The Story of a Commercial, An Apology and a Glass of Pepsi The latest commercial from sandwich chain Arby's is just a glass of Pepsi and a voice over. Here's why.
By Kate Taylor
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Watching Arby's latest commercial on mute may leave viewers paraphrasing another fast-food chain's former tagline: Where's the meat?
Arby's has released a commercial featuring only a glass of Pepsi against a white background and a voice over.
The reasoning behind the commercial? As the voiceover explains, the ad serves as an apology of sorts to Pepsi, which had been excluded from recent Arby's advertising due to the chain's minimalist and meat-centric advertising campaign.
Related: Arby's Breaks the World Record for Longest Commercial
With all the focus on meat, Arby's forgot that the company had promised Pepsi it would be featured in at least two Arby's commercials in 2014. Oops. So, Fallon, the ad firm that represents Arby's, put together an ad in the same style as Arby's "We Have the Meats" campaign that tightly focus on a single slab of meat.
"What started as a last minute scramble to feature Pepsi has turned in to something much more memorable with Arby's unconventional touch," Arby's spokesperson Christopher Fuller said in a statement. "We are both pretty happy with the result."
Fuller says that Arby's "We Have the Meats" campaign will continue into 2015, after an uncommonly successful year of unconventional advertising for the chain. In May, Arby's broke the world's record for the longest television commercial, with a 13-hour ad of slow smoking brisket. The "Meat Mountain," i.e. every meat on the menu sandwiched between two buns, has been served more than 50,000 times since August. Plus, the chain hit the social-media jackpot when its tweet poking fun of Pharrell's hat at the Grammys went viral.
Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back? #GRAMMYs
— Arby's (@Arbys) January 27, 2014
