Now see, you can tell when people who DO understand the marketplace are involved. Pepsi is running tv ads during the American Superbowl – which would have to be one of the largest tv audiences around – featuring 20 teenagers who previously were sued by the American music industry for illegal music downloading.

It’s all promoting a Pepsi campaign offering 100 million songs for free download from Apple iTunes.

“We are still going to download music for free off the Internet” say the teens in the ads, with a music track of ‘I Fought the Law’ recorded especially by band Green Day.

“It’s all in good spirit,” Pepsi North America’s CMO Dave Burwick told USA Today. “This has been a huge cultural phenomenon. It’s highly relevant and topical for consumers. We’re turning people to buying music online vs. stealing it online.”