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Pepsi halts wave-themed ad campaign
Snack and beverage giant pulls plug on 2005 surf-themed ad campaign, cites South Asian tsunamis.
January 5, 2005: 3:24 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - PepsiCo has bowed to public decorum and, citing the recent tsunamis in South Asia, put on hold a splashy new advertising campaign featuring giant waves.

A spokesman for PepsiCo International, a unit of PepsiCo (up $0.31 to $51.88, Research) that sells snacks and beverages outside of North America, confirmed Wednesday that the company will not be airing anytime soon a new television ad featuring soccer star David Beckham and several other athletes standing on a beach with a massive wave crashing in the background.

The new ad was supposed to be unveiled at a promotional event Jan. 17 in Madrid. Beckham, who is said to be hugely popular in Asia, plays for Spanish soccer team Real Madrid.

"In light of the tragedy in South Asia, we elected to put on hold a surf-themed soccer advertising campaign," said PepsiCo International spokesman Dick Detwiler. The campaign was set to run in Europe, Asia and other countries outside of the U.S. and Canada.

But the Dec. 26 earthquake in southeastern Asia and the tsunamis that followed prompted PepsiCo International to suspend the ads. The official death toll from the disaster now tops more than 155,000 people, including thousands of European vacationers.

Detwiler declined to say if, or when, the ad campaign would run or how much money the company budgeted for it. The ads were created by BBDO, Pepsi's primary ad agency and a unit of Omnicom Group (Research).

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Separately, PepsiCo International and the PepsiCo Foundation plan to donate $1 million toward tsunami relief and recovery efforts. The company is also donating bottled water sold under the Aquafina name and other PepsiCo products.

Other U.S. companies that have announced tsunami-related donations include Starbucks, Johnson & Johnson, Altria Group, Coca-Cola, Pfizer and Northwest Airlines.  Top of page




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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.