The Nearly 20-Year Wait For A Diet Coke Hunk To Replace Lucky Vanous Is Finally Over!

Model Andrew Cooper stars in a new Diet Coke "hunk" ad, almost 20 years after the soda brand aired its now-legendary 1994 commercial featuring Lucky Vanous as a sweaty construction worker who takes his shirt off to enjoy a refreshing drink while a bunch of female office workers shamelessly ogle him.

The new ad doesn't break much new creative ground, and it sticks with Etta James' "I Just Want To Make Love To You" for the music.

The spot shows a group of women having a picnic in a park on a hot summer's day as Cooper pushes a lawnmower nearby. One woman rolls a can of Diet Coke down the slope to him, which he opens. Naturally, the can explodes and he's covered in soda, forcing him to take his shirt off. The spot contains no shortage of unsubtle symbolism.

Ad agency BETC London created the spot for European TV markets, but if it's a success expect it to be rolled out worldwide.

Trivia note: Vanous eventually gave up the modeling/acting life and opened a bar in Los Angeles, Lucky Devils.

Here's the ad; the original Lucky Vanous spot is below it.

And this was 1994: