# What's with this weirdly defensive Diet Coke commercial? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** soda-softdrinks\ **Created:** [February 2, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055 "2018-02-02T19:21:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/1 "2018-02-02T19:21:45Z")
Coke is running a new commercial for Diet Coke that’s weirdly defensive ([and I’m not the only one that thinks so](https://www.fastcompany.com/40523257/diet-cokes-super-bowl-ad-doesnt-seem-to-know-its-a-super-bowl-ad)). Summarized, an attractive but vacuous girl says something like, “Hey, here’s the thing with Diet Coke, it’s delicious”. (Editors note: it’s not delicious. Up until now, no one in the history of time has every used that word to describe Diet Coke. Mostly, it’s OK, if it’s cold enough and you’re fond of bubbles, phosphoric acid, and caffeine. But I digress.) Anyway, she continues describing the various questionable choices people make – living in yurts, running marathons (which, for the record, is a lot more admirable than imbibing a soft drink) – and therefore, there’s nothing wrong in having a Diet Coke. But…this is strange, because before this commercial, there was no reason to think anyone was feeling, you know, actual shame, for drinking a Diet Coke. Sure, there’s the “well that’s $1.99 I’ll never see again spent on water and artificial sweetener” regret, but you don’t actually try to sneak the can of Coke in with your purchases of tampons, condoms, and porn just to hid the shame. So what’s the deal with the “_carpe diem_, let’s throw caution aside and have a Coke”? Did some new report come out on the health risks of diet soda? Will drinking it to you whatever was done to this spokesgirl to make her so irritatingly shallow? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/2 "2018-02-02T21:16:34Z")
Strange. Is this a new strategy in advertising? Create some faux outrage about your product so you can get people to stand up against “THEM” and say “THEY can’t tell us what to do!” withouth realizing there is no them or they. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/3 "2018-02-02T21:19:10Z")
Well she totally Britta’ed that ad. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/4 "2018-02-02T21:20:09Z")
“The Man Can’t Bust Our Music” - Columbia Records, 1969. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/5 "2018-02-02T21:27:24Z")
Saw this ad for the first time yesterday in a movie theater before the movie. My main impression was to wonder who the actress was. Looked familiar - reminded me of Anne Hathaway. But as someone who doesn’t drink soda and was just waiting for a movie, it didn’t really impress me otherwise as significantly different from most advertising. Only reason I remembered it was the references to yurts and marathons - but other than remembering a cute young woman, I couldn’t have told you the tone, message, or anything else about the ad. Probably couldn’t have even remembered what it was for. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/6 "2018-02-02T21:36:13Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Well she totally Britta’ed that ad. It’s the AT&T of commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/7 "2018-02-02T21:42:30Z")
To the OP: you’re letting your feelings of superiority over us Coke drinkers, us enjoyers of “bubbles, phosphoric acid, and caffeine” cloud you. Just because you don’t like “water and artificial sweetener” doesn’t mean that those of us that do are somehow inferior. In other words, get over yourself. Given that, yes, this is a stupid-ass commercial. She’d too smug, to annoying (and IMO, not at all cute, so I don’t even get that small enjoyment) and too millennial for my taste. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/8 "2018-02-02T21:43:27Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Saw this ad for the first time yesterday in a movie theater before the movie. > My main impression was to wonder who the actress was. > Looked familiar - reminded me of Anne Hathaway. > > But as someone who doesn’t drink soda and was just waiting for a movie, it didn’t really impress me otherwise as significantly different from most advertising. > Only reason I remembered it was the references to yurts and marathons - but other than remembering a cute young woman, I couldn’t have told you the tone, message, or anything else about the ad. > Probably couldn’t have even remembered what it was for. According to ispot, her name is Gillian Jacobs. > **[Gillian Jacobs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_Jacobs)** > > Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (/ˈɡɪliən/; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress. She is known for playing Britta Perry in the NBC sitcom Community (2009–2015), Mickey Dobbs in the Netflix romantic comedy series Love (2016–2018), and Mary Jayne Gold in Transatlantic (2023), also on Netflix. Her other notable television roles include Mimi-Rose Howard in the fourth season of the HBO comedy-drama series Girls (2015) and Atom Eve in the animated superhero series Invincible (2021–present). > She has... ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/9 "2018-02-02T21:52:47Z")
[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnZnSumfIlE) is the commercial. They should do a cross-promotion with Subway (eatfresh.) ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/10 "2018-02-02T22:19:07Z")
There’s a lot of unwarranted aspartame hate out there, with people claiming it causes everything from weight gain to brain cancer and alzheimer’s disease. I didn’t watch the commercial. Does that sound like the sort of thing they were being defensive about? ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/11 "2018-02-02T22:24:25Z")
There was a sort of similar ad campaign some years back for Apple Jacks, with parents or older siblings mocking kids for eating it. “It doesn’t even taste like apples!”, was one of the oddly on-point jibes. I think the kids ended with the slogan, “We eat what we like!” But since 11 the year-olds probably didn’t write the ad, it came off as, “You’ll like what we tell you to like, even if it’s crap – in fact, because it’s crap – you sniveling little midgets!” Or so it did for me. Then there was the Dominos campaign a while ago where they admitted their pizza was terrible, but said they had hired gourmets to totally redo it, and now it was great. You know, that would be more convincing if you hadn’t just admitted to lying for the the last couple of decades. It was effective in that it got me to try Dominos again. Yeah, not really any better. I couldn’t even tell how it was different. Maybe it’s time for another redesign! ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/12 "2018-02-02T22:59:26Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Anyway, she continues describing the various questionable choices people make – **living in yurts** WTF is wrong with living in a yurt? The distinctive pattern of bars and rings that make up the ceiling of a yurt (or ger, in Mongolian) is the heraldic device in the seal of Kazakhstan and the flag of Kyrgyzstan. The yurt is the cultural “home” of the nomadic souls of the steppes. It’s a huge part of the social identity of those cultures, to the point that it gets reproduced in permanent buildings to emphasize “Turkicness” or “Mongolianness”. That’s just a little casually racist. I really really hope they try that ad in Central Asia. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/13 "2018-02-02T23:34:05Z")
I don’t drink soda and I don’t have time to watch the commercial, but I’m outraged nonetheless. How dare he/she/it say that!? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/14 "2018-02-02T23:40:25Z")
Fuck it. I drink regular Coke and I’ll continue to judge those who don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/15 "2018-02-02T23:41:30Z")
Damage control maybe? Trump is known for being a diet coke lover. Maybe they are trying to distance themselves from they negative association. (I promise I don’t always try to make all things political. :)) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/16 "2018-02-02T23:50:17Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > To the OP: you’re letting your feelings of superiority over us Coke drinkers, us enjoyers of “bubbles, phosphoric acid, and caffeine” cloud you. Just because you don’t like “water and artificial sweetener” doesn’t mean that those of us that do are somehow inferior. In other words, get over yourself. > > Given that, yes, this is a stupid-ass commercial. She’d too smug, to annoying (and IMO, not at all cute, so I don’t even get that small enjoyment) and too millennial for my taste. **Finagle** wasn’t coming out against Coke drinkers, just slamming Diet Coke. He’s right, it sucks. Nothing wrong with most other soda, I drink a couple of cans a day myself. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/17 "2018-02-03T00:35:52Z")
There was that Dr Pepper [campaign](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zza3GqEL5B0)a decade or so ago, where they briefly made a 10 calorie soda. The implication was that Real Men don’t drink diet, but stuff some negligible calories in there and BOOYAH! You’ll get laid! IIRC females are still more likely to buy diet. > [@gnoitall](#): > > WTF is wrong with living in a yurt? The distinctive pattern of bars and rings that make up the ceiling of a yurt (or ger, in Mongolian) is the heraldic device in the seal of Kazakhstan and the flag of Kyrgyzstan. The yurt is the cultural “home” of the nomadic souls of the steppes. It’s a huge part of the social identity of those cultures, to the point that it gets reproduced in permanent buildings to emphasize “Turkicness” or “Mongolianness”. > > That’s just a little casually racist. I really really hope they try that ad in Central Asia. I take it as a knock against hippie types who want to pretend they’re better by living off the grid and running marathons. Of course modern rural Mongolians live in yurts which are a far cry from the teepee you made in Cub Scout camp. They are large, have some form of central heating, TV, etc. They’re more houses with leather walls than tents. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/18 "2018-02-03T00:37:44Z")
I thought it was obvious: Coke got badly burned when they changed the flavor of regular Coke back in 1985. So they want to pre-empt any possible comparisons. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/19 "2018-02-03T01:15:19Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Strange. Is this a new strategy in advertising? Create some faux outrage about your product so you can get people to stand up against “THEM” and say “THEY can’t tell us what to do!” withouth realizing there is no them or they. If it’ll win a presidency, it’ll probably shift a few cans. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055/20 "2018-02-03T01:39:30Z")
I like that she is wearing a Germany shirt. Go Mannschaft in Russia 18!!! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-this-weirdly-defensive-diet-coke-commercial/808055.md?page=2)