Pepsi

Pepsi
Pepsi logo 2008.svg
Type Cola
Manufacturer PepsiCo.
Country of origin United States
Introduced 1898 (as Brad's Drink)
June 16, 1903 (as Pepsi-Cola)
1961 (as Pepsi)
Related products Coca-Cola
RC Cola
Dr Pepper
Inca Kola
Irn Bru

Pepsi-Cola is a carbonated beverage that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo. It is sold in stores, restaurants and from vending machines. The drink was first made in the 1890s by pharmacist Erich Drafahl in New Bern, North Carolina. The brand was trademarked on June 16, 1903. There have been many Pepsi variants produced over the years since 1903, including Diet Pepsi, Crystal Pepsi, Pepsi Twist, Pepsi Max, Pepsi Samba, Pepsi Blue, Pepsi Gold, Pepsi Holiday Spice, Pepsi Jazz, Pepsi X (available in Finland and Brazil), Pepsi Next (available in Japan and South Korea), Pepsi Raw, Pepsi Retro in Mexico, Pepsi One, Pepsi Ice Cucumber and Pepsi White in Japan.

In October 2008, Pepsi announced they would be redesigning their logo and re-branding many of their products by early 2009. In 2009, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max will use all lower-case fonts for name brands, Mountain Dew will be renamed "Mtn Dew", and Diet Pepsi Max will be re-branded as Pepsi Max. By the end of 2008, the brand's blue and red globe trademark will become a series of "smiles," with the central white band arcing at different angles depending on the product. The new imagery is slated to be used when 2008 is over. In the case of Pepsi, the logo will have the medium-sized "smile", while the new lower-case font used on Pepsi's products are to be reminiscent of the font used in Diet Pepsi's logo from 1975-86.

Contents

Origins

Pepsi was first made in New Bern, North Carolina, in the United States in the early 1890s by pharmacist Caleb Bradham. In 1898, "Brad's Drink" was changed to "Pepsi-Cola" and later trademarked on June 16, 1903.[1] There are several theories on the origin of the word "pepsi". The only two discussed within the current PepsiCo website are the following:

  1. Jonathan Vantman bought the name "Pep Kola" from a local competitor and changed it to Pepsi-Cola.
  2. The word Pepsi comes from the Greek word "pepse" (πέψη), which is a medical term, describing digestion and the food dissolving process within one's stomach. Dyspepsia is also a medical term describes a problem with one's stomach to dissolve foods properly.

Another theory regarding the name's origins is that Caleb Bradham and his customers simply thought the name sounded good and reflected the fact that the drink had some kind of "pep" in it because it was a carbonated drink.

And another theory is that the word Pepsi was chosen because it reflected phonetically the sound of a can being opened, the sound "Pop" "Schi", was condensed and simplified in the name "Pepsi".

In 1903, Bradham moved the bottling of Pepsi-Cola from his drugstore into a rented warehouse. That year, Bradham sold 7,968 gallons of syrup. The next year, Pepsi was sold in six-ounce bottles, and sales increased to 19,848 gallons. In 1924, Pepsi received its first logo redesign since the original design of 1905. In 1926, the logo was changed again. In 1929, automobile race pioneer Barney Oldfield endorsed Pepsi-Cola in newspaper ads as "A bully drink...refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before a race".

In 1931, the Pepsi-Cola Company went bankrupt during the Great Depression- in large part due to financial losses incurred by speculating on wildly fluctuating sugar prices as a result of World War I. Assets were sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark.[2] Eight years later, the company went bankrupt again. Pepsi's assets were then purchased by Charles Guth, the President of Loft Inc. Loft was a candy manufacturer with retail stores that contained soda fountains. He sought to replace Coca-Cola at his stores' fountains after Coke refused to give him a discount on syrup. Guth then had Loft's chemists reformulate the Pepsi-Cola syrup formula.

Rise

During the Great Depression, Pepsi gained popularity following the introduction in 1936 of a 12-ounce bottle. Initially priced at 10 cents, sales were slow, but when the price was slashed to five cents, sales increased substantially. With a radio advertising campaign featuring the jingle "Pepsi cola hits the spot / Twelve full ounces, that's a lot / Twice as much for a nickel, too / Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you," Pepsi encouraged price-watching consumers to switch, obliquely referring to the Coca-Cola standard of six ounces a bottle for the price of five cents (a nickel), instead of the 12 ounces Pepsi sold at the same price.[3] Coming at a time of economic crisis, the campaign succeeded in boosting Pepsi's status. In 1936 alone 500,000,000 bottles of Pepsi were consumed. From 1936 to 1938, Pepsi-Cola's profits doubled.[4]

Pepsi's success under Guth came while the Loft Candy business was faltering. Since he had initially used Loft's finances and facilities to establish the new Pepsi success, the near-bankrupt Loft Company sued Guth for possession of the Pepsi-Cola company. A long legal battle, Guth v. Loft, then ensued, with the case reaching the Delaware Supreme Court and ultimately ending in a loss for Guth.

Niche marketing

1940s advertisement specifically targeting African Americans.

Walter Mack was named the new President of Pepsi-Cola and guided the company through the 1940s. Mack, who supported progressive causes, noticed that the company's strategy of using advertising for a general audience either ignored African Americans or used ethnic stereotypes in portraying blacks. He realized African Americans were an untapped niche market and that Pepsi stood to gain market share by targeting its advertising directly towards them.[5] To this end, he hired Hennan Smith, an advertising executive "from the Negro newspaper field"[6] to lead an all-black sales team, which had to be cut due to the onset of World War II. In 1947, Mack resumed his efforts, hiring Edward F. Boyd to lead a twelve-man team. They came up with advertising portraying black Americans in a positive light, such as one with a smiling mother holding a six pack of Pepsi while her son (a young Ron Brown, who grew up to be Secretary of Commerce[7]) reaches up for one. Another ad campaign, titled "Leaders in Their Fields", profiled twenty prominent African Americans such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche and photographer Gordon Parks.

Boyd also led a sales team composed entirely of blacks around the country to promote Pepsi. Racial segregation and Jim Crow laws were still in place throughout much of the U.S., so Boyd's team faced a great deal of discrimination as a result,[6] from insults by Pepsi co-workers to threats by Ku Klux Klan.[7] On the other hand, they were able to use racism as a selling point, attacking Coke's reluctance to hire blacks and support by the chairman of Coke to segregationist Governor of Georgia Herman Talmadge.[5] As a result, Pepsi's market share as compared to Coke's shot up dramatically. After the sales team visited Chicago, Pepsi's share in the city overtook that of Coke for the first time.[5]

This focus on the black market caused some consternation within the company and among its affiliates. They did not want to seem focused on black customers for fear white customers would be pushed away.[5] In a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Mack tried to assuage the 500 bottlers in attendance by pandering to them, saying, "We don't want it to become known as a nigger drink."[8] After Mack left the company in 1950, support for the black sales team faded and it was cut.

Marketing

A bottle of Pepsi with its former logo.

In 1975, Pepsi introduced the Pepsi Challenge marketing campaign where PepsiCo set up a blind tasting between Pepsi-Cola and rival Coca-Cola. During these blind taste tests the majority of participants picked Pepsi as the better tasting of the two soft drinks. PepsiCo took great advantage of the campaign with television commercials reporting the test results to the public.[9].

In 1996, PepsiCo launched the highly successful Pepsi Stuff marketing strategy. By 2002, the strategy was cited by Promo Magazine as one of 16 "Ageless Wonders" that "helped redefine promotion marketing."[10]

In 2007, PepsiCo redesigned their cans for the fourteenth time, and for the first time, included more than thirty different backgrounds on each can, introducing a new background every three weeks.[11] One of their background designs includes a string of repetitive numbers 73774. This is a numerical expression of the word "Pepsi."

Celebrity endorsers

Main article: Pepsi spokespersons

Like Coca-Cola, Pepsi and its associated beverages have had various celebrity endorsers and continue to use them.

Slogans

A large advertisement made to resemble a Pepsi cup at Nickelodeon Universe in the Mall of America.

Pepsiman

Pepsiman is an official Pepsi mascot from Pepsi's Japanese corporate branch. The design of the Pepsiman character is attributed to Canadian comic book artist Travis Charest, created sometime around the mid 1990s. Pepsiman took on three different outfits, each one representing the current style of the Pepsi can in distribution. Twelve commercials were created featuring the Pepsiman. His role in the advertisements is to appear with Pepsi to thirsty people or people craving soda. Pepsiman happens to appear at just the right time with the product. After delivering the beverage, sometimes Pepsiman would encounter a difficult and action oriented situation which would result in injury.

Pepsiman was featured as a Japanese Exclusive Transformers toy "Pepsi Convoy," which was based on G1 Optimus Prime. In 1996, Sega-AM2 released the Sega Saturn version of their arcade fighting game Fighting Vipers. In this game Pepsiman was included as a special character, with his specialty listed as being the ability to "quench one's thirst". He does not appear in any other version or sequel. In 1999, KID developed a video game for the PlayStation entitled Pepsiman. As Pepsiman, the player runs, skateboards, rolls, and stumbles through various areas, avoiding dangers and collecting cans of Pepsi all while trying to reach a thirsty person as in the commercials.

Bans in India

See also: PepsiCo - Criticisms

Pepsi arrived on the market in India in 1988.[12] In 2003 and again in 2006, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-governmental organization in New Delhi, claimed that soda drinks produced by manufacturers in India, including both Pepsi and Coca-Cola, had dangerously high levels of pesticides in their drinks.[13] [14] Both PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company maintain that their drinks are safe for consumption and have published newspaper advertisements that say pesticide levels in their products are less than those in other foods such as tea, fruit and dairy products.[15] In the Indian state of Kerala, sale and production of Pepsi-Cola, along with other soft drinks, were banned in 2006[16] following partial bans on the drinks in schools, colleges and hospitals in five other Indian states.[16] On September 22, 2006, the High Court in Kerala overturned the Kerala ban ruling that only the central government can ban food products.[17]

Rivalry with Coca-Cola

Main article: Cola Wars

According to Consumer Reports, in the 1970s, the rivalry continued to heat up the market. Pepsi conducted blind taste tests in stores, in what was called the "Pepsi Challenge". These tests suggested that more consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi (which is believed to have more lemon oil, less orange oil, and uses vanillin rather than vanilla) to Coke. The sales of Pepsi started to climb, and Pepsi kicked off the "Challenge" across the nation. This became known as the "Cola Wars"

In 1985, The Coca-Cola Company, amid much publicity, changed its formula. The theory has been advanced that New Coke, as the reformulated drink came to be known, was invented specifically in response to the Pepsi Challenge. However, a consumer backlash led to Coca-Cola quickly introducing a modified version of the original formula (removing the expensive Haitian lime oil and changing the sweetener to corn syrup) as Coke "Classic".

In the U.S., Pepsi's total market share was about 31.7 percent in 2004, while Coke's was about 43.1 percent.[18]

Overall, Coca-Cola continues to outsell Pepsi in almost all areas of the world. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan (Pepsi has been a dominant sponsor of the Pakistan cricket team since the 1990s), Dominican Republic, the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Prince Edward Island and the U.S. states of Michigan and South Carolina are the exceptions.[19].

Pepsi had long been the drink of Canadian Francophones and it continues to hold its dominance by relying on local Québécois celebrities (especially Claude Meunier, of La Petite Vie fame) to sell its product.[20] PepsiCo use the slogan "here, it's Pepsi" (Ici, c'est Pepsi) to answer to Coca-cola publicity "Everyone on Earth drank Coca-Cola" (Partout dans le monde, c'est Coke).

By most accounts, Coca-Cola was India's leading soft drink until 1977 when it left India after a new government ordered The Coca-Cola Company to turn over its secret formula for Coke and dilute its stake in its Indian unit as required by the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA). In 1988, PepsiCo gained entry to India by creating a joint venture with the Punjab government-owned Punjab Agro Industrial Corporation (PAIC) and Voltas India Limited. This joint venture marketed and sold Lehar Pepsi until 1991 when the use of foreign brands was allowed; PepsiCo bought out its partners and ended the joint venture in 1994. In 1993, The Coca-Cola Company returned in pursuance of India's Liberalization policy.[21] In 2005, The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo together held 95% market share of soft-drink sales in India. Coca-Cola India's market share was 52.5%.[22]

A sticker from a USSR-produced Pepsi bottle. The logo shown is a version used from 1987-91.

In Russia, Pepsi initially had a larger market share than Coke but it was undercut once the Cold War ended. In 1972, Pepsico company struck a barter agreement with the then government of the Soviet Union, in which Pepsico was granted exportation and Western marketing rights to Stolichnaya vodka in exchange for importation and Soviet marketing of Pepsi-Cola. [23] [24] This exchange led to Pepsi-Cola being the first foreign product sanctioned for sale in the U.S.S.R.. [25]

Reminiscent of the way that Coca-Cola became a cultural icon and its global spread spawned words like "coca colonization", Pepsi-Cola and its relation to the Soviet system turned it into an icon. In the early 1990s, the term "Pepsi-stroika" began appearing as a pun on "perestroika", the reform policy of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev. Critics viewed the policy as a lot of fizz without substance and as an attempt to usher in Western products in deals there with the old elites. Pepsi, as one of the first American products in the Soviet Union, became a symbol of that relationship and the Soviet policy.[26] This was reflected in Russian author Victor Pelevin's book "Generation P".

In 1989, Billy Joel mentions the rivalry between the two companies in the song We Didn't Start The Fire. The line "Rock & Roller Cola Wars" refers to Pepsi and Coke's usage of various musicians in their advertising campaigns. Coke used Paula Abdul,while Pepsi used Michael Jackson. They then continued to try to get other musicians to advertise their beverages. Whilst filming the Pepsi advert Michael Jackson managed to burn his hair.[27]

In 1992, following the Soviet collapse, Coca-Cola was introduced to the Russian market. As it came to be associated with the new system, and Pepsi to the old, Coca-Cola rapidly captured a significant market share that might otherwise have required years to achieve. By July 2005, Coca-Cola enjoyed a market share of 19.4 percent, followed by Pepsi with 13 percent.[28]

Rarely, though, has the Coke-Pepsi rivalry gone so far as in Thailand, where it has now led to two deaths (source: Time Magazine).

Ingredients

Amount per 100mL
Energy 100.5 kJ
Fat 0 g
Sodium 0.98 mg
Carbohydrates 11.74 g
Sugar 11.04 g
Protein 0 g
Caffeine 10 mg

Pepsi-Cola contains basic ingredients found in most other similar drinks including carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, colorings, phosphoric acid, caffeine, citric acid, and natural flavors. The caffeine-free Pepsi-Cola contains the same ingredients minus the caffeine.

The original Pepsi-Cola recipe was available from documents filed with the court at the time that the Pepsi-Cola Company went bankrupt in 1929. The original formula contained neither cola nor caffeine.

Ingredients as seen on products:
carbonated water, glucose-fructose and/or sugar, caramel colour, phosphoric acid, caffeine, citric acid, flavour.

Competitors

See also

  • PepsiCo
  • Pepsi Stuff
  • Soft drink
  • Cola wars
  • Pepsi Globe
  • The Coca-Cola Company (Competitor)
  • List of Pepsi types
  • Pepsi Max Big One (Roller coaster)
  • Pepsi Orange Streak (Roller coaster)
  • Fruit Works (drink)

Notes

  1. ↑ Pepsi World - FAQs - ADS & HISTORY
  2. ↑ "The History of Pepsi-Cola", sodamuseum.bigstep.com paragraph 8
  3. ↑ 1939 Radio Commercial (Twice as Much for a Nickel)
  4. ↑ Jones, Eleanor & Ritzmann, Florian. "Coca-Cola at Home". Retrieved June 17, 2006.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Martin, Douglas (May 6, 2007). "Edward F. Boyd Dies at 92; Marketed Pepsi to Blacks.", The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Archer, Michelle (January 22, 2007). "Pepsi's challenge in 1940s: Color barrier", USA Today. Retrieved on 2007-05-07. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Stewart, Jocelyn Y (May 5, 2007). "Edward Boyd, 92; Pepsi ad man broke color barriers", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. 
  8. ↑ Tavis, Smiley (February 27, 2007). "Edward Boyd" (interview). PBS. Retrieved on 2007-05-04.
  9. ↑ SODAmuseum.com "The History of Pepsi-Cola", sodamuseum.bigstep.com, paragraph 31
  10. ↑ PepsiCo - Company - Honors (2002), Promo Magazine, 2002.
  11. ↑ Pepsi Can Gallery
  12. ↑ PepsiCo India
  13. ↑ Pepsi, Coke contain pesticides: CSE
  14. ↑ Pesticides in Soft Drinks(Pepsico and Coca-Cola) In-Depth Section
  15. ↑ Cola sales down 10% on state bans
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Indian state bans Pepsi and Coke
  17. ↑ Thomas, V.M. Indian state lifts cola ban
  18. ↑ "Beverage Digest Press Release", Beverage Digest, March 4, 2005 (PDF)
  19. ↑ [http://www.strategymag.com/articles/magazine/20041015/vive.html "Vive la difference 'Does that mean I have to have a separate campaign?"], Strategy Magazine, October 2004
  20. ↑ "The Pepsi 'Meunier' Campaign" (PDF). Canadian Advertising Success Stories (Cassies) Case Library. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  21. ↑ "India: Soft Drinks, Hard Cases", The Water Dossier, March 14, 2005
  22. ↑ "Fizzical Facts: Coke claims 60% mkt share in India", Times News Network, August 5, 2005
  23. ↑ Robert Laing (2006-03-28). "Pepsi's comeback, Part II". Mail & Guardian online. Retrieved on 2007-07-21.
  24. ↑ Free-Essays.us - Coke Vs. Pepsi
  25. ↑ "PepsiCo Company History (1972)". PepsiCo, Inc. Retrieved on 2007-07-21.
  26. ↑ The word first appeared in an exhibit in the Harvard University Law School Library in December 1990 to February 1991, then in several articles and books by anthropologist David Lempert, who coined the phrase. Most notable is the third book inside the two volume set, "Pepsi-stroika" in Daily Life in a Crumbling Empire: The Absorption of Russia into the World Economy, Columbia University Press/ Eastern European Monographs, 1996.
  27. ↑ "Michael Jackson burns hair in Pepsi ad". BBC. Retrieved on 2008-10-14.
  28. ↑ "Coke Versus Pepsi, Santa Versus Moroz", The Moscow Times, December 30, 2005

References

External links

PepsiCo, Incorporated
Corporate Directors:
Indra Nooyi (Chairman and CEO) · Robert Allen · Dina Dublon · Victor Dzau · Ray Hunt · Alberto Ibargüen · Arthur Martinez · Steven Reinemund · Sharon Rockefeller · James Schiro · Franklin Thomas · Cynthia Trudell · River King
Brands:
Pepsi · Tropicana · Frito-Lay · Quaker Oats · Gatorade
Annual Revenue: $35.1 billion USD (▲16% FY 2006) · Employees: 168,000 · Stock Symbol: NYSE: PEP · Website: www.pepsico.com
Varieties of Pepsi
Colas
Pepsi · Crystal Pepsi · Pepsi Blue · Pepsi Free · Pepsi Twist · Pepsi Raw
Diet Colas
Diet Pepsi · Jazz Diet Pepsi · Pepsi Max · Diet Pepsi Max · Pepsi ONE
Coffee related Colas
Pepsi Kaffe · Pepsi Kona
Brands of cola
Afri-Cola · Amrat Cola · Apotekarnes Cola · Barr Cola · Beed Cola · Big 8 Cola · Big Cola · Big K Cola · Boylan Cane Cola · Breizh Cola · Bubba Cola · Campa Cola · Cassinelli · Cavan Cola · Celeste Cola · Chek Cola · China Cola · Classic Cola (UK) · Classic Cola (Finland) · Club Cola · Coca-Cola · Cockta  · Cola Turka · Cole Cold · Corsica Cola · Count Cola · Cricket Cola · Cuba Cola · Diet Coke · Diet Rite · Double Cola · Euro Shopper Cola  · Evoca Cola · El Ché-Cola · Export Cola  · Fada Cola · Faygo Cola · Fentiman's Curiosity Cola · Frescolita · fritz-kola · Fruti Kola · Fuji-Cola · Future Cola · Inca Kola · Isaac Kola · Jolly Cola · Jolt Cola · Jones · Kiri · Kitty Kola · Kofola · Kola Inglesa · Kola Real · Kola Román · Kristal Kola · LA Ice Cola · Like Cola · Mecca-Cola · Mr. Cola · OK Cola · OpenCola · Parsi Cola · Pepsi Cola · Perú Cola · Polo-Cockta · Premium-cola · Qibla Cola · RC Cola · Red Bull Cola · Red Kola · Rola Cola · Sam's Cola · Schin Cola · Schweppes Cola · Shasta Cola · Sinalco · Tab · Thums Up · Triple Kola · tuKola · Ubuntu Cola · Virgin Cola · Vita-Cola · White Rock Cola · XL Cola · Zam Zam Cola · Zelal Cola