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persuasion

Pepsi's encroaching on Coke's turf with its newest ad, featuring a polar bear who chooses to drink Pepsi on his summer vacation.

1. Do humans own the trademark on polar bears, or does that belong to, you know, polar bears? We ask because this week, Pepsi launched their second ad in what appears to be a summer-long campaign to tweak rival Coca-Cola by co-opting the company's marketing icons (and, we guess, win over soft drink fans too). In the first spot, which launched late last month, a summering Santa Claus (whose image, after all, was popularized by Coca-Cola) turns down a Coke in favour of a Pepsi, explaining: "I'm on vacation! I wanna have a little fun!" The new spot features a polar bear guzzling a Pepsi while his kids hang out in a hot tub. So far, Coke execs have remained mum on the incursions into its territory. Maybe they're on vacation, having a little fun.

  • Watch Pepsi's polar bears ad
  • Watch Pepsi's dancing Santa ad

2. Which is more than we can say for the folks at Moma Propaganda, the Sao Paulo ad agency behind a controversial Kia ad which picked up a Silver Lion at last month's Cannes ad festival. The print ad toyed with pedophilia, depicting a teacher and a flirtatious young female student who get into a hot and heavy conversation. It was supposedly for the Kia Sportage, but after blogs noted the win, questions arose over whether it had run or was merely a spec piece created to be submitted to awards shows. It appears to have been the latter, prompting the Cannes festival to pull its award this week and ban the individuals involved from submitting work next year. The good news is, Kia isn't a fan of pedophilia. We're not so sure about Brazilian ad guys.

3. Spanish doctors, on the other hand, are above reproach – if only because now they have no choice. Spain recently passed the Food and Nutrition Safety Law, which bans the sale in schools of foods and beverages considered high in fat, salt or sugar. As part of the new legislation, commercials will not be able to feature health or science professionals – either real or the actor-ish sort – endorsing the nutritional benefits of products. The law also establishes a national obesity study to look at whether the Spanish population is getting fatter and, if so, what the causes might be. Here's the thing: If a steady diet of sangria and siestas is bad for you, we just don't want to know.

4. Still, they've got to be less dangerous than cheesy pizza and mixed martial arts, no? Because this week, the Canadian division of Boston Pizza signed a multi-year sponsorship agreement with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) league that, according to the companies, gives the restaurant chain "the opportunity to provide guests with an enhanced UFC experience when watching pay-per-view events at participating restaurant locations across the country." We have no idea what that means, but we're pretty sure you'll think twice now about skipping out on your bill the next time you visit Boston Pizza. You never can tell what'll happen when your waitress has been trained to administer triangle choke holds.

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 7:00pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
KO-N
Coca-Cola Company
+0.25%61.18

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