Anyone that knows me knows I have a fierce contrarian streak. How does this manifest itself? Well I generally root for the underdog, i.e. the Mets, and I often find myself playing devil's advocate about shit I don't even really care about, Joe Paterno's innocence, the relative benefits of Communism, are a few examples. But perhaps nothing encapsulates my anarchistic world view than my preference for Pepsi over Coke. Now I know liking one gigantic corporation over another is not exactly the hallmark of a rebellious worldview, you might argue that liking RC cola or Jolt would be more apropos. You might argue that Pepsi has no ostensible worldview besides being staunchly pro-caffeine, carbonation, and cola(or as I like to call them the Triple C's). This is where my trusted resource Wikipedia comes into play, eager to prove my insurrectionist bonafides, I took to Wikipedia to learn more about Pepsi, and guess what. Pepsi is fucking awesome.
I didn't learn much at first, except that Pepsi used to be called "Brad's Drink," which I think is not such a great name, that Pepsi went bankrupt during the Great Depression due to wildly fluctuating sugar prices, and that Pepsi was bought by a retail store magnate who was pissed Coke wouldn't give him a discount.
But then I struck gold. Under the topic heading "Niche Marketing" I found out some real interesting shit. Walter Mack, a progressive business man, took control of the company in 1938, and saw that no Cola targeted itself towards African Americans. Mack put together a veritable dream team of African American ad men, who came up with ads that featured black people in a positive light. (One ad featured a young Ron Brown, a fellow Hunter alum and a future Commerce Secretary in the Clinton Administration, Brown died during his tenure as secretary in plane crash. Interestingly,some rightwingers saw the crash as a government cover up, to protect Clinton from being tarnished by Brown, who was being investigated for corruption. Furthermore, when Brown died my elementary school had an elaborate memorial service and renamed the playground in his honor. Little did I know that I grew up playing on the monkey bars that Pepsi built.) The Pepsi team came under fire from racist coworkers and the Ku Klux Klan, but was able to successfully market Pepsi as a more progressive drink, particularly in light of the Coke CEO supporting the outright racist governor of Georgia Herman Talmadge. The ad team traveled the country, reaching out to black audiences, and slowly but surely helped Pepsi gain a greater market share. But this gesture made many uneasy, and at a meeting of Pepsi bottlers Mack sullied his legacy by saying "We don't want it to become known as a nigger drink." Mack left the company in 1950 and Pepsi drew down their efforts.
Well shit, the wonders of Wikipedia! I guess the ineffable feeling's I harbored towards Pepsi were justified. Pepsi was an innovator, affirming the equal rights of blacks to drink their sugary beverages well before Truman integrated the army, or LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act.
Not even to mention that Cherry Pepsi is great.
sweet.
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