Imagine you want to ask that girl or guy of your dreams out this holiday season, but maybe you’re too shy to do it out right. You could send a text or e-mail, but that’s kind of lame and bland.

Go figure: the megacorporation Coca Cola is here to provide you with a sweet, intimate, and memorable way to tell people how you feel.

It works kind of like a sugary time bomb of love. All you need is a plastic bottle of coke and a marker.

This idea actually comes from the winner of a 2010 advertising idea contest held by Senden Kaigi, a Japanese publisher of magazines, newspapers and books about adverting. According to the original document created by the winner for entry into the contest, the secret message requires a special Coca Cola ink pen that makes your message blend in with the cola color.

We just used a regular black marker, which also worked pretty well. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Take your marker and write your secret message on the lower half of the bottle.

Step 2: Give that special someone their present of a bottle of Coke.  They’ll smile politely take it and think nothing of it.  Then, later on, when they finally get around to drinking it – Voila! Your tidings of joy are revealed!

A few things to note:

■  Make sure to give it in the evening or in a dimly lit place.  Your message could be easily seen under bright lights.

■  This is probably best done in winter.  Summer may cause a cold bottle of cola to sweat, which could cause your message to run.  This could also transform your message of love into an April Fool’s joke when they end up with a black palm.

It’s an easy and cost effective way to put a smile on someone’s face. So this year say “I love you” with the gift of Coke!

Coca Cola – not, you know, the other stuff.

Source: Senden Kaigi, Twitter via Byokan Sunday (Japanese)

▼ The Coca Cola pen

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