Pepsi Max likes to underline its outsider cred at Christmas time, hence this ad dedicated to undermining festive clichés.

Indeed, “traditional is so cliché,” claims rapper Kamakaze. “Didn’t wanna do it so I sold my sleigh,” chimes in TrueMendous. Er, right. Figuratively, we assume. The duo school us on swapping naff jumpers for classier threads, concluding “do it how you want, just don’t compromise”.

The rapping, the fast cutting, the on-screen graphics, even the name ‘Max’… it’s weirdly similar to PepsiCo’s Walkers Max ‘Taste the Bold’ ad, which made its debut in February.

Happily, it’s not as lame as that one, thanks mainly to the presence of the rappers on screen, and some natty visuals. But it still feels like it was made by a ‘cool’ teacher – do teenagers really respond to this sort of thing?

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