Pepsi Challenge
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The Pepsi Challenge has been an ongoing marketing promotion run by PepsiCo since 1975. It is also the name of a cross country ski race at Giant's Ridge Ski Area in Biwabik, MN, an event sponsored by Pepsi.
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[edit] Method
The challenge is designed to be a direct response to critics who allege that Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola are identical drinks, with no meaningful differences. The challenge takes the form of a taste test. At malls, shopping centers and other public locations, a Pepsi representative sets up a table with two blank cups, one containing Pepsi and one with Coke. Shoppers are encouraged to taste both colas, and then select which drink they prefer. Then the representative reveals the two bottles so the taster can see whether they preferred Coke or Pepsi. If Pepsi is revealed, the shopper is given a small prize. The implication is that Pepsi tastes better than Coke, and thus consumers should purchase Pepsi.
In blind taste tests, more consumers prefer the taste of Pepsi to that of Coca-Cola. Because Coke was the historical leader, more people expected that they'd prefer and select Coke. Their surprise at picking Pepsi in the blind taste test (products were served in unmarked cups) helped change their minds about which product they prefer. Capturing this on film, Pepsi turned this into a memorable TV campaign that lasted many years.
[edit] Reactions
After years of the Pepsi Challenge, Pepsi began to outsell Coke in the US wherever the two were sold side-by-side, for example in supermarkets and convenience stores. However, Coke remains more widely available, for example in restaurants, and thus continues to outsell Pepsi in terms of total sales.
During the period when the Pepsi Challenge was used in commercials, Coca-Cola countered with parody commercials, including one in which a third choice was offered, a tennis ball. The "volunteer", a monkey, claimed that he preferred the taste of the tennis ball to both Coke and Pepsi because it stank, and that he thought it was the "fuzzie goodness" that made the difference.
Other companies have also introduced promotions similar to the Pepsi Challenge, such as the Hyundai Challenge and the recent Altoids Challenge.
[edit] Criticisms
Psychology researchers took a deeper look at the Pepsi Challenge and discovered that when Pepsi did the tests, they covered the labels on the bottles of soda with plain labels containing a single block letter. The Pepsi bottle was consistently labeled "M" and the Coke bottle was labeled "Q". The researchers repeated the Pepsi Challenge tests but reversed the labels, and got reversed preference results, in which Coke beat Pepsi. They concluded that consumers will choose M over Q regardless of the taste of the beverages.
In his book, Blink, author Malcolm Gladwell ascribes the success of Pepsi over Coca-Cola in these tests to being a result of the nature of "sip tests," which would fail to account for the cloying effect of excessive sweetness and the complementary but counter-intuitive long-term preference for an item that would consistently lose in a blind sip-test comparison.
Additionally, some participants recall that the two beverages were served to them at different temperatures. The Pepsi sample was served chilled but the Coca-Cola was at room temperature, thus making it less appealing than the Pepsi.
[edit] See also
- Pepsi Stuff a.k.a. Pepsi Points
- New Coke (a product released to compete with Pepsi resulting from the Pepsi Challenge)
