Pepsi Fire and Ice TV commercial shot in China to target youth

March 06, 2010

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A 2006 video commercial of two Pepsi products – Pepsi Fire and Pepsi Ice – resurfaced these days as “Hot Searches” at Google trends. The TV commercial was shot in China and has Tata Young as Pepsi Fire and Vaness Wu, as Pepsi Ice. The way the video was made, with a lot of animation, is design to target youth in traditional and new markets for Pepsi (watch video 2 below).

Somewhat similar marketing motivations and techniques has the avatar ad of the Coca-Cola company made for the 2009 Super Bowl (first video below).

Pepsi Fire and Pepsi Ice were introduced in 2005 in Asian countries and Mexico (see photo 1)

Pepsi Ice, made up of an icy mint flavor, is sold in Guam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Pepsi Fire, with a hot cinnamon or ginger flavor, is sold in Guam, Saipan, Thailand, Mexico, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Pepsi fire and Pepsi ice has been introduced in the Asian Countries Singapore and Mexico. The Pepsi Fire has ginger flavor and cinnamon while Pepsi Ice has cool blue mint.

Pepsi drinks manufactured by PepsiCo was first made in the 1890s by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in New Bern, North Carolina. The brand was trademarked on June 16, 1903. There have been many Pepsi variants produced over the years since 1898.

Pepsi is made with carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, sugar, phosphoric acid, caffeine, citric acid and natural flavors. A can of Pepsi (12 fl ounces) has 41 grams of carbohydrates (all from sugar), 30 mg of sodium, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of protein, 38 mg of caffeine and 150 calories. The caffeine-free Pepsi-Cola contains the same ingredients but without the caffeine. The original Pepsi-Cola recipe was available from documents filed with the court at the time that the Pepsi-Cola Company went bankrupt in 1929. The original formula contained neither cola nor caffeine.

In 2010, PepsiCo, US' second-largest soft drink maker, completed the acquisition of bottlers Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas Inc., making PepsiCo, with $60 billion in sales.

Now that PepsiCo Inc. has acquired its two largest bottlers, there will be "a lot more joint marketing" of PepsiCo drinks and snacks made by its Plano-based unit, Frito-Lay Inc., Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo's chief executive said On March 1, 2010 in a conference call with reporters.

Therefore, more commercials like the 2006 Pepsi Fire and Pepsi Ice are expected from PepsiCo soon.

But drinking sodas comes with a price. A 2006 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that around 37 percent of our total daily liquid calories come from sugar-sweetened drinks. One 20-ounce soda has about 250 calories and 68 grams of sugar — with no nutritional benefits.

"That’s like eating 17 teaspoons of sugar, much more than you would add on your own to your morning coffee or tea. Adding an extra 250 calories every day will lead to gaining 25 pounds in just one year!" writes Tanya Zuckerbrot (MS, RD) is a nutritionist and a contributor to Fox News' health blog. “Stick to water, unsweetened teas/coffee and other zero-calorie beverages. “

Dr. David Ludwig, a Harvard endocrinologist whose 2001 paper in the Lancet is widely cited by obesity researchers, said that sweetened drinks are the only specific food that clinical research has directly linked to weight gain, cited by CNN.