The Choice of a New Generation

I don't want a Pepsi president. Me being an expat Canuck (I think our prime minister is Wayne Gretzky, or possibly Lorne Michaels), he's not my president*, but I hope I can be forgiven for elucidating on matters concerning the leader of a nation not my own. Copacetic?

As you may or may not know,

(Pizza Hut changed its name to Pasta Hut, then it changed it back)

Pepsi started an ad campaign called "Refresh Everything" in which people could upload UCC videos of their hopes and dreams (and pyramid schemes) concerning now-officially U.S. president Barack Obama onto a website Pepsi set up, refresheverything.com(/John Carpenter's career). Thankfully, the campaign was far from a success; but the fact that a large, multi-national company would even consider co-opting Obama -- or any politician -- as a spokesperson irks me to no end.

Is there a precedent for this? Has a company ever used a president in an ad campaign? Would Pepsi have dared use Obama as their "spokesperson**" during the election race?

I'm living in one weird world. Pepsi deserves every bit of scorn and profit loss for the idea, but the bigger picture is much more confounding. Scary, even.

I like Barack Obama. I think he's a good man with good ideals. I hope he has a good term -- or terms -- as president. I like that he digs The Wire, that he loves basketball, and that he talks like a gentleman that you imagined when you were young. But if you deify a man, you're eventually going to be let down. Pepsi's not the only group of people to think Obama's cool (only the most manipulative, so far), and when you elevate someone so highly***, when he missteps your hopes don't falter, they plummet. I know; I've listened to Idlewild.

Obama has been in office for all of one day. Let's exercise some caution before we start proclaiming him the greatest president it the history of American politics. To do otherwise would be foolish. Pepsi president-level foolish.

(Ultimately, Barack Obama's legacy will be determined by how many T-shirts with his image on them are sold. My guess? Fewer than Che Guevera, a lot more than Pierre Trudeau.)





* Anyway, Ban Ki-moon is the world's president. Take that, Obama!

** Did Obama let them use his image in the ads? If so, was he paid for it (and, if so, isn't that pretty crass?) If not, isn't it pretty shady to piggyback on the zeitgeist of a politician?

*** Word to Kmart