• by Steve Ellwanger , February 17, 2022

Mtn Dew’s new campaign featuring actor Charlie Day skewers “traditional advertising” tactics with assistance from NBA All-Star Zack LaVine and Mtn Dew’s Puppy Monkey Baby character.

Two campaign commercials will debut on Sunday during the NBA All-Star game, during which the PepsiCo brand is the sponsor of the Mtn Dew 3-Point Contest.

In 10 different spots from TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, Day—best known for playing Charlie Kelly on the sitcom “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia”—portrays a variety of wildly over-the-top characters.

Along the way, Day helps skewer ad norms like blatant product placement—as in this spot that opens with an on-court LaVine asking “Ever notice how obvious product placement is”?

He then passes a bright green basketball bearing a Mtn Dew logo to Day, who is dressed in a matching green, logo-emblazoned suit.

“Huh?” says Day. “I guess I hadn’t really noticed.”

From there the screen overflows with all things green as LaVine and Day imbibe Mtn Dew while pronouncing the name over and over. Puppy Monkey Baby—which appeared in a Mtn Dew commercial during Super Bowl 50 in 2016—pops up briefly at the end.

The poke at everyday ad ploys is a reflection of how the beverage brand has long considered itself to be irreverent, according to Mtn Dew marketing vice president Pat O’Toole.

“Our fans appreciate humor,” O’Toole tells Marketing Daily.

“We took a look inward at the advertising industry and ourselves. We’ve never been one to take ourselves too seriously. So we saw some territory where we could have a little bit of fun.”

Things get weirder in this spot that depicts a maniacal “Pop-Pop” preparing to serve a pitcher of raspberry lemonade to a couple of kids. When he smashes the pitcher on a table—revealing a bottle of Mtn Dew Spark raspberry lemonade—his old-man clothing flies off to reveal Day.

The screaming kids flee the room.

The campaign will run throughout the remainder of the year.