Diet Coke, hunks and blues song…it’s a long story about advertising
It’s 11.30, it’s “Diet Coke Break”!
In January 1994 a new iconic ad was born.
At 11:30 o’clock a female office workers’ group crowds around the window as a construction worker below strips off his T-shirt and relaxes with a Diet Coke.
The Diet Coke break concept has been repeated and updated several times over the intervening years.
Diet Coke Window Washer
Diet Coke Delivery Man
Diet Coke Elevator Technician
Diet Coke Gardener
There are two things that never change in all these versions: a “hunk” and the soundtrack.
The initial ads star, the hunk, was Lucky Vanous, that quickly became a celebrity.
The song used for the ad performed by Etta James was “I Just want to Make Love to You” and was a 1954 blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters.
The Etta James cover was recorded in 1961. Due to the popularity of the ad in England, the song was re-released as a single and reached as high as #5 on the BBC charts (source Coca-Cola company).
