another ad – this one blasting Pepsi’s new Youngistaan campaign.

Pepsi’s ad (made by JWT) shows actor Ranbir Kapoor making a desperate attempt to climb to his girlfriend’s (Deepika Padukone’s) balcony at night, and falling down instead. Hearing the noise, the girl’s elder brother (Shah Rukh Khan) walks out demanding an explanation. Kapoor, inspired by a hoarding nearby, comes up with the word Youngistaan and pretends to be a creature from outer space, from a land called Youngistaan. Thus, he gains entry into Padukone’s room and gains access to Pepsi as well, thanks to the impressed brother.

Sprite’s ad is a rather direct spoof on Pepsi. Titus Upputuru, senior creative director, O&M, says, “Pepsi’s ad was almost an answer to our prayers.” To him, Sprite’s recently adopted thought, ‘Seedhi baat, no bakwaas’, found its perfect embodiment in a spoof on Pepsi. “Pepsi’s ad is almost unreal – a hammed, convoluted way of doing things,” says Upputuru. “The ad almost asks for another brand to take its case.” And Sprite, being the irreverent brand it is, was only too willing to jump in.

The Sprite spoof, created by O&M, has the same setting depicted in the Youngistaan TVC. The film opens on a Ranbir Kapoor look-alike making outlandish attempts to enter the home of his girlfriend (a woman made to don the exact look and clothes as Padukone), while avoiding her over-protective brother (an SRK look-alike). When the girl’s brother demands to know where the boy is from, the Kapoor replica fumbles, saying he is from Junglistaan (dressed as a savage man), or Kabadistaan (with items of garbage all over him), or even Firangistaan (with loads of white cement over his face). Not amused, the brother slams the door on him each time.

Cut to a shot of the Sprite boy who is seen walking casually into the house through the door, like any normal person would, and SRK allows him in as he is a ‘padosi’ (neighbour). When Kapoor’s look-alike sees the Sprite boy in the girl’s balcony, he asks him how he managed to get into the house. “Darwaze se (from the door),” comes the straight answer. The film ends on ‘Yeh Hai Hindustan Meri Jaan’ (taking off from Pepsi’s ‘Yeh Hai Youngistan Meri Jaan’), while Sprite’s tagline, ‘Seedhi baat, no bakwaas’ is also leveraged. (Submit your opinion on this ad.)

A beverage industry analyst comments that this tongue in cheek attempt by Sprite should definitely brighten up the cola industry as a whole. It will be interesting to see how Pepsi will retaliate to Sprite’s spoof, the analyst adds.

Pepsi’s elements such as the robotic voice, alien concept, or even the elaborate efforts to enter the home, have been minutely examined by Sprite in order to create this spoof. “We didn’t have to try too hard to find the creative idea,” grins Upputuru, who has worked on the campaign along with Varsha Raina, Krishna Mani and Pooja Trehan of O&M. “Personally, I find the outer space angle too complicated and forced.” On the other hand, by talking straight, the Sprite man is shown being welcomed into the house – the insight being that neighbours are treated with courtesy in India.

The Sprite ad serves a dual purpose: While taking the competition head on, it also furthers its own ‘seedhi baat’, cutting through the chase premise. Upputuru is miffed that the youth in Pepsi’s ad is shown taking some time to come up with an excuse to explain his presence outside the house. “But today’s youth thinks instantly!” he exclaims. “When we launched the concept of ‘Main pados se aaya hoon’, we wanted to show that young India is confident enough to do its own thing.” In other words, young India is about being oneself, instead of pretending to be someone else.

The film has been directed by Parag Kulkarni of Ramesh Deo Productions, and is currently running along with the India-South Africa series, and on some other channels.

For the record, Sprite’s last few spoofs were on Mountain Dew (‘I wanna do’) and Pepsi’s Bubbly TV (‘Bada hi ugly channel hai’). Some other mockeries by Sprite on Pepsi in the past include an ad titled ‘The car nahin, dakaar’, which showed that on consuming a soft drink, a person burps (dakaar), and doesn’t get any car (as Pepsi’s ad had shown).