Round Up: Pepsi/iTunes Ad Cheeky, Shameful, Well Played

While news of halftime celebrity seminudity abounds, those more interested in technology and/or music are surely more interested in Pepsiis giveaway of up to 100 million iTunes Music Store songs. We at TMO have put together a list of a few sites that have given mention to the promotion.

Slate - The Super Bowl Special - For once, the ads were worse than the game.
Pepsi gets endorsed by a bunch of file-swapping teens. They downloaded music illegally and got busted, and now they drink soda. Itis a nice little tiptoe by Pepsi: They play up the rebellious youth angle, making martyr-heroes of these kids, yet by partnering with iTunes (Pepsi will give away free downloads to contest winners) they still manage not to tick off the record labels. Well played.

p2pnet.net - Ex-movie exec slams iTunes/Pepsi ad
Sheis one of 16 naive US teenagers ipersuadedi to appear in the spot which was to have reprised Appleis triumph of 1984 when, in the first Super Bowl ieventi ad, it launched the Mac. However, the 2004 production will be remembered with shame.

The New York Times - During Breaks in Game, Satire and Silliness (Google News link)
Pepsi-Cola Four commercials for the Pepsi-Cola soft drink sold by PepsiCo ranged from mildly amusing to hilarious. The standout was a cheeky spot, introducing a promotion co-sponsored by the iTunes division of Apple Computer, that smartly teased the recording industry for suing teenagers for illegal file sharing.

Sixteen of the miscreants appeared in the commercial, identified with tongue-in-cheek labels like "Incriminated," "Accused" and "Busted," as the soundtrack played "I Fought the Law (and the Law Won)." The jest was topped at the end as these words appeared on screen: "Drink down Pepsi and download music at iTunes. Legally."

SFGate.com - Private parts take center stage in Super Bowl commercials for beer, anti-impotence drugs
Apple Computer and PepsiCo used the game to kick off their iTunes music store promotion -- and to tweak the recording industryis legal assault on Internet song-swapping by featuring 16 teens the industry sued last year over their illegal downloading. The companies are awarding 100 million song downloads from the Apple retail site through bottle tops.

Opinions on the Pepsi ad are pretty widespread, but many found the ad to be from okay to good. Many are of the opinion that this yearis collection of Super Bowl ads were generally poor, which would certainly let the Pepsi spot stand out.

Those looking for more information about Pepsiis iTMS promotion can find it at Appleis site. More news and reviews of the ad can be found at Google News.