Andrew Stanton, creative director at The Big Kick reviews the latest Dr Pepper campaign.

It’s not very often you see the word ‘pants’ on a pack flash, but this caught my eye the other day when I stopped for some petrol. It was on 330ml can of the unique flavoured fizzy soft drink brand, created by Texan Charles Alderton over 120 years ago.

Now, I’m all for trying to grab attention in the impulse sector, so it worked on that level, but the on pack creative execution lets it down for me.

The pack flash itself, I’m afraid, is a poor attempt to show a pair of Y-Fronts as if it was being worn by the can or bottle. The usual excuses probably apply (or it may simply be a case of too many creative directors); but come on guys, this could have looked so much better. Promotional pack flashes need to be far more single minded.

Then there’s the creative hook – ‘Win Pants OR Prizes’. There’s a much better headline on the reverse – ‘Win big or Win Smalls’. But why use them both? I sense that both lines were liked, but no one made the decision to drop one of them. It’s like a comedian having two goes at delivering his punch line.

There’s the usual gadgets and gizmo prize fund, sure to appeal to the young and technically trendy, but there’s nothing wow or different in there. On studying the T&Cs I noticed that I could also win one of 900,000 real pairs of pants (I presume clean ones) – but at least I was guaranteed a free mobile phone game. I texted off the URN printed under the ring pull (copy was a bit confusing, but I got there in the end).

Text entry, although convenient, invites a sense of digital fear and there’s little chance to engage further in the brand – unless the mobile experience is exceptional. I received a text back to say, surprise, surprise, I hadn’t won. But as a consolation, I could download the free mobile game. Woo-hoo!

After much fiddling I could now play the ‘Pants Flinger’ game and throw pairs of pants around in a virtual classroom. Strange indeed. Don’t get me wrong: ‘pants’ are a potential funny topic, in a ‘Carry On Camping’ sort of way. But flinging them makes me think of 50 year old women throwing their baggies at Tom Jones. So why do it in a virtual classroom of school kids and at a teacher?

I’m sure it’s innocent enough, but it’s on dodgy ground for me, especially after all the hoo har with Dr Pepper’s recent, somewhat controversial, Facebook profile-takeover activity. So overall, I’m ultimately left confused by what it’s all about. Answers on a postcard please…