The wind cries Pepsi

This one is a couple years old, but I stumbled upon it again while looking for another Pepsi ad and, well...



Jimi Hendrix was rated the #1 guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone. "Purple Haze" was ranked #17 on their list of the top 500 songs. And here's Pepsi, taking credit for his talent! "Thank God for Pepsi, or Jimi Hendrix would never have been a famous guitarist!" Are you fucking kidding me? This is made even worse by the fact that Hendrix is dead, and had been for roughly 35 years when this spot aired. At least if Hendrix were alive and had signed off on it, we could get the idea that he liked Pepsi and was willing to allow them to use his name. I assume that Pepsi probably get permission from the current representatives of Hendrix's legacy to use the name and music, but that's a poor substitute. I guess it could have been worse, though. Take a look at this script that Pepsi ultimately rejected for this ad campaign:

[Setting: a village in 1770 Virginia. A young man in colonial dress approaches a tavern. On one side of the door is a Coke machine. The machine is surrounded by British soldiers in red uniforms that match Coke's colors. On the other side is a Pepsi machine, surrounded by colonists in blue, one of whom looks over at the young man. The man who looks over should be cast as a dead ringer for George Washington. The young man goes to the Pepsi machine and purchases one. After drinking, he looks up, clearly inspired.]

Young Man: We hold these truths to be self-evident... that all men are created equal!

[The other colonists chatter excitedly as the soldiers look over suspiciously. A subtitle appears on the screen identifying our young man as Thomas Jefferson.]

Voiceover: Declare the independence of a new generation... with Pepsi. It's the cola.

Sadly, the executives at Pepsi decided it was just a little too over the top.