Fizz with food

Coca-Cola tantalises taste buds to sell itself as a food condiment... well, kind of.

Coca-Cola's thande ka tadka has made its way through the airwaves, with Ash doing the honours. Now it's the turn of another brand veteran, Aamir Khan, to tantalise those taste buds.

Hence, the latest ad for the fizzy, with Khan playing a bewildered Japanese tourist on the lookout for "thanda food" "" with a tourist-predator only too keen to rip him off. No worry: he outwits the fellow, to deliver the punchline, "Thande ke saath khana changa" (Coke with food's good).

The 70-second TV commercial, conceptualised by McCann's Prasoon Joshi and directed by Pradeep Sarkar (of Parineeta fame), sells the idea that "food tastes best when had with Coca-Cola", according to Vikas Gupta, vice-president, marketing, Coca-Cola India. The creative challenge, adds Joshi, is to take "thanda" to "an even higher realm".