In 2005, Pepsi defied the surfing community by releasing a commercial in which famous soccer stars broke the surfers-only beach rule implemented by a group of local wave riders.
"Surfers" is a 90-second web film developed by AlmapBBDO, a Brazilian ad agency featuring David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho, Raul Gonzales, Fernando Torres, and Rafael Van Der Vaart.
It starts with a friendly beach volleyball game between the players and ends up in the water with some incredible acrobatic surfing-meets-soccer tricks and maneuvers.
The main surfing scenes were shot on the legendary island of Tavarua in Fiji and featured stunts from professional surfers.
Pretending to Surf
However, the production team built a wave pool and a heated pool in Casarrubios Aerodrome, a private airport located 50 southwest of Madrid, in Spain, where the football players shot additional sequences.
Henry shot his part in a London studio.
The special effects crew also spent three weeks building a three-meter-high water wall installed behind a movable platform so that the footballers could pretend they were surfing.
Pepsi used "Surfers" to promote its "Dare for More" slogan.
But the commercial, which was released in South America, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia, only saw the light of day one month after it was initially supposed to run because of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
The music featured in the Pepsi web commercial is "Misirlou" by surf music mogul Dick Dale and His Del-Tones, and it was also used in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction."
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