Ten Great Pepsi Super Bowl Commercials From Years Past

Last night, for the first time in nearly a quarter-century, Pepsi did not run an advertisement to promote its cola during the Super Bowl. The soft drink giant instead turned its ad dollars toward boostng its Refresh Everything project, through which Pepsi will distribute grants to worthy causes in fields such as education and health.

With a recent Nielsen poll revealing that 51% of viewers prefer the battle for the best Super Bowl commercial to the action on the field, the Pepsi spots were a conspicuous absence indeed. So as you spend those stolen office hours today watching last night’s best ads on YouTube, enjoy a retrospective of some of Pepsi’s greatest Super Bowl endorsements from years past.

Think young.
Pepsi has branded itself as the cola of youth. In these spots, Britney Spears, Bob Dylan and will.i.am all pitch in to help equate the fizzy sweetness of Pepsi with the effervescence of youth itself.

Pop (or is it “soda”?) Culture
From MacGyver to the Pimp My Ride, Fight Club to that Haddaway song that just won’t die, Pepsi’s never been afraid to have a little fun at others’ expense.

When in doubt, grab the nearest star.
Sometimes, all it really takes to make a great Super Bowl commercial is an A-lister doing what they do best. Shaq’s balled for Pepsi, Jackie Chan’s cracked a can of whoopass and Cindy Crawford has, well, basically just looked good, all in the name of refreshment.

I’m good.
Sometimes, you don’t need a celebrity or a clever take on a great movie to advertise your soft drink. Sometimes, you just need to let dudes know how delicious your diet soda is, as Pepsi did last year. It may be one of the last Super Bowl ads we’ll ever see from the company.