A pretty obvious dig! So not cool! Crass advertising!
— SWARA BHASKAR
The latest advertisement by Pepsi has raised a few eyebrows for allegedly poking fun at a recent hunger strike staged by FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) students. The hunger strike had got national attention when students refused to budge over their demand of removing Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman of the institute.
The Pepsi commercial starts with slogans raised by students against a college’s administration, wearing black kurtas with bands in their arms. The leader of the protesters, in a spot interview, exclaims that since the top brass of the college has rejected their demands, students will go on an indefinite hunger strike. As he confidently announces ‘Khana to Kkya paani ki ek boond bhi…’, a student slyly ditches the movement and consumes Pepsi, puncturing the whole idea of the agitation.
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The new punchline by the soft drink giant, ‘Pepsi Thi, Pi Gaya’, is drawing flak on Twitter. Actress Swara Bhaskar called the campaign ‘crass advertising’. Writer-director Atul Sabharwal too questioned the commercial.
Here are some of the tweets:
Did Pepsi just take a dig at FTII hunger strike?
— Atul Sabharwal (@sabharwalatul) October 12, 2015
A pretty obvious dig! So not cool! #crassadvertising https://t.co/4jzpSOaGst — Swara Bhaskar (@ReallySwara) October 12, 2015
Pepsi new ad makes mockery of #FTII students strike — Gurpartap (@Gurpartap_) October 11, 2015
Watch the controversial advertisement:
Meanwhile, Pepsi has issued official statement and also tweeted to the writer of this article.
@journokaran We assure you the ad does not mock or refer to the FTII protests. It only aims to highlight the great taste of Pepsi.
— Pepsi India (@PepsiIndia) October 20, 2015
