1.14.2015

Pepsi MAX Filled Up a Room With Ping-Pong Balls on Mousetraps, Then Threw Another Ball in There.

Following in the footsteps of other omnipresent consumer brands with something arty to prove, Pepsi MAX made a huge mess with mousetraps and Ping-Pong balls for a video it calls "Chain Reaction." With the help of London filmmakers HarrimanSteel, a perfect grid of mousetraps was laid out, with a Ping-Pong ball balanced on each one. After all that work, a single ball was launched under some of the most dramatic lighting I've ever seen to upset the whole display. The ball then rolls down a big science-museum funnel into another Ping-Pong ball/mousetrap installation, this one with colored spheres. All this happens to the beat of music that sounds like Alvin and the Chipmunks' take on dubstep, and I don't know how to feel about that at all. I shouldn't like the more pretentious visual choices being made here, but I do, because it's fun to watch huge companies clutch their pearls at the thought of being a constant, low-humming presence in the back of consumers' minds. I'm not sure it justifies the filmmakers hugging at the end like they've landed a rover on Mars, though. VIA