Sorry for the poor quality of this new Diet Pepsi image, it was the best one I could find. Sofia Vergara is the new face of Diet Pepsi – they’re launching a new campaign aimed at young women, and they’ve redesigned the can. This new can is called The Skinny, I think. And all of the advertising is supposed to reinforce Diet Pepsi = skinny = happy. Look, I drink Diet Pepsi (I prefer the taste at this point, and regular soda tastes gross to me), but I don’t approve of this kind of dumb advertising. Mostly because they’ve taken a beautiful, curvy woman like Sofia and Photoshopped her into a skinny, smaller-boobed, chiseled-jawline monstrosity.
Sofia Vergara’s famous curves are hidden in a new ad campaign.
PepsiCo snagged the ‘Modern Family’ actress as the new face of diet Pepsi’s Skinny Can, but it looks like the diet drink wasn’t the only thing to get a makeover.
Known for her voluptuous figure, Sofia looks downright skinny in the ad that features her bony shoulder at an insane angle and toned down chest. So has Sofia been sipping on diet Pepsi and nothing else, or is there more to it?
[From PopEater]
The NYDN also notes the controversy surrounding Sofia’s ad, claiming that “Pepsi is hoping the bubbly Vergara will take away the negative press the brand received when it unveiled its skinny can as a ‘celebration of beautiful and confident’ women during Fashion Week….Critics have blasted the skinny can campaign for seemingly equating being skinny with beauty and confidence.”
Here’s what I hate even more: Diet Pepsi would have gotten so much more mileage out of just getting a pretty shot of Sofia with a Diet Pepsi in her hand. That’s all it would have taken – she’s a photogenic woman, just put her in jeans and something low-cut, and have her downing a Diet Pepsi. No Photoshop, no “SKINNY IS THE ONLY WAY TO BE BEAUTIFUL” messaging, no drama. I would have declared my undying love, forever and ever.
Ad courtesy of PopEater, additional pics by WENN.
The entire ad is tragic.
Is the straw even REAL? lol
Pepsi needs to fire their ad agency; They were also in trouble for the Superbowl ad with the black couple throwing a can at the white female jogger and leaving her on the ground. It was such a tasteless ad.
This is why I drink Coca-Cola (sorry).
dumb. why pay sophia for that? that could be anyone.
aside from the torturing of her body or trying to say skinny women drink this, the straw is wonky, and what is going on with the table the can is reflecting on?
fail!
Marjalane, I totally agree. I am not one to be offended by much, but I had to watch that ad twice because I couldn’t believe how terrible it was! I think Pepsi ad execs are out of touch.
Hate the ad- so ridiculous. Love love her! I was watching the Dirty Sexy Money episodes with her the other day. Love her!
Bravo Kaiser.
You’re all over this one like LeAnn clinging to Eddie. Pepsi could have so easily set up the buzz with the “skinny” being held by a beautiful but not so skinny babe. It would have captured everyone’s thought for the moment.
I suppose when it comes on TV the volume will be twice as loud as the regular program so I’ll mute it like all the commercials. Idiots!!!!
You mean there was a human model for this photo shoot?
“I suppose when it comes on TV the volume will be twice as loud as the regular program”
G-DAMN IT! I f-in hate that! it doesn’t make you any more likely to watch the damn thing, all it does is (as you said) make you want to MUTE THE DAMN TV!!!
and from what I remember, all of the Pepsi Superbowl ads were terrible. Ditto on the Bud Light ones.
I agree danielle – any model could have done that ad – I miss the 90s when supermodels did this and actresses concentrated on acting. Hilary Rhoda or Rose cordero could have done that for much less than what I’m guessing sophy got. Not very creative to say the least.
I would have never known it was SV if you hadn’t told me!
Why pay a celeb big bucks if you’re going to photoshop them into oblivion and make them unrecognizable?
Sofia is lovely and has an amazing figure, I agree a good photo of her would have been a fine ad as is.
I quit drinking soda years ago, then recently at the movies broke down and got a diet Pepsi/Coke, and got a raging headache from it. I can’t have anything with artificial sweetener in it anymore.
i too miss the days when people stuck to one thing…actors acted, singers sang, and models modeled. i hate that such a small group of people get to do it all. does every actress really need to sing, model, make perfume and have a clothing line? its just overexposure.
Is that angle even physically possible? That “shoulder” looks like an errant knee.
looks like a duck sucking on a straw
Hmmm.
I don’t really see the big deal here.
Sofia is NOT a big woman. Non-big woman tend to have skinnier arms and more defined jaws-lines.
Look at her arms in the photo of her in the gray-ish dress.
Her arms look damn skinny to me.
And her jaw looks pretty cut in Modern Family each week.
Sorry…She’s not a big woman who has been ‘shopped skinny..She’s a curvy woman in that she has an excellent set of ta-ta’s and a lovely hour glass shape but she’s not a big woman.
“she’s a photogenic women ” ?
Hopefully she won’t cross into Kardashian territory in the procedure department.
If you didnt tell me it was Sophia i wouldnt know. They are barely showing any face so it could be anyone.
I just read that diet colas increase the chance of stroke and heart attack.
@lucy2 – You get headaches because diet sodas have aspartame. Just watch this video from (60 Minutes)and you’ll see all the adverse reactions it has: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgIj7Gayb54
Sofia is a really skinny woman! She looks great. She’s not tiny, tiny non-existant skinny like some others, but she is skinny. Remember, this is a world where the average woman is a size 14. And lucy2- good job not drinking soda! I wish I could do that.
If I wasn;t told that was Sofia, I would not have recognized her at all in that ad.
There is no way I would have identified Sofia in this painting if you hadn’t told me Kaiser.
I wonder….why do these companies pay celebs millions to endorse their product only to photoshop them to the point of being unrecognizable? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just graphically design a fake person? It’s rare to see an ad that doesn’t have a plastic looking person in it these days.
This is so overblown and ridiculous.
If someone drinks soda, they probably do it with some regularity, and already favor Pepsi or Coke. An advertising campaign, and a redesigned can aren’t going to change your preference. Soda drinkers only switch when a restaurant doesn’t offer their preferred option.
As for this advertising campaign, I imagine that I’m in Pepsi’s target demographic as a young woman who cares about her figure. The thing is: I don’t drink soda, and a skinny can isn’t going to persuade me to forget that even diet soda is UNhealthy. In designing this can, I think Pepsi designed the can, knowing that invoking “skinny” would be controversal, and so they alined their product with fashion week, the perfect spark to their powder keg. (Mad Men Jukies: Remember when Peggy and Pete paid two actors to fight over a Turkey on Thanksgiving?) The controversy is aimed to stir up some interest, maybe people will try the new Pepsi can now simply because its controversal. I don’t think anyone will try it because they think its going to make them skinny.
HORRIBLE – the whole thing!
I agree – why pay her premium salary when you can’t tell it’s her at all??
The hat is laughable.
She is drinking from a can that is sitting on a table that is reflecting the can, but nothing else? And where is she in relation to the table? Is the table boob-height?
And don’t get me started on the lighting/flash fiasco…
F*CKING FAIL
I totally get that when you have someone like Britney in an ad, you need to ‘shop her a bit. But Sofia? With THAT much photoshop? Why?!?!
Diet Coke (caffeine-free) rules in my household! 😀
Nothing about this makes any sense at all, and Kaiser’s called it right, as usual.
They should’ve used her entire body or at least more than half of her face! She’s a beautiful woman and they wasted their time and money!
I don’t understand, is she leaning over on a table that comes up to her chest?
I need a Dr. Pepper now.
They are paying Sophia the big bucks willingly because we wouldn’t even be discussing this past the can shape if they used a random model. She is a celebrity, even if she is almost unrecognizable, they will get far more publicity with her involved. That said, I agree with who said soda drinkers won’t change their preferences due to an ad campaign. I used to drink a ton of diet soda and the only time I’d switch it up was at restaurants due to lack of choice. Also, this can wont last. From a marketing stand point, it isn’t practical. It won’t stack neatly in grocery and discount chain stores with the rest of the canned sodas. Ok, end rant.
This is what is wrong with the world, I’m afraid. Is obesity bad? You bet. Is it a problem for many countries? You bet. But that being said showing an overly skinny-ified woman drinking Diet Pepsi just sends out a horrible message to everyone. Sofia Vergara is a gorgeous woman. She is fit and healthy looking. What is wrong with using her the way she looks naturally? This ad almost looks like a cartoon. What a shame.
“I suppose when it comes on TV the volume will be twice as loud as the regular program.”
“G-DAMN IT! I f-in hate that! it doesn’t make you any more likely to watch the damn thing, all it does is (as you said) make you want to MUTE THE DAMN TV!!!”
I totally co-sign with Rita and Praise on this. Drives me and the hubby nuts. Luckily he’s got the remote surgically attached to his hand so that mute button gets depressed qfh (quick fast and in a hurry).
As to the ad, it doesn’t even look like Sofia Vergara.
Down here in australia she’s doing ads for LLB, and she looks fantastic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY8bmqzfFx4