Pepsi Did WHAT?! - The Final Act

So we've briefly reviewed some of Pepsi's advertising mishaps over the past three decades (and we've never even ventured into the Britney Spears issues) and now we've come to Super Bowl XLIV and what could possibly be the Pepsi fiasco of 2010. After 23 years of advertising during the Super Bowl, Pepsi has decided not to participate this year.

Here's the catch.

Pepsi has decided, instead, to sink the $20 million they'd spend in advertising on social media instead.

Pepsi Refresh is a site where you can go and submit or vote for projects that impact your community and the world. From sending girl scout cookies to the troops to providing a health care clinic for the under-served of rural Tennessee Pepsi is asking everyone to vote for their favorite community effort. Don't see something you like? Submit a new idea.

Finally, Pepsi has broken out of the "celebrity" mold and decided to try something different. Bravo Pepsi!

As for whether or not this will work? I imagine three future scenarios in the Post-Super Bowl World where Pepsi has not advertised.

Scenario 1: 50 years into the future when all advertising is suggestive and integrated into shows and daily life you see a women walk into her apartment, open the fridge and crack open an ice, cold Pepsi. She then starts talking to her husband about how important it is to continue the fight against global warming.
You go to the ballpark to watch your favorite baseball game and the man behind the counter pours you a Pepsi. The same thing happens at ballparks across the U.S. because Pepsi is now part of the American Dream, not Coke.
Coke, a more bitter version of the sweeter, more considerate Pepsi, is seen only in the hands of a hero's bitter enemy.

Scenario 2: Pepsi Fail. 50 years from now the only people who remember Pepsi are the senior citizens. Like eight track tapes, records and VHS, teenagers roll their eyes at the story of more than one popular colas.

Scenario 3: Coke counters Pepsi's attack. The war wages on.

Pepsi Did WHAT?! - Part II

In part two of our review on the Pepsi/Coke war we're going to take a look at Pepsi fiasco #2. Madonna.

The material girl was another heavy-hitter in the line of famous Pepsi promoters. And yep, it was another failed Pepsi spot.

Madonna's commercial featured around her new song "Like a Prayer," was a sweet look into the past of a little girl drinking Pepsi and that little girl, all grown up, still drinking Pepsi. The commercial was an amazing feat for Pepsi's media planner - it aired in 40 different countries to an estimated 250 million people one night. It only aired once.

Madonna's Pepsi Commercial


Not bad, right? And trust me that commercial is hard to come by, because Pepsi wanted it buried. After the commercial aired, the next day Madonna aired her music video for "Like a Prayer." This video was a far cry from the sweet Pepsi commercial - Pepsi never watched the music video of Madonna with a black Jesus, burning cross and other controversial scenes.

Poor Pepsi. They paid $5 million for one commercial, which might not seem like a lot in 2009, but in 1989 it was, and it only aired once.