Even though it was just a brief statement, I'd like to formally retract yesterday's interpretation of the Coke Zero ad that played during the Superbowl. At the time, I watched it once, Googled the lyrics, and made an unfair snap judgment. After being rightly corrected by a couple of commenters, I watched it again and found a much different message.

It's worth noting that all the avatars in the commercial are isolated and alone, even though they're in a crowd. Which - duh! - is the whole point. The people with avatars are all oblivious, such as the guy trying to get cell phone reception who runs into and then ignores our avatar-less protagonist. Note the little guy blindly walking into a door until it's opened for him and the mother pushing her child in the swing even though her attention is on the cell phone. It's clearly making the point that avatars - and therefore online interaction - disengage us. In fact, even the screenshot I snapped of the guy with the PSP makes it obvious. He's ignoring the little dog who wants to play with the ball!

The moment of redemption is our hero inadvertently making contact with the heroine over a bottle of Coke. At which point she snaps out of her avatar and they start to interact. If that's not a message I can agree with, I don't know what is.

And it occurred to me that Coca Cola is the same company who made a Grand Theft Auto-themed ad two years ago (above) that played against people's stereotypes about Rockstar's games to deliver a spectacularly positive message. So with a little rooting around, I discovered that not only is the avatar ad from the same company, Nexus Productions, it was directed by the same two people, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes. So, a tip of the hat to Coca Cola for hiring guys who "get" videogames. And next time I'll take a closer look before being so dismissive.