Pepsi vs. Coke

Oh, the age old question. Which is better?

Obviously looking at taste alone we could find the conclusion, but ignoring the notion of “taste” would make this debate a whole lot more fun.

To figure this out we must look at various factors: 1) Origins/History 2) Marketing  3) Variety 4) Conglomeration & 5) Sales

Part 1) Origins/History

Cola-Cola:

+ Founded in 1886 as a non-alcoholic version of French Wine Cola
+ Used to contain 9 milligrams of cocaine per glass (ended in 1903

Pepsi:

+ Introduced as “Brad’s Drink” in 1898
+ Automobile race pioneer Barney Oldfield was the first celebrity to endorse Pepsi-Cola
+ Almost went bankrupt during the Great Depression

Because of Coca Cola’s dark history of containing Cocaine in it’s initial drinks, Pepsi wins!

Part 2) Marketing

To examine which products excels in terms of marketing potential and ability, we must look at a long line of history, starting with corporate logos.

Eh, neither of the designs strike me as particular of any relative amount of beauty to me, so let’s move on to celebrity endorsements.

Coca-Cola: Paula Abdul, Christina Aguilera, Marc Anthony, David Arquette, Kate Beckinsale, Mary J. Blige, Adrien Brody, Kobe Bryant, 50 Cent, Bill Cosby, Courteney Cox, Penelope Cruz, Missy Elliot, Bill Gates, Salma Hayek, Jennifer Lopez

Pepsi: Christina Aguilera (wtf?), Kim Basinger, David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, Halle Berry, Jackie Chan, Ray Charles, Carson Daly, James Dean, Carmen Electra, Jimmy Falloon, Tom Green, MC Hammer, Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Lopez (WTF), Bernie Mac, Ludacris, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Ricky Martin, Shaquill O’Neil, Pink, Denise Richards, Britney Spears, Jamie Lynn Spears, Kanye West, Tiger Woods

A couple of things right off the bat. Christina Aguilera & Jennifer Lopez apparently both marketed for both products (UGH. what a bunch of teases). Kobe > Shaquille. I would say Christina > Britney, but since she’s marketing for both it doesn’t make much sense for that to take into account. Kanye West = asshole and Tiger Woods = manwhore, but  50 cent isn’t exactly a saint either -_-. Bill Gates & Microsoft brought lots of change into the digital age, but so did Ray Charles. Shrugs. I’m going to ignore the celebrity endorsements and move on to actual advertisements.

Now, upon exploring the web quite and a bit (and random youtube videos, I found old Pepsi and Coke ads).

Pepsi had a really strange ad with Britney Spears and Bob Dole, the Republican presidential candidate that ran against Bill Clinton in 1996, roughly 14 years ago.

She looks rather nice in this commercial, but that’s not enough to make me convinced to buy their product.

This on the other hand….

Indoctrination? Yes. A little creepy?Yes. But does it work in its message of love? YES! It makes me want to buy a Coke, sadly enough.

Therefore, Coke wins in the Marketing Arena.

Part 3) Variety

Let’s now have a look at which each product offers in terms of Variety of their products:

Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola Original, Caffeine-Free Coke, Coke Cherry, New Coke, Coke with Lemon, Coke Vanilla, Coke C2, Coke Lime, Coke Raspberry, Coke Zero, Coke M5, Coke Black Cherry Vanilla, Coke Blak, Coke Citra, Coke Light Sango, Coke Orange, Diet Coke

Pepsi: Pepsi Original, Pepsi Crystal, Pepsi Blue, Pepsi Free, Pepsi Twist, Pepsi Raw, Diet Pepsi, Jazz Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Pepsi One, Pepsi Kaffe, Pepsi Kona.

Erm. I’m sure both companies offer the same amount of variety, so that leaves it at 2-2.

Part 4) Conglomeration

Which company owns more. Let’s have a look-see.

The Coca-Cola Company owns: Barq’s, Crappy, Coke, Coke Zero, Dasani Water, Diet Coke, Glaceau, Fanta, Fresca, Full Throttle, Fuze, Hi-C, Kinley, Lift, Matte Leao, Mello Yello, Minute Maid, Monster Energy, Oasis, Odwalla, Powerade, Pibb, Relentless, Sprite, Tab, Thums up, Urge, Vault, Inca Kola, & Wilkins Water

PepsiCo owns: Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Crush, Mug Root Beer, Sierra Mist, Tropicana Twister Fang, Frawg, Aquafina, Tava, Dole, Gatorade, Izzie, AMP Energy, Propel Fitness Water, SoBe, Quaker Milk Chillers, and Tropicana

This again is a tough one. It’s like arguing Powerade vs. Gatorade, Sprite vs. Sierra Mist, and HiC vs. Tropicana. It’s just a strange that it all comes down to sales, in the end….

Part 5) Sales

Tough answer. The truth is, it depends on how you look at it.

You see, Coke outsells Pepsi every year.

HOWEVER, PepsiCo and all of its drinks has recently surpassed The Coca Cola company in terms of market share & sales.

So basically, I’ll let you decide which one is better based on that, and perhaps a sixth factor (of taste). I’m not here to say what my personal preference personally is, but rather to facilitate debate. In the end it doesn’t really matter to me because I have stopped drinking soda.