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Cokenawazi to Cokesutra?

The new Coca-Cola ad for India features ab-flaunting eye candy Ranbir Kapoor.

Coca-Cola's latest spot for 2020 Summers reminds one of mango drink Slice's 'Aamsutra' campaigns. Slice's overly sensualised visuals of Bollywood star Katrina Kaif biting into a slice of mango or even sipping of a pet bottle for almost a decade have been pinned in the history of Indian advertising. Only in the case of Coke, it's a male protagonist. The new ad features a sweaty Ranbir Kapoor flaunting his abdominals and sexily sipping off a glass bottle. However, this male eye candy version is only one half of the brand's marketing trick.

Unlike Slice, Coca-Cola plays its cards in the 'warm' friend/family space, too. Roll back to the festive Diwali season of 2019. The ad film then put the same protagonist in a family situation alongside fellow Bollywood face Paresh Rawal. Wearing traditional clothes, Ranbir was sitting across a dining table and sipping Coke. Only this time he wasn't sipping it off a glass bottle, but a glass. There have been complaints about the connection with brand faces. It's like an iPhone user endorsing a Vivo smartphone. How does Coke pull off both of its positioning, and that too with the same brand face?

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