at the height of the cola wars, marketer sergio zyman persuaded coca-cola executives to create and air commercials with cosby praising coke for being less sweet than pepsi, which was aired only in areas where sales of pepsi were dominant. one commercial from the series features cosby "rubberfacing an icky frown" and describing pepsi as "gooey". these advertisements were broadcast from october 1984; coca-cola's independently owned bottlers demanded the commercials were run in their markets as well. zyman said despite the upcoming contradiction, the ads were the first boost to coke's image in years. coca-cola was simultaneously testing possible new variations of its soft drink and decided it would sell more product if it used a sweeter formula. once new coke was launched, pepsi prepared its public response to the change; among its talking points for journalists writing about new coke was to "ask them about those bill cosby ads". one of a new series of coke advertisements showed cosby dressed in a toga; this campaign was described as unconvincing. coca-cola faced a widespread public backlash, internal dissent, and ultimately the original drink recipe returned as "coca-cola classic". in the days following the reversal, an editorial cartoon featured cosby pouring a can of pepsi into a can of coke. marcio moreira, a mccann erickson creative executive behind the new coke introduction, said in 2011 that the decision to hire cosby was not made until other commercials were being edited.