Jalopnik Teams Up With Pepsi, Jalopnik Alumni for New Test Drive Ad
Last year, Jalopnik’s Travis Okulski wrote an article debunking the Pepsi MAX Test Drive commercial. This year, he got a chance to star in a remake — and if Mr. Okulski is to be believed, he didn’t receive any advance notice of his star billing.
In the video, you can see Travis gradually come to the realization that something isn’t quite right here, at which point he kicks the divider between the front and back seats a few times before checking his seatbelt and holding on for dear life. Jalopnik readers from across nearly the entire autism spectrum are busy analyzing this video to see if it, too, is a fake. I’m inclined to believe Travis when he says that he had no advance knowledge of the thing.
Fans of Jalopnik’s former boss, Ray Wert, will be relieved to see that he is now working in the advertising industry. As for the full-disclosure side of things, Gawker Networks is officially claiming that they paid Travis’s expenses and that no compensation was paid directly to Gawker or its sites. With that said, if you want to ensure favorable exposure from the Gawker sites for your publicity campaign, and perhaps purchase an indulgence to exempt your content from a sexism/racism/ableism/whatevs expose from Jezebel, it might be a good idea to see Mr. Wert at his new office, posthaste.
More by Jack Baruth
Comments
Join the conversation
Absolutely 100% FAKE. The door opens and he already has a big smile on his face. Why didn't he make the call when he was clutching his phone? He is so fake, he makes Exzibit and his subjects in Pimp My Ride real.
A round of applause please for this esteemed panel of experts who've never shot anything but gracefully don their i-detective uniforms to inform us that they've found the smoking glitch that all of Pepsi's professional editors missed/forgot to reshoot to throw off their scent. Foil again by the r̶e̶d̶d̶i̶t̶ j̶a̶l̶o̶p̶n̶i̶k̶ TTAC army.
I don't care if its real or fake. Wert and Travis would do themselves some serious favors by staying off camera and behind keyboards.
I don't believe the premise and Jalopnik is enjoying the 'non cash' publicity even if it actually trashes their (now revealed to be) bogus edgy brand. 1.) Nobody in the car writing business wouldn't rent or loan a car or call a taxi. 2.) How many 2014 SS cabs do you think are out there and don't you think a car guy would pick up on that before the thing even pulled up? Or at least make a comment to the cabbie about it? 3.) Do you really believe they concealed all those cameras? 4.) Can't disguise Jeff Gordon... Or his driving style. 5.) Even a common person wouldn't act all hapless and innocent and victimized, let alone an Internet guru who hides behind a snarky keyboard! Just goes to show how much they're willing to pay to go all 'viral'... Even if the whole concept of virility was grass roots in the first place and now is proven fraudulent, all rigged with money.