*hands Pepsi*
I have never heard, "Do you wanna Pepsi?" The brown bubbly drink (that I don't like) has come to be called a Coke even when it's a Pepsi.
In Japanese supermarkets they sell Pepsi a lot so for some time I had thought, "Coke is an American brand and Pepsi is just the Japanese version of that brand." Which, I know of course it's not :P
But we all know about the Coke vs Pepsi wars between the companies and the customers (you guys!). This will be an article series where I will talk about:
Similarities / Differences between Coke and Pepsi (the one I will talk about in this article)
Why Coke is seemingly more popular than Pepsi.
Pepsi, what happened to you?
What is this brown bubbly drink anyway?
Why do people like it?
In Japan we say "ko-la" from "Coca-Cola". A lot of kids like it. No one has ever said "pepu-sheee" which would be the Japanese pronunciation. Why the popularity?
Pepsi, what happened between you and Coke?
Now, without further ado,
let's get started! (Rosanna Pansino reference)
This article I will only talk about the differences and similarities between Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The other discussion points will be in another article, just to make it clear.
Similarities
 |
| Coke and Pepsi by eyugho @DeviantArt http://eyugho.deviantart.com/art/Coke-and-Pepsi-332534678 |
Both are American carbonated soft drinks.
Both were created around the same time (Coke: 1886, Pepsi: 1893).
Both were created by guys who owned drugstores (Coke: John Pemberton, Pepsi: Caleb Bradham).
 |
| John Smith Pemberton Pharmicist Pic from Wiki: John Pemberton |
 |
| Caleb Davis Bradham Pharmicist Pic from Wiki: Caleb Bradham |
Both used kola nuts in the recipe. Kola nuts are, apparently, what gives people that great caffeine according to Wiki.
Both started out as a medicine drink.
Both were first sold at drugstores.
Differences
 |
| Coke vs Pepsi |
Where they started
Coke: originally started out as a coca wine in a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia.
Pepsi: originally started out as "Brad's drink" a medicinal drink at Caleb Bradham's drugstore.)
How the current version came about
Coke: Originally it was a coca wine which had alcohol until alcohol was prohibited by Atlanta and Fulton County in Georgia. Pemberton then created a non-alcoholic version of the drink and called it Coca-Cola. In those days people believed that carbonated drinks were good for your health and Pemberton claimed that his drink could cure addiction to morphine and other sorts of health problems.
Pemberton was wounded at the American Civil War and he had an addiction to morphine so THAT was why he wanted to make something to substitute his problem. And well, I guess to help other people too but it WAS for himself. Anyway.
Pepsi: Started out as a medicinal drink. During the Great Depression they got caught up in bankruptcy. Oh dear. And on top of that, the candy company that wanted to replace Coca-Cola and make way for Pepsi, wasn't given a discount on the syrup to make that happen. The candy company actually BOUGHT Pepsi. So now the candy company, which was called Loft, now owned Pepsi.
Now, I don't really know why they cared if they had a syrup discount but anyway, Pepsi had them make a new formula for their syrup to put in their drinks because sugar was too expensive during the Great Depression. It was very, very depressing.
But later, and soon later kind of later, Pepsi gets back at Coca-Cola by selling a larger amount of drink for a smaller price. People were so happy with this because during the Great Depression everyone had a hard time buying Coca-Cola because it was a smaller amount for a higher price. Higher than Pepsi. Pepsi was being a good competitor and used this to make good money despite it being during the Great Depression.
It wasn't all that depressing after all :)
Ownership
Coke: Coca-Cola's ownership story is a bit like Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (article here if you wanna check it out). It was bounced around between this guy and that guy and owned and owned partially. Owners signed contracts, forged contracts, tried to take over, succeeded sort of , failed sort of, well, it was a complete mess until finally someone stayed on track of the company and claimed ownership, hopefully the last one.
Interesting tidbit: "The Coca-Cola Company" and the "Coca-Cola Company" were, at one point, two separate creatures run but two separate people with two completely different agendas of making the company big. The former was owned by Pemberton and his alcoholic son. The second by the business partner like people, one of which was called Candler who bought a share of the company. Candler was one of those guys who would do anything to make his company more famous and more successful.
Plus, Coca-Cola was thought of as an "elixir" so...yeah, who wouldn't want that? :P
Pepsi: The new President, Walter Mack (the great guy that I like because of his progressive views) was a great guy who saw that the African American market was untouched and from the 1940s and on he targeted that market. He employed a guy called Edward F. Boyd who basically went around the country to visit those discriminated folk like blacks and women and churches and all that good ish and made some great progress and stuff.
They were insulted doing this. They showed blacks in a positive light and they were hated on. Like the Klu...kuuu, Klu Klux Clan...nope, that's not it, the Ku Klux Klan. It's like a tongue twister, this name. Geesh! Anyway, they were soooo progressive they were doing such good and they criticized Coca-Cola for not doing that and for not employing black people.
Pepsi sales soared! But then, Mack got worried I think that the drink was going to be seen as a racial drink. Despite his good intentions and all, he wanted other people to buy his drink. He wanted it to be successful all over the U.S.
So he left.
Shame on him for not trying harder. Or, maybe it was as far as he could go.
Shining Time
Coke: It became big some how without really changing much. It changed it's formula once and no one liked it so it changed it back. It was becoming such an icon that you wouldn't have been able to keep up with it.
Pepsi: Pepsi gained popularity in one of those cool ways. "Back to the Future II" featured Marty McFly ordering a Pepsi.
Interesting tidbit: In 2015 Comic-Con, 1,500 people dressed up as Marty McFly at the Back to the Future 30th anniversary were given a free Pepsi of the original taste.
Pepsi sponsored a hockey team in the 1970s and later they were featured in many movies including "Home Alone" (1990) which I have watched so many times but sadly I don't recall seeing Pepsi, all I saw was a brown fizzy drink. We'll talk about this problem later.
According to our good friend Wiki: "In 2007, PepsiCo redesigned its 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. One of its background designs includes a string of repetitive numbers, "73774". This is a numerical expression from a telephone keypad of the word "Pepsi".
In late 2008, Pepsi overhauled its entire brand, simultaneously introducing a new logo and a minimalist label design. The redesign was comparable to Coca-Cola's earlier simplification of its can and bottle designs. Pepsi also teamed up with YouTube to produce its first daily entertainment show called Poptub. This show deals with pop culture, internet viral videos, and celebrity gossip." (Wikipedia: Pepsi)
Pepsi, you did good. All that appearing and sponsoring sports teams made you a biggy.
Extra Stuffs
Coca-Cola Story Tidbits:
The one that caught my eye was this one:
"A Coca-Cola fountain dispenser (officially a Fluids Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus-2 or FGBA-2) was developed for use on the Space Shuttle as a test bed to determine if carbonated beverages can be produced from separately stored carbon dioxide, water and flavored syrups and determine if the resulting fluids can be made available for consumption without bubble nucleation and resulting foam formation. The unit flew in 1996 aboard STS-77 and held 1.65 liters each of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke."
Coca-Cola is so bright and shiny right now but you gotta take a look at Pepsi too guys!
Pepsi Story Tidbits:
"In Russia, Pepsi initially had a larger market share than Coke, but it was undercut once the Cold War ended. In 1972, PepsiCo 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. This exchange led to Pepsi-Cola being the first foreign product sanctioned for sale in the U.S.S.R."
"In 1989, Billy Joel mentioned 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 advertising campaigns. Coke used Paula Abdul, while Pepsi used Michael Jackson. Both companies then competed to get other musicians to advertise its beverages."
"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."
Global Slogan: "2013-present: "Embrace your past, but live for now" - Global campaign featuring Beyoncé"
 |
| Coke is a monster or a superhero, your pick apparently. Nicely done, both of you :) |
 |
| Ahaha! :D Someone did a color swap! Now how do you two like that? |
Some of you might think that I'm favoring Pepsi. But I'm not. Sure, Pepsi's story on Wikipedia's page is much more interesting. But Coca-Cola's Wikipedia page does NOT have anything about the Coke vs Pepsi wars. Also, Pepsi is also very open about their drink formula whereas Coke's got some secrets. I don't blame them though.
And let me just say, carbonated drinks in general make me feel sick so there is NO WAY I can be favoring Coke or Pepsi.
Anyway, stay tuned for more Coke vs Pepsi articles!
See ya later, alligators!
Note: Any quotes and info about the companies I got from these sites.
Wikipedia: Coca-Cola
Wikipedia: Pepsi
No comments:
Post a Comment