Control your destiny, or someone else will

ADVERTISING Coca-Cola's latest commercial has Aishwarya Rai turning a possibly menacing encounter on its head.

It's going to be a hot summer indeed, what with cola ads featuring hot Bollywood stars. Even as audiences were grappling with Pepsi's "kinky" CafeChino ad with Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra, Coca-Cola has kicked off its summer campaign: "Thande ka tadka" with the sensuous Aishwarya Rai in an all new avataar.

While the 45-second commercial broke on cricket channels this weekend, it will roll out full steam across all channels and theatres early next week.

Conceptualised by Prasoon Joshi of McCann-Erickson, the commercial uses an unglamorous Aishwarya as a salwar-kameez clad college-goer who gets whistled at by a bunch of roadside rowdies.

But instead of scurrying away and letting the boys define the scenario, she takes them by surprise by turning around and giving them a lesson on the real art of whistling. More than her talent (such musical note abandon!), it's her attitude "" the "Thande ka tadka" "" that has them scrambling for cover.

"It's this attitude "" the new found confidence of the Indian youth that the Coca-Cola brand campaign encapsulates," says Vikas Gupta, vice-president marketing, Coca-Cola India.

It's the language of an empowered generation that would rather lead circumstances than be led by them. Concurs Prasoon Joshi: "The overall mood of the country is buoyant, which is what I want to convey in the ad. It presents a serious issue of eve-teasing being handled in a lighter vein, with repartee and humour."

The Aishwarya ad, incidentally, happens to be the first of a series of commercials that Coke plans to launch in the ensuing months. Meanwhile, the new "Tadka" series, maintains Gupta, is a natural progression on the earlier theme featuring Aamir Khan that ran so well.

"While the 'Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola' campaign celebrated our Indianness," says Gupta, " 'Piyo sar utha ke' went a step forward to bring out the bold optimism of the new India. With 'Thande ka tadka', we've gone deeper with the consumer connect to bring out the youth's confidence in a refreshing manner."

Ad veteran Joshi claims the satisfaction of having used Aishwarya in a rare performance-led role (in a commercial). "I've taken the glamour quotient out of her persona," says a jubilant Joshi, "and utilised her acting abilities to communicate."