Thread 21530976

In 1975, Pepsi launched the "Pepsi Challenge." Blind taste tests. Mall shoppers. Hidden cameras capturing the moment Coke loyalists chose the "wrong" soda.

It looked like democracy in action.
It wasn't.

The challenge wasn't about taste. It was about manufacturing the appearance of competition while both companies carved up the market like feudal lords dividing territory.

Here's what the cameras didn't show: Pepsi and Coke had already agreed on the rules of the game.

They'd spend billions on advertising, not to win customers from each other, but to keep anyone else from entering the ring. New Cola? Dead on arrival. Regional brands? Crushed by distribution deals that locked them out of every major retailer.

The "war" was theater. The real battle was against choice itself.

Consider the evidence:

Both companies use nearly identical high-fructose corn syrup formulas. The taste difference that supposedly drives brand loyalty? Marketing teams spend millions manufacturing preference for distinctions a chemist would call negligible.

Both own overlapping portfolios of "competing" brands. Coke has Sprite. Pepsi has Sierra Mist. Different labels, same corporate parents, same shelf space strangled away from actual competitors.

And when real competition threatened? They collaborated.

In the 1980s, both companies quietly lobbied together against sugar taxes. In the 1990s, they jointly fought calorie disclosure laws. In the 2000s, they synchronized their shift to "healthier" options, ensuring neither gained advantage by moving first.

The duopoly was so stable that when Pepsi briefly considered buying Coca-Cola in the 1980s, regulators didn't even blink. Why would they? The illusion of competition was working perfectly.

Meanwhile, actual innovation got buried.

Small beverage companies with genuinely different products, natural sodas, novel flavors, healthier formulations, found themselves locked out of distribution networks both giants controlled. Supermarket chains, dependent on Coke and Pepsi's marketing dollars, relegated newcomers to specialty aisles where they'd wither unseen.

The choice between red and blue cans isn't choice.
It's a focus group.

Two options, designed by the same consultants, tested by the same demographics, engineered to split the market down the middle while keeping the real power concentrated.

You pick Team Coke or Team Pepsi.
But the house always wins.

Because when the only options are red corporate sugar water and blue corporate sugar water, you're not choosing.

You're just picking which master pours your drink.

Great. Now you understand politics.

Thanks Grok.

>be me
>blind taste test
>pick Pepsi
>wake up in FEMA camp for flavor crimes.

>>21530976 (OP)
I buy generic cola

>>21530976 (OP)
lol, plus Coke just tastes better. They always win.

For 'beatus enjoyers, you can't beat RC Cola.

>reading all that shit
For me, it's Bang's.

>coke's response
i'm pretty sure coke wouldn't be allowed to steal that ad and change the titles, they would be sued

>>21531053
Love me a good ol' Bangs.
Simple as.

>>21531085
Then how about getting with the program? Why don't you jump on the team and come on in for the big win?

>>21531071
>he doesn't know
all candy is produced and owned by BigCandy, anon.

>>21530982
wild how none of that bullshit is stopping me from buying sam's or shasta and spending half as much for it

>>21531039
A near frozen fresh can of coke simply cannot be bested by anything. The closest competitor is a near frozen bottle of Barq's but still comes in second. That said sometimes I do enjoy a pepsi to shake things up. Odd as it sounds it is just too sweet for an every day sipper.

>>21531613
>I do enjoy a pepsi to shake things up

Don't don't shake up the Pepsi or you'll have a mess on your hands...

...and your clothes lol

>>21530977
RC cola chads going strong

>>21531039
>>21531613
I don't really drink soda much but I strongly prefer Pepsi to Coke. Given the choose of Coke and nothing, I'd honestly rather have nothing. I just don't like it.

>>21531639
>>>21530977
>RC cola chads going strong
I have always enjoyed it too.

Family friend owns Pepsi in Venezuela and I used to hear conversations at parties that it was the only country in the world where Pepsi outsells Coke.

OP, don't kid yourself, the competition is not 50/50. Most people who drink cola on the regular, with sugar mind you, can absolutely tell the different and have their preference. The people who have their fountain drink machines sign on for their store and restaurant for the price and the pressure, but I'm sure it doesn't increase market share. If I'm told "no coke, pepsi" then I'll change an order on the spot to "oh, change it to mountain dew"

>>21531613
>Barq's
wtf is that? Do you mean Bangs? Cause that is a good root beer

>>21531613
diet sam's cola is just better

The coke vs pepsi shit really is like politics.
A fake competition between two companies that are owned by the same people. All the real competition kicked out of race.
Coke used to actually be better than Pepsi. I tasted Pepsi and it tasted like what I imagine a dirty sock left in water tastes like. Coke tasted amazing. But over the years Coke has lost all flavor. Coke tastes like absolutely nothing except some inferior sugar and a trace amount of caramel they use for coloring.
The choice used to be a no brainer, of course I'll take the Coke over Pepsi. But now both are terrible.
>durr I'll just buy a different brand!
Owned by the same people

>>21530976 (OP)
>>21530977
>>21530979
>>21530979
>>21530982
I'm drinking Dr Pepper.

>>21531071
Yeah, well they got around that because the response ad is by a 'Coke Fan' that just so happened to get picked up by every trash 'journalist'. So they can call it fair use parody by an individual, even though no real person would photoshop an advertisement for a corporation just because they like a drink.

>>21531798
Owned by both companies. All Dr Pepper bottles are bottled either in Coke or Pepsi factories.

>>21530979
where my 7up homies at

Pepsi is just too sweet, I loved it until my early 30's and never wanted coke. Then something switched and I couldn't tolerate that level of sweetness anymore. Coke isn't amazing but the toned down sweetness makes it more palatable.

>>21530976 (OP)
Twice as much, for a nickel, too.
Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you.

>>21530976 (OP)
>>21530977
>>21530979
>>21530982
If pepsi was your business you owned you wouldn't say the same thing would you jealous bitch.

>>21531039
>Coke just tastes better
shit taste having ass

>>21532868
I have my own business and don't feel the need to go destroy other businesses. I make enough money to live comfortably. The desire to become the owner of the entire market and being a cuck who makes other people into billionaires is mental illness.
The top guys who own pepsi and cola don't even benefit from the trillions of dollars they make. The networth they have is factories and the money they make goes to shareholders. Pure mental illness.
>oh no, other drink companies are gaining popularity, we need to crush them right now so stock holder number 515 can buy another mansion
Pure fucking mental illness

>>21533557
That's not how capitalism works, you fucking commie.