Americans are slowly losing our taste for fizzy sugar water, but PepsiCo may have overestimated how quickly that’s happening. The company admits that it spent the third quarter stuffing shelves with more “healthy” products than the public was ready for. [More]
pepsi
Major Mountain Dew Syrup Spill Creates “Huge Foaming Event” At Pepsi Plant
By 4.11.17
Maybe you find it hilarious when your friend’s can of Mountain Dew erupts all over their shirt and face (unless you’re left cleaning up the mess on the floor, negating all the hilarity). But a large-scale spill of Mountain Dew syrup — resulting in a “huge foaming event” — was a genuine cause for concern at one Pepsi bottling facility. [More]
Today In Badvertising: Pepsi Solves Social Strife With Soda; Nivea Says “White Is Purity”
By 4.5.17
Two major brands — Pepsi and Nivea — are under fire this week on social media for ads that some say are offensive and tone deaf. [More]
Coca-Cola, Pepsi Will Pull 2-Liters From Philadelphia Over Soda Tax
By 3.22.17
The recently enacted sugary drink tax in Philadelphia has not been without controversy, including a soda industry lawsuit, unhappy consumers, and push back from lawmakers. The two biggest names in soda are now making drastic changes to the products they offer — and the people they employ — and blaming it on the tax. [More]
Pepsi: We’re Trying To Sell You Healthier Snacks, But You Keep Buying Cheetos
By 12.12.16
Pepsi, despite what you may think, really just wants to sell you health food. And it’s all ready and waiting to start putting less-fried, less-salty options in your hand. The problem, the company says? You just won’t stop buying chips. [More]
Twitter Thinks You Might Like To Slap Brands’ “Promoted” Stickers All Over Your Photos
By 8.15.16
If you looked at the last Twitter you shared on Twitter and thought, “You know, I could really use some more corporate branding on here,” you’re in luck: the social media platform says its teaming up with companies to offer “Promoted #Stickers.” [More]
It’s True: Crystal Pepsi Is Coming Back For All Those People Who Forgot They Hated It The First Time Around
By 6.29.16
For better or worse (mostly worse), I’ve always been a big fan of soda, so when I was a senior in high school in Florida in the early ’90s, I was over the moon that my area would get to try Crystal Pepsi before some other parts of the country. Then I tasted the underwhelming clear cola for myself. Now, more than 20 years later, Pepsi gets to introduce a new generation of cola lovers to that same unique disappointment, with a limited time re-release of Crystal Pepsi that we’re pretty sure the world could have done without. [More]
Pepsi To Bring Back Aspartame-Sweetened Diet Pepsi By September
By 6.27.16
Weeks after it was rumored that continued falling sales would propel PepsiCo to once again change the sweetener used in its main calorie-free beverage, Diet Pepsi, back to aspartame, the company announced plans to do just that Monday. [More]
Pepsi Cancels Its Meeting With Bottlers To Discuss Diet Pepsi Plans
By 6.10.16
In recent years, customers told Pepsi that they weren’t interested in drinking diet colas because of their concerns about the sweetener aspartame. Pepsi took the logical next step and changed out the sweetener in Diet Pepsi to a blend of sucralose and acesulfame potassium to prop up diet cola sales, and in response to the change, sales…. fell even faster. Now Pepsi has canceled a planned meeting with bottlers to discuss solutions to the crisis. [More]
Pepsi, Frito-Lay Quietly Adding GMO Ingredient Labels To Some Foods
By 5.11.16
Whether or not you agree with mandatory labeling for foods containing genetically modified or genetically engineered ingredients, the Vermont law requiring this information on food sold in that state will go into effect on the first of July. Some companies — including Mars, Campbell Soup, and General Mills — have announced decisions to implement these labels nationwide, while PepsiCo appears to be quietly putting labels on its products. [More]
Why Is An Old Billboard A Treasured Symbol But A New One Is An Eyesore?
By 5.3.16
If someone told you today that a new, brightly lit neon sign was going up across the street from where you live, you might react with disgust at the thought of such a commercial eyesore invading the skyline of your community. Yet when some older sign or billboard is threatened, everyone is suddenly up in arms, rushing to its defense. How does something as mundane as outdoor advertising grow to become considered an essential piece of the urban fabric? [More]
Soda Makers Advertise New And Exciting Ingredient: Sugar
By 3.30.16
Late last year, Pepsi prepared to introduce a new beverage, the old-timey and upscale 1893, or as its trademark application called it, “1893 From the Makers of Pepsi-Cola.” It’s just one of many products taking advantage of a strange trend in soft drinks right now: making products with real sugar is a selling point, something that the industry might not have expected just a few years ago. [More]
UPDATE: Pepsi Says Organic Gatorade Still Slated For 2016 Release
By 3.30.16
UPDATE: After an earlier report that Pepsi was pushing back the release date of its new organic Gatorade to 2017, a spokeswoman for the company reached out to Consumerist and said that unfortunately, “the wrong date was shared” in the media outlet’s interview. [More]
A List of Corporate Buzzwords From Pepsi’s Announcement Of Its Artisanal Cocktail Space
By 1.29.16
Do you have a hole in the heart that’s shaped like artisanal drinks made from a kola nut and peddled by a soda company that knows how to use all the coolest corporate buzzwords? You’re in luck! Pepsi is opening the country’s first “experimental kola bar, restaurant, lounge, and event space” in New York City. From the sound of the company’s press release, it’s where buzzwords go to die. [More]
Walmart, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestlé Offer 176 Truckloads Of Clean Water To Flint Schoolkids
By 1.26.16
You’ve no doubt heard about the concerns over lead-tainted water in the Michigan city of Flint. While the city and state have declared it a public-health emergency, some big businesses are stepping up with the promise of delivering millions of bottles of clean water to Flint schoolchildren through the rest of 2016. [More]
Coca-Cola, Pepsi Once Again Fund Study Claiming Diet Soda Is Better For You Than Water
By 1.18.16
Back in 2014, the soft drink industry funded a study that, coincidentally, concluded that diet soda is better for weight loss than water. These same companies are at it again, not only providing the backing for another study extolling the virtues of diet drinks, but also — according to new reports — directly paying money to the researchers involved. [More]
Pepsi’s New Hello Goodness Vending Machines Offer Only “Healthy” Options
By 12.14.15
PepsiCo wants consumers to know that it is taking their health seriously, and to demonstrate that, the company says it plans to install vending machines offering only healthy products around the country. [More]
Return Of Crystal Pepsi Confirmed, But You Can’t Actually Buy It (Yet)
By 12.9.15
A few months ago, the word on the street was that Pepsi was bringing back a carbonated ’90s icon, Crystal Pepsi. The clear-caffeine-free beverage lives in our collective memory a a product that was briefly very popular and then disappeared the following year. Pepsi has announced that the product will come back as part of a giveaway to promote the company’s rewards app, Pepsi Pass. [More]
