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Soda Jerking Around

Dennis Franz and his Pepsi commercial made headlines this week

You got the wrong one, baby. That's NBC's response to a new Diet Pepsi commercial featuring ABC's NYPD Blue star Dennis Franz. The network has rejected a spot featuring Franz loosely riffing on his TV alter ego, Detective Sipowicz. It's not the first time a Blue-style ad got the ax. Last month, both CBS and NBC refused to air a spot Franz did for Cadillac for the same reason. ''From our perspective [the Pepsi commercial] was promoting one of our competitors' top 10 programs,'' explains NBC VP of advertising standards Rick Gitter. It's no secret that Franz has made a career out of playing tough-guy cops. A spokeswoman for the actor says the networks ''are all getting crazy and skittish. Give viewers a little credit for knowing he's not doing his character.'' A Pepsi spokesman says the company has no plans to file a formal complaint (fans will see the spot on ABC, CBS, and Fox), ''but we are perplexed.'' Bet Ray Charles never had these problems.

Originally posted Feb 01, 2008 Published in issue #375 Apr 18, 1997 Order article reprints

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