Pepsi-Cola, most commonly called Pepsi, is a soft drink produced by PepsiCo which is sold worldwide in stores, restaurants and vending machines.
| File:PepsiLogo.jpg | |
| Type | Cola |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | PepsiCo, Inc. |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Introduced | 1903 |
| Related products | Coca-Cola |
| Website | www |
History
Pepsi-Cola was first made in New Bern, North Carolina in the United States in the early 1890s by pharmacist Caleb Bradham. On August 28, 1898 , "Brad's drink" was changed to "Pepsi-Cola" and later trademarked on June 16, 1903. As Pepsi was initially intended to cure stomach pains, Bradham coined the name Pepsi from the condition dyspepsia (stomachache or indigestion). It was made of carbonated water, sugar, vanilla, rare oils, and kola nuts. Whether the original recipe included the enzyme pepsin is disputed.[1][2]
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 1905, Pepsi received its first logo redesign since the original design of 1898. In 1906, the logo was changed again. In 1909, automobile race pioneer Barney Oldfield endorsed Pepsi-Cola in newspaper ads as "A bully drink...refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before a race".
In 1923, Pepsico went bankrupt due to high sugar prices as a result of World War I, assets were sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark.[3]Eight years later, the company went bankrupt again, resulting in a reformulation of the Pepsi-Cola syrup formula.
During The Great Depression, Pepsi gained popularity following the introduction in 1934 of a 12-ounce bottle. With twelve ounces a bottle instead of the six ounces Coca-Cola sold, PepsiCo turned the price difference to its advantage with a slick radio advertising campaign which was the first use of a jingle in advertising. "Twelve full ounces, that's a lot / Twice as much for a nickel, too / Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you," encouraged price-watching consumers to switch to Pepsi, while obliquely referring to the Coca-Cola standard of six ounces a bottle for the price of five cents (a nickel), instead of the twelve ounces Pepsi sold at the same price. Coming at a time of economic crisis, the campaign succeeded in boosting Pepsi's status. From 1936 to 1938, PepsiCo's profits doubled.[4]
Marketing
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. Pepsi took great advantage of the campaign with television commercials reporting the test results to the public.[5]
In 1996, PepsiCo launched the highly successful Pepsi Stuff marketing strategy. In 2002, the strategy was cited by Promo Magazine as one of 16 "Ageless Wonders" that "helped redefine promotion marketing."Source: Promo Magazine, 2002.
Celebrity endorsers
As with most popular soft drinks, Pepsi and its associated beverages have had various celebrity endorsers.
Types of Pepsi
- See also: List of Pepsi types
There are many types of Pepsi-Cola all differing in taste, price, appearance and availability. Diet Pepsi is one of the most popular variations of the drink, containing no sugar and zero calories. Introduced in 1964, Diet Pepsi was the United States's first national diet soft drink.
Criticisms
Rivalry with Coca-Cola
While some people claim that Pepsi tastes exactly the same to Coca-Cola, other people say they can tell a difference in the two sodas. In the past, the difference in taste between Pepsi and The Coca-Cola Company's Coca-Cola was even greater than it is today. When the Pepsi taste became more popular, Coca-Cola tried to make their drink to be closer to the American taste of Pepsi. Although PepsiCo claimed this a victory for their brand of cola, Coca-Cola soon changed because, while testing showed the taste of the new Coca-Cola was better, consumers preferred Coca-Cola to stay the same. Coca-Cola outsells Pepsi in the US overall because Coca-Cola is sold exclusively in more locations, such as restaurants that sell Coca-Cola, but not Pepsi. In locations where Pepsi and Coca-Cola are sold side-by-side Pepsi generally outsells Coca-Cola in the US.
Coca-Cola still outsells Pepsi in almost all areas of the world. Saudi Arabia and the Canadian provinces of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and Quebec are some of the few exceptions.[citation needed]
By most accounts, Coca-Cola was India's leading soft drink until 1977 when it left India after a new government ordered the company to turn over its secret formula for Coca-Cola and dilute its stake in its Indian unit as required by the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA). In 1988, Pepsi 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; Pepsi bought out its partners and ended the joint venture in 1994. In 1993, Coca-Cola returned in pursuance of India's Liberalization policy. [6] In 2005, Coca-Cola and Pepsi together held 95% market share of soft-drink sales in India. Coca-Cola India's market share was 60.9%. [7] Others claim that due to rumors of the use of cocaine, Coke was banned for a long time in India and recently the ban was lifted, however, Pepsi had maintained a commanding market share.
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. "Pepsi" eventually became an offensive nickname for Francophones viewed as a lower class by Anglophones in the middle of the 20th century. The term is now used as a historical reference to French-English linguistic animosity (During the partitionist debate surrounding the 1995 referendum, a pundit wrote, "And a wall will be erected along St-Laurent street [the traditional divide between French and English in Montréal] because some people were throwing Coke bottle one way and Pepsi bottles the other way").
According to Consumer Reports, in the 1970's, the rivalry continued to heat up the market. Research proved that Pepsi is preferred over Coca-Cola. The way that they proved this was by blind taste tests that were conducted in stores. These tests were called "Challenge Booths." The sales of Pepsi started to climb, and Pepsi kicked off the "Challenge" across the nation.
More importantly, Pepsi outsells its rival in grocery and convenience stores in the U.S. (regarded as an indicator of consumer preference), with Coca-Cola's dominance in exclusive restaurant, movie theater, amusement park, college, and stadium deals giving Coke the overall sales advantage.[citation needed] In the U.S., Pepsi's total market share was about 31.7 percent in 2004, while Coke's was about 43.1 percent. [8]
In Russia, Pepsi once had a larger market share than Coca-Cola. However, Pepsi's dominance in Russia was undercut as the Cold War ended. Pepsi had made a deal with the Soviet Union for scale production of Pepsi in 1972.[1] When the Soviet Union fell apart, Pepsi, was associated with the old Soviet system, and Coca Cola, just newly introduced to the Russian market in 1992, was associated with the new system. Thus, Coke rapidly captured a significant market share away from Pepsi that might otherwise have needed years to build up. By July 2005, Coca-Cola enjoyed a market share of 19.4 percent, followed by Pepsi with 13 percent. [9]
According to Consumer Reports, the overall advertising of the two companies still involve tv commercials that endorse the image of youth, beauty, family togetherness, fun, pleasure, celebrity and patriotism. These components are expected to bring positives to the company so that the rivalry will continue on.
Ingredients
| Amount 8 fluid ounces | |
|---|---|
| Calories | 100 |
| Fat | 0 g |
| Sodium | 30 mg |
| Potassium | 10 mg |
| Carbohydrates | 27 g |
| Sugar | 27 g |
| Protein | 0 g |
| Caffeine | 25 mg |
The Pepsi-Cola drink 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 but obviously does not include any caffeine.
See also
- Pepsico
- Pepsi Stuff
- Pepsi Points
- Soft drink
- Cola wars
- Coca-Cola (drink)
- The Coca-Cola Company (Competitor)
- Pepsiman (Mascot for the Japanese division of Pepsi)
- List of Pepsi types
Notes
- ^ Mike Gange, Pop Culture Paraphernalia, The Encyclopedia of Pepsi-Cola Collectibles
- ^ "The History of Pepsi Cola", Mary Bellis, about.com
- ^ "The History of Pepsi-Cola", sodamuseum.bigstep.com paragraph 8
- ^ Jones, Eleanor & Ritzmann, Florian. "Coca-Cola at Home". Retrieved June 17, 2006.
- ^ SODAmuseum.com "The History of Pepsi-Cola", sodamuseum.bigstep.com, paragraph 31
- ^ "India: Soft Drinks, Hard Cases", The Water Dossier, 14 March 2005
- ^ "Fizzical Facts: Coke claims 60% mkt share in India", Times News Network, August 5 2005
- ^ "Beverage Digest Press Release", Beverage Digest, March 4 2005 (PDF)
- ^ "Coke Versus Pepsi, Santa Versus Moroz", The Moscow Times, December 30 2005
References
- Beverage World Magazine, January 1998, "Celebrating a Century of Refreshment: Pepsi - The First 100 Years"
- Stoddard, Bob. Pepsi Cola - 100 Years (1997), General Publishing Group, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- "History & Milestones" (1996), Pepsi packet