A new, three-minute ad by Coca-Cola, “Small World Machines,” starts with a relatively straightforward premise: India and Pakistan do not get along so well. It ends with the promise of peace: “Togetherness, humanity, this is what we all want, more and more exchange,” a woman, either Indian or Pakistani, narrates as the music swells. Sounds great. How do we get there? By buying Coke, of course.

For the ad, filmed in March, two high-tech Coca-Cola vending machines were wheeled into a shopping mall in Lahore, Pakistan, and another in New Delhi, India. On the front of each machine was a giant, touch-activated 3-D screen. The two were connected, such that the vending machine in Lahore looked like a giant window right into New Delhi, and vice-versa. The machines invited mall-goers on either end to interact with one another, for example by touching hands “through” the screen, by tracing peace signs, even by sharing a dance.