Mountain Dew, just another lemony drink that’s a bit more yellow compared to others.
Now how can you sell something like this without making good ads?

The first Mountain Dew commercial had me thinking what this drink really was. It featured four guys wearing shin-length shorts, ill-fitting sleeveless basketball jerseys with perfectly styled hair… perfectly styled for a cockatoo. Now these guys are all cool dudes(or possibly doods), who start screaming like fanatics when they catch flying bottles of Mountain Dew coming out of nowhere. They drink from the bottle and deliver the line, “Do the Dew!”

Wow! Do the Dew! How I wish I had every bottle of this super cool drink with me!

Execution: 0
Meaningful, and to the point: nope!
Funny Quotient: 0


The second ad was a failed attempt to mock Sprite, which had previously mocked them. Bad execution, bad choice of models and no convincing power. I prefer to go for Sprite, which had delivered a crunchy low blow on Dew’s nether realms by making a mockery out of its first ad. (We all loved the scared shopkeeper telling our doods to ’’no do yahan, do wahan: jhaadiyon ke peechey!’’, didn’t we?)

Execution: 0
Meaningful, and to the point: nope!
Funny Quotient: -1


Another ad, which was on the better side (Indian models were not selling, so they tried their luck by airing an American commercial), featured an American wrestling with a ram (or was it a moose?), with the narration describing him to be from a wild species that’ll do anything to protect their Mountain Dew. The cool dood wrestles the beast, wins and returns to his mates. “Not bad!” is his honest reply when they ask him how he feels.

Nice ad. But it still won’t make me buy any Dew.
“Why”, you ask? Well, I’m really not the type of guy, who’d ram my head into a mate’s, for that matter, just to protect my Dew.
I’d rather go buy some Sprite :-) !

Execution: 3
Meaningful, and to the point: Somewhat
Funny Quotient: 1


In the fourth ad (or was it the third?), we found our cool doods afloat on a fishing boat, with loads of Dew, in calm and sunny weather. One bottle drops into a fantastically fake looking whirlpool, (looked like a toilet flushing). One cool dood jumps into the toilet, fetches the bottle (Hurray!), and starts screaming at the top of his lungs.
Yeah! Now I’ll buy some dew!

Execution: 0
Meaningful, and to the point: nope!
Funny Quotient: 100 (they were making me laugh at them)

The next ad was a failed attempt to mock Thums Up, which had not previously mocked them.
It showed four guys with a sled on Everest, telling Akshay Kumar uncle’s clone that they are cool doods as they drink (and understandably, serve) Dew on Everest.
They rocket down the slopes, “Do the Dew “ once again… and the ad is over.
Huh?
Don’t even ask.
Bad execution, worse choice of models. Nope. The ad didn’t even try to convince us to buy this drink.

Execution: -1
Meaningful, and to the point: Not even close!
Funny Quotient: -99


The latest ad, which is again imported (Our creative department, after seeing the quality of their previous ad, had reportedly jumped off Everest.), showed four American khoul dewds, in a rodeo (Wow! A rodeo! It’s such a common Indian event that I don’t even know what it is!). One guy’s can gets stuck to a bull’s horn, so he opens the gate and jumps on the bull. Gets a few jolts, and finally takes back what’s his. One of his mates says, “Shouldn’t drink and drive!”
Like, Har Har! That wuz funny! Now I’ll go and get some dew!

Execution: -2
Meaningful, and to the point: Huh?
Funny Quotient: -20


Hey! I almost missed this one! It was aired during the 2003 cricket World Cup(which was held in South Africa). It showed our desi doods on an African Safari. One of them is furiously pumping a bike and chasing a cheetah. At a critical point, he jumps off the bike, and onto the cheetah. He overpowers him, reaches down its oesophagus to fetch his can of dew: perfectly perforated to emptiness.
One of his mates, who’re watching all the time raises an eyebrow and says, “Cheetah bhi peeta hai!”
Good Job!
Now that was interesting. Seriously, I’ll buy some dew now!

Execution: 5
Meaningful, and to the point: Somewhat
Funny Quotient: 3


Most of the ads, with the exception of a few, are heaps of wasted film, making me wonder whether they’re selling a drink or a cure for lunacy (Seriously! You should see the men screaming!). Some international ads are aired with the hopes that they repeat their success in here too. Totally wrong, dood! Either you’re high on weed, or you’re plain lazy. It’s a totally different concept.
These lines sell in the US, but aren’t even vaguely funny here.

Fact: Mountain Dew’s unique colour gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “Do the Dew”, which is popularly (now, probably even clichéd) used in in the US to describe…. Well, yeah! You guessed it right! I don’t want to discolour (oops!) this piece by saying what it is!

Buy some Huggies!