SHORT TAKES : Crystal in Diet Pepsi Campaign

Diet Pepsi will launch a major ad campaign on New Year’s Eve with commercials featuring comedian Billy Crystal, Pepsi Cola executives announced today.

Crystal has created a new character, “Uncle Lou,”--based on a compilation of the comedian’s characters over the years--exclusively for the ads, which will first appear during the telecasts of NFL playoff games on Sunday.

In the first spot, a 30-second ad titled “Outtakes,” Crystal, as himself, directs Crystal as “Uncle Lou.” In 1985, Crystal also touted the diet soft drink when, echoing his famous “Saturday Night Live” character “Fernando,” he proclaimed Diet Pepsi “mahvelous.”