There is a long tradition in advertising of hiring celebrities to say things that brands cannot quite say themselves. Zevia, the zero-sugar soda company, has taken this practice to its logical conclusion by hiring someone whose entire public persona is built on saying the quiet part out loud.

Cardi B, the rapper and reliable generator of unfiltered commentary, appears in a new campaign as what Zevia is calling a "real talk interpreter." In one spot, she sits in on a parent-teacher conference where a guidance counselor is diplomatically suggesting that a student is "still finding his footing academically." Ms. B, holding a can of Creamy Root Beer and dressed in a head-to-toe coordinated look, supplies the translation: "He's saying your son is stupid."

(The guidance counselor, presumably, did not sign off on this interpretation.)

A second spot places her at a church potluck, where she decodes the passive-aggressive subtext of neighborly small talk while sipping Orange Creamsicle. The conceit will be familiar to viewers of a certain age who remember the "Anger Translator" sketches from "Key & Peele," though Zevia's version trades political satire for the more universal comedy of people being polite when they do not mean it.

The campaign, which Zevia calls the largest marketing push in company history, spans streaming television, video, social media, and retail. Kirsten Suarez, the company's chief marketing officer, said in a statement that "real is at the core of everything we do at Zevia," a claim that is easier to make when your spokeswoman is constitutionally incapable of being anything else.

The activation extends to social media, where Ms. B will invite followers to submit their own examples of overly filtered exchanges — dating app messages, group chat drama — for public decoding. Zevia is also rolling out in-store displays featuring the rapper and a sweepstakes offering autographed merchandise.

Whether the campaign moves cans of Fruit Punch remains to be seen. But as a strategy for making zero-sugar soda interesting, hiring someone to be rude on your behalf has a certain clarity to it.

Original story published in campaignlive.com: "Cardi B tells it like it is as Zevia’s ‘real talk interpreter’ | Campaign US"