Cool Hunting

Creating quite the advertising controversy, Düsseldorf-based agency BBDO has accomplished their goal of "creating the world's most compelling content" with their recent campaign for Pepsi Max, Pepsi's new one-calorie soda.

Working off the idea that one is the loneliest number, BBDO created a series of cartoon drawings showing the lone calorie taking its life. (Click on the image for an enlarged version). While the campaign is a bit grim, it's simultaneously refreshing to see such a large firm push the limits, in an age where consultancies are normally forced by sponsors or CEOs to play it safe.

While the message boards are filling up with claims that Pepsi is insensitive to the subject of suicide, cartoons are notorious for exaggerated death, in fact that was pretty much the premise for the old Tom & Jerry cartoons, so the concept is not actually all that foreign. Whether Pepsi will pull the ads has yet to be determined but one thing is certain, the clever idea has definitely not created dead air.