Pepsi ropes in Mamata Banerjee as its brand ambassador

Hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her plans to paint Kolkata blue to celebrate her one year in power, Soft Drink giant Pepsi has shaken the ad world by signing the Chief Minister as its next brand ambassador.

In a press conference held at Kolkata, the India head of marketing at Pepsico Miss Nilima Nilopadhyay (name changed temporarily as a part of the current campaign), explained further details about their strategy. “The colour blue has always been associated with Pepsi. We are glad to observe that Kolkata has finally embraced blue after years of red – which was obviously due to the influence of a certain competitor.”

She went on to explain deeper similarities between the Pepsi brand and the way Mamata Banerjee is ruling the state. “Our tagline – Change the Game – is exactly what Didi is doing as far as governance is concerned. Challenging traditional objectives of development and growth while focussing on a uber cool blue image for the state!” 

With the end of IPL round the corner and thus the risk of cricketers, footballers and Ranbir Kapoor  losing their impact [the latter risk being independent of IPL], this move is being seen by advertising industry professionals as a masterstroke by Pepsi. 

Unconfirmed sources have pointed out that Pepsi may move back to its old tagline with a minor modification while featuring Miss Banerjee – “Yeh Didi maange more” – a suggestion sent to Pepsi by the Finance Ministry because of the repeated requests for larger packages for the state of West Bengal. 

When approached for his comments on this development, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said, “Even the great Rabindra Nath Tagore wrote – “Where the mind is without fear, and the head is held high” – did he not mean ‘Sir utha ke jiyo” by that?