Pepsi

History

Pepsi was first invented in 1893 as "Brad's Drink" by Caleb Bradham, who sold the drink at his drugstore in New Bern, North Carolina. Bradham sought to create a fountain drink that was appealing and would aid in digestion and boost energy.

It was renamed "Pepsi-Cola" in 1898 due to its formula's inclusion of essence of pepsin. This was a then-common medicinal preparation made from the digestive enzyme pepsin, with glycerin and a mild alcohol added. It was often used as an additive to make bitter medicines palatable, as well as for curdling milk. Although this point is seemingly disputed by modern writers, the earliest print advertisements for the beverage carried the subtitle "The Pepsin Drink", and boasted its presence for the sake of relieving indigestion (dyspepsia), as well as alleviating headaches and drowsiness. A key selling point in a 1902 advertisement claimed that a glass of Pepsi-Cola contained a teaspoon's worth of the concoction. The original recipe also included sugar and vanilla.

Bradham would incorporate the Pepsi-Cola Company on December 24, 1902, and moved the bottling of Pepsi from his drugstore to a rented warehouse in 1903. That year, Bradham would sell 7,968 gallons of syrup. The next year, Pepsi would be introduced in six-ounce bottles, and sales increased to 19,848 gallons. In 1909, automobile race pioneer Barney Oldfield was the first celebrity to endorse Pepsi, describing it as "A bully drink...refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before a race." The advertising theme "Delicious and Healthful" was then used over the next two decades.

In 1923, the Pepsi-Cola Company entered bankruptcy—in large part due to financial losses incurred by speculating on the wildly fluctuating sugar prices as a result of World War I. Assets were sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark. Megargel was unsuccessful in efforts to find funding to revive the brand and soon Pepsi-Cola's assets were purchased by Charles Guth, the president of Loft, Inc. Loft was a candy manufacturer with retail stores that contained soda fountains. He sought to replace Coca-Cola at his stores' fountains after The Coca-Cola Company refused to give him additional discounts on syrup. Guth then had Loft's chemists reformulate the Pepsi-Cola syrup formula.

On three occasions between 1922 and 1933, the Coca-Cola Company was offered the opportunity to purchase the Pepsi-Cola Company, which it declined on each occasion.

Growth in popularity

During the Great Depression, Pepsi gained popularity following the introduction in 1934 of a 12-ounce (355 mL) bottle. Prior to that, Pepsi and Coca-Cola sold their drinks in 6.5-ounce (192 mL) servings for about $0.05 a bottle. With a radio advertising campaign featuring the popular jingle "Nickel, Nickel" – first recorded by the Tune Twisters in 1940 – Pepsi encouraged price-conscious consumers to double the volume their nickels could purchase. The jingle is arranged in a way that loops, creating a never-ending tune:"Pepsi-Cola hits the spot / Twelve full ounces, that's a lot / Twice as much for a nickel, too / Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you."Coming at a time of economic crisis, the campaign succeeded in boosting Pepsi's status. From 1936 to 1938, Pepsi-Cola's profits doubled.

Pepsi's success under Charles Guth came while the Loft Candy business was faltering. Since he had initially used Loft's finances and facilities to establish the new Pepsi success, the near-bankrupt Loft Company sued Guth for possession of the Pepsi-Cola company. A long legal battle, Guth v. Loft Inc., then ensued, with the case reaching the Delaware Supreme Court and ultimately ending in a loss for Guth.

The Pepsi-Cola name would be shortened to simply "Pepsi" as early as 1945, when their bottles transitioned from standard paper labels to the applied color label (ACL) process, which involved screen-printing enamel paint graphics directly onto the bottle at a high temperature. The neck of the new bottle design displayed a small ovoid Pepsi-Cola logo in color on the front, and a truncated version of the script reading "Pepsi" on the opposite side. This motif would be carried over when a new bottle design and logo were introduced in mid-1951. When the drink was rebranded in 1962, two versions of the same logo with either name were used interchangeably. By 1969, the drink would almost exclusively be referred to as "Pepsi", with the full name retained for secondary uses.

Second half of the 20th century

Pepsi-Cola began a continuous rise in popularity and sales growth starting in the 1950s under the leadership of Alfred Steele and later Donald M. Kendall. With Pepsi having been seen as a "poor man's Coca-Cola" that was "popular in the kitchen but it rarely arrived in the parlor", Steele gravitated production from economy to quality. The sugar content in Pepsi-Cola syrup was also lowered slightly to desweeten the taste. Combined with company and production changes, Pepsi sales had boomed by 1956 and gradually narrowed the gap to its large competitor.

By the mid 1950s, amid a time when cola products were booming all over the world, the drink was being bottled in over 700 plants across seventy countries. These helped make Pepsi-Cola a popular product in many markets, including in the Middle East following the opening of a plant in Cairo, and the Beirut Daily Star referred to the "Pepsi-Cola culture" when distribution began in Lebanon in 1952. Notably, in 1974 Pepsi became the very first American consumer product to be produced, marketed and sold in the Soviet Union.

In 1958, the "swirl" design bottle began to be used for distributing Pepsi. In 1963, the drink began to be distributed in America in larger 16-ounce (473 mL) bottles, and 12-ounce cans were introduced as well. Diet Pepsi, a second Pepsi product and the first extending the brand, was launched in 1964.

Beginning in the mid 1960s, aggressive and effective marketing of the product (see Pepsi Generation and Pepsi Challenge), mostly aimed at the younger generation, drastically increased the drink's popularity to become a formidable competitor to long-time market leader Coca-Cola. Pepsi machines were also installed in the White House cafeteria when Richard Nixon, who already had a close relationship with Pepsi, assumed the American presidency in 1969. Although total Pepsi sales never overtook that of Coca-Cola, the latter's lead in the American market had been narrowed to 1½-to-1 as of 1980 (from 5-to-1 in 1950), and Pepsi was outselling its rival in the "take-home" market, which includes supermarkets.

In November 1984, PepsiCo announced that it would, at least in the US, exclusively use high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to sweeten its canned, bottled and fountain Pepsi-Cola, replacing cane sugar. The Coca-Cola Company also did the same around the same time.

Ingredients

Pepsi may have small formula differences depending on where it is produced and the target market. In the United States, Pepsi cola is made with carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, sugar, phosphoric acid, caffeine, citric acid, and natural flavors. A 12 fl oz (355 mL) can of Pepsi has 41 grams of carbohydrates (all from sugars), 30 mg of sodium, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of protein, 38 mg of caffeine, and 150 calories. The Canadian equivalent can has mostly the same except 42 grams of carbohydrates (of which 41 g is sugar) and 35 mg of sodium.

Caffeine-Free Pepsi contains the same ingredients but without the caffeine.

In many countries since the 2020s, a new Pepsi formulation has been distributed in bottles and cans with the reduction of sugar content and the addition of artificial sweeteners Acesulfame K and Sucralose. It replaced the original formulation in many regions including Argentina and across Europe since at least 2021, with sugar being reduced by over one third from approximately 10.7 g to 7.0 g (per 100 mL) in some countries, while in Western Europe sugar was cut by more than half, to 4.6 g per 100 mL. The new formulation also came into effect in Australia in 2025 (with sugar reduced by one-third) The change was done as part of PepsiCo's pro-health commitment across all its brands, as well as the increasing sugar taxes and regulations all around the world.

Variants and portfolio

Today the Pepsi portfolio consists of three main major brands: the regular Pepsi (since 1893), Diet Pepsi/Pepsi Light (since 1964) and Pepsi Max (since 1993, intertwines with Pepsi Zero Sugar). The latter are low-calorie products. In addition, Caffeine-Free Pepsi has been produced since 1982, and a retro-themed drink made of cane sugar is sold exclusively in North America, called Pepsi Throwback.

In addition, since the 1970s Pepsi have distributed a large variety of flavors blended with the cola, such as Pepsi Wild Cherry (cherry flavored) and Pepsi Twist (lemon flavored), and has also experimented with special limited editions and country-exclusive Pepsi colas throughout the years.

Fictional drinks

A vitamin-enriched Pepsi variation called "Pepsi Perfect" in a special bottle was shown in the 1989 movie Back to the Future Part II in scenes set in the future year 2015. This was in 2015 released as a limited-edition drink. Only 6,500 bottles were available for $20.15, they have since been sold for hundreds of dollars on eBay.

Marketing

From the 1930s through the late 1950s, "Pepsi-Cola Hits The Spot" was the most commonly used slogan in the days of old-time radio, classic motion pictures and early days of television. Its jingle (conceived in the days when Pepsi cost only five cents) was used in many different forms with different lyrics. With the rise of radio, Pepsi-Cola utilized the services of a young, up-and-coming actress named Polly Bergen to promote products, oftentimes, lending her singing talents to the classic "...Hits The Spot" jingle.

Film actress Joan Crawford, after marrying Pepsi-Cola president Alfred N. Steele became a spokesperson for Pepsi, appearing in commercials, television specials, and televised beauty pageants on behalf of the company. Crawford also had images of the soft drink placed prominently in several of her later films. When Steele died in 1959, Crawford was appointed to the Board of Directors of Pepsi-Cola, a position she held until 1973, although she was not a board member of the larger PepsiCo, created in 1965.

Pepsi has been featured in several films, including Back to the Future Part II (1989), Home Alone (1990), Wayne's World (1992), Fight Club (1999), World War Z (2013), and in films directed by Spike Lee.

Pepsi marketing has also been marred in controversy. In 1989, Pepsi commissioned a $5 million marketing campaign to coincide with the release of Madonna's song "Like a Prayer", but was cancelled following strong backlash regarding the religious themes in the song's music video. In 1992, the Pepsi Number Fever marketing campaign in the Philippines accidentally distributed 800,000 winning bottle caps for a 1 million peso grand prize, leading to riots and the deaths of five people.

In 1996, PepsiCo launched the highly successful Pepsi Stuff marketing strategy. "Project Blue" was launched in several international markets outside the United States in April. The launch included extravagant publicity stunts, such as a Concorde airplane painted in blue colors (which was owned by Air France) and a banner on the Mir space station. The Project Blue design was first tested in the United States in June 1997, and was released that December in preparation for Pepsi's 100th anniversary. It was at this point, the logo began to be referred to as the Pepsi Globe.

Niche marketing

Walter Mack was named the new president of Pepsi-Cola and guided the company through the 1940s. Mack, who supported progressive causes, noticed that the company's strategy of using advertising for a general audience either ignored African Americans or used ethnic stereotypes in portraying Blacks. Up until the 1940s, the full revenue potential of what was called "the Negro market" was largely ignored by white-owned manufacturers in the U.S.

Mack realized that Black people were an untapped niche market and that Pepsi stood to gain market share by targeting its advertising directly towards them. To this end, he hired Hennan Smith, an advertising executive "from the Negro newspaper field" to lead an all-black sales team, which had to be cut due to the onset of World War II.

In 1947, Walter Mack resumed his efforts, hiring Edward F. Boyd to lead a twelve-man team. They came up with advertising portraying black Americans in a positive light, such as one with a smiling mother holding a six pack of Pepsi while her son (a young Ron Brown, who grew up to be Secretary of Commerce) reaches up for one. Another ad campaign, titled "Leaders in Their Fields", profiled twenty prominent African Americans such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche and photographer Gordon Parks.

Boyd also led a sales team composed entirely of blacks around the country to promote Pepsi. Racial segregation and Jim Crow laws were still in place throughout much of the U.S.; Boyd's team faced a great deal of discrimination as a result, from insults by Pepsi co-workers to threats by the Ku Klux Klan. On the other hand, it was able to use its anti-racism stance as a selling point, attacking Coke's reluctance to hire blacks and support by the chairman of The Coca-Cola Company for segregationist governor of Georgia Herman Talmadge. As a result, Pepsi's market share as compared to Coca-Cola's shot up dramatically in the 1950s with African American soft-drink consumers three times more likely to purchase Pepsi over Coke. After the sales team visited Chicago, Pepsi's share in the city overtook that of Coke for the first time.

Journalist Stephanie Capparell interviewed six men who were on the team in the late 1940s. The team members had a grueling schedule, working seven days a week, morning and night, for weeks on end. They visited bottlers, churches, ladies groups, schools, college campuses, YMCAs, community centers, insurance conventions, teacher and doctor conferences, and various civic organizations. They got famous jazzmen such as Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton to promote Pepsi from the stage. No group was too small or too large to target for a promotion.

Rivalry with Coca-Cola

According to Consumer Reports, in the 1970s, the rivalry continued to heat up the market. Pepsi conducted blind taste tests in stores, in what was called the "Pepsi Challenge". These tests suggested that more consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi to Coca-Cola. The sales of Pepsi started to climb, and Pepsi kicked off the "Challenge" across the nation. This became known as the "cola wars".

In 1985, The Coca-Cola Company, amid much publicity, changed its formula. The theory has been advanced that New Coke, as the reformulated drink came to be known, was invented specifically in response to the Pepsi Challenge. However, a consumer backlash led to Coca-Cola quickly reintroducing the original formula as "Coca-Cola Classic".

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.

According to Beverage Digest's 2008 report on carbonated soft drinks, PepsiCo's U.S. market share is 30.8 percent, while The Coca-Cola Company's is 42.7 percent (this includes all their respective brands). Coca-Cola outsells Pepsi in most parts of the U.S., notable exceptions being central Appalachia, Montana, North Dakota, and Utah. In the city of Buffalo, New York, Pepsi outsells Coca-Cola by a two-to-one margin. As of 2024, Pepsi had fallen behind Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper as the third most popular soft drink in the United States, losing its second place spot to the aforementioned Dr Pepper, a position it had held since 1985.

While total American Pepsi sales figures never overtook that of Coca-Cola (with the special exception of 1985 when Coca-Cola sales were fractured between New Coke and Coca-Cola Classic), in corporate terms, the PepsiCo company had overtaken the Coca-Cola Company in total corporate sales in 1979, partly driven by PepsiCo's wide range of non-beverage products (after its merger with Frito-Lay in 1965).

Overall, Coca-Cola continues to outsell Pepsi in almost all areas of the world. However, exceptions include: Oman, India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt,, Peru, Myanmar, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.. Pepsi is not sold in Russia, Cuba and North Korea. Pepsi had long been the drink of French-Canadians, 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. PepsiCo introduced the Quebec slogan "here, it's Pepsi" (Ici, c'est Pepsi) in response to Coca-Cola ads proclaiming "Around the world, it's Coke" (Partout dans le monde, c'est Coke).

Pepsiman

Pepsiman is an official Pepsi mascot from Pepsi's Japanese corporate branch, which debuted in March 1996. Pepsiman took on three different outfits, each one representing the current style of the Pepsi can in distribution. Twelve commercials were created featuring the character. His role in the advertisements is to appear with Pepsi to thirsty people or people craving soda.

Pepsiman happens to appear at just the right time with the product. After delivering the beverage, sometimes Pepsiman would encounter a difficult and action-oriented situation which would result in injury. Pepsiman is mostly silent, and he has no face except for a hole that opens up whenever he delivers a Pepsi. Another more minor mascot, Pepsiwoman, also featured in a few of her own commercials for Pepsi Twist; her appearance is basically a female Pepsiman wearing a lemon-shaped balaclava.

In 1996, Sega-AM2 released the Sega Saturn version of its arcade fighting game Fighting Vipers. In this game, Pepsiman was included as a special character, with his specialty listed as being the ability to "quench one's thirst." He does not appear in any other version or sequel.

In 1999, KID developed a video game for the PlayStation entitled Pepsiman. As the titular character, the player runs "on rails" (forced motion on a scrolling linear path), skateboards, rolls, and stumbles through various areas, avoiding dangers and collecting cans of Pepsi, all while trying to reach a thirsty person as in the commercials. Despite largely being considered a financial failure, Pepsiman has developed a cult following due to its over the top and nonsensical premise.

Sports sponsorships

Pepsi has official sponsorship deals with the National Football League, National Hockey League, and National Basketball Association. In 2007, and from 2013 to 2022, Pepsi sponsored the NFL's Super Bowl Halftime Shows. It was the sponsor of Major League Soccer until December 2015 and Major League Baseball until April 2017, both leagues signing deals with Coca-Cola. From 1999 to 2020, Pepsi also had the naming rights to the Pepsi Center, an indoor sports and entertainment facility in Denver, Colorado, until the venue's new naming rights were announced on October 22, 2020.

In 1997, after his sponsorship with Coca-Cola ended, retired NASCAR Cup Series driver Jeff Gordon signed a long-term contract with Pepsi, and he drove with the Pepsi logos on his car with various paint schemes for about 2 races each year, usually a darker paint scheme during nighttime races. Pepsi has remained as one of his sponsors ever since. Pepsi has also sponsored the NFL Rookie of the Year award since 2002.

Pepsi has the first global sponsorship deals with the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Women's Champions League starting in the 2015–16 season along with the sister brand, Pepsi Max and became the global sponsor of the competition.

Pepsi also has sponsorship deals in international cricket teams. The Pakistani national cricket team is one of the teams that the brand sponsors. The team wears the Pepsi logo on the front of their test and ODI test match clothing.

The Buffalo Bisons, an American Hockey League team, was sponsored by Pepsi-Cola in its later years; the team adopted the beverage's red, white, and blue color scheme along with a modification of the Pepsi logo (with the word "Buffalo" in place of the Pepsi-Cola wordmark). The Bisons ceased operations in 1970, making way for the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL.

Pepsi also has been a sponsor of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League since the team moved to North Carolina in 1997.

In 2017, Pepsi was the jersey sponsor of the Papua New Guinea national basketball team.