Earlier I asked some questions about what on earth we are designing.

It is so clear that there is a rift happening between XXth century rampant emptyness and a XXIst century realization that wait, I can participate in creating value for humans. It is not my position whatsoever to ridicule or undermine the creative talents of those individuals who are designing and directing for the consumer brands of today – and I would be remiss to do so.

It is excellent, though, to witness the tension and movement away from the meaningless chatter. I was encouraged and quite enjoyed this little music video called Sour, in which it appears a global group of strangers work together. It’s cute and small, but meaningful.

Imagine then, my surprise when I stumbled across this new Pepsi commercial.
They have made a few, some of the spots are screen-for-screen identical to the Sour video. One of the taglines reads “Can soda really save the planet?”

So here’s the deal. Pepsi gets it. They realize humans are hungry for meaning, often times even hungrier for a story. Someone sat in a room and considered the state of the collective, the ideals of a people, and came up with a strategy that considers collaboration, community, and the earth as a whole. Then, they applied it to a product that does not consider collaboration, community, or the earth as a whole, and used someone else’s creativity to execute it.

Almost guys, but really not at all.
Brown carbonated beverages with new lower calories will not save the planet.
Is this a step forward?
It’s probably good not to dwell on these products or continue to rail on the remnants of the XXth century. Instead, it will be good to work with people who get progress. Who get meaning. And who aren’t afraid to design for it. Awesome.

Maybe with all Pepsi’s publicity on how much money they are giving away, it will morph into a philanthropic enterprise. I’d drink a brown fizzy to that, like right now.