Pepsi just sent Coke's polar bear to therapy in new Super Bowl ad

Pepsi is returning to advertising’s most gladiatorial arena with a familiar provocation and a not-so-familiar protagonist. For Super Bowl LX, the brand is reviving the Pepsi Challenge in a 30-second spot that takes a mischievous swipe at its century-old rival, using one of Coca-cola’s most cherished symbols as the punchline.

The ad opens on a cola-loving polar bear faced with an existential crisis. In a blind taste test, the bear reaches not for Coke Zero, but for Pepsi Zero Sugar. What follows is not outrage or denial, but therapy. The bear lands on a psychiatrist’s couch, questioning his identity, before tumbling into a parallel world where Pepsi Zero Sugar drinkers are the norm.

It is a neat piece of surrealism, underscored by Queen’s “I Want to Break Free” and directed by Academy Award-winner Taika Waititi, who also appears on screen as the bear’s therapist.

There is also a knowing wink to pop culture, with a fleeting reference to last summer’s viral Coldplay “kiss cam” moment, folded into the bear’s disoriented journey. The result is a film that is playful rather than aggressive, but unmistakably competitive.

At its core, the ad resurrects a marketing idea that once shook the soft drinks industry. The Pepsi Challenge debuted in 1975, inviting consumers to sip from unlabelled cups and choose their preferred cola.

The premise was simple and quietly subversive. Strip away branding, heritage and habit, and let taste decide. The campaign struck a nerve, particularly among younger drinkers, and helped Pepsi position itself as the challenger brand with something to prove and, crucially, something to win.

Coca-Cola’s response to the Challenge remains one of the most studied episodes in marketing history. In 1985, after years of research suggesting consumers preferred a sweeter formula, the company launched New Coke.

The backlash was swift and emotional. Protest groups formed, phone lines jammed, and nostalgia turned into outrage. Within three months, Coca-Cola Classic returned to shelves, and the episode became a cautionary tale about listening to data without understanding sentiment.

Yet the cola war did not end there. Through the late 1980s and 1990s, the rivalry played out across pop culture. Pepsi aligned itself with youth and celebrity, signing Michael Jackson, Madonna and Britney Spears, and leaning into music, sport and spectacle.

Coca-Cola doubled down on universality and warmth, exporting a vision of happiness in a bottle, often accompanied by its now-iconic polar bears. First appearing in ads as early as 1922, the bears became a central part of Coca-Cola’s Christmas mythology in 1993, embodying comfort, tradition and gentle joy.

Pepsi, by contrast, made irreverence its weapon of choice. From “The Choice of a New Generation” to its Super Bowl stunts, the brand repeatedly cast itself as the voice of disruption. The Pepsi Challenge resurfaced at intervals, sometimes as a travelling roadshow, sometimes as a digital experiment.

Most recently, in 2025, Pepsi took the challenge nationwide once again, betting that evolving palates and sugar-free formulations would tilt the results in its favour.

The Super Bowl LX spot marks a further escalation. By centring a polar bear, Pepsi is not merely referencing its competitor. It is appropriating a symbol that has long stood for Coca-Cola’s emotional advantage and recontextualising it through taste data.