Pepsi is going up against their cola rival, Coca-Cola, with a new holiday campaign. While Pepsi is famous for its Super Bowl ads, the brand is not well-known for representing the holiday season. However, this year, the company will be launching a new gift-giving game, in which customers can scratch off QR codes on Pepsi products in attempts to find a Pepsi snow globe icon. Once three globes have been collected, the winner can send a cash prize ranging from $5-$25,000 to a person or charity of their choosing.
To assist them with this new campaign, called "Gift It Forward," Pepsi has enlisted one of the biggest stars in the world right now. Cardi B will be starring in a series of commercials to promote the spirit of giving and represent the Pepsi name. In one of the digital videos, titled "A Cardi Carol," a young Cardi in storybook form is scorned by Santa Claus for being naughty and not giving gifts, a behaviour which she promises to change. In a TV ad that will premiere during the “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” on NBC, Cardi joins a group of elves who are working hard to send holiday cash to everyone regardless of their "naughty" or "nice" status.
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Todd Kaplan, VP of the Pepsi marketing department, said in an interview that it's "a fun take on holiday giving that will spread more holiday cheer.” The company will also be selecting a member of the crowd at various NHL and NFL games and broadcasting them on the jumbo-tron. The fan can choose to accept a cash gift or send ten times the allotted amount to another row. While this may cause some awkwardness when attendees choose to keep the cash, Pepsi's heart is in the right place, and teaming up with Cardi is sure to spread the message far and wide.
