Is Pepsi’s Latest Commercial Going Too Far?

 

It’s safe to say that it’s not just Big Food that’s hurting: “Big Beverage” is too, and perhaps no company as much as Pepsi.

The iconic soft drink company (that also owns several food companies to be technical) has actually endured 10 straight “losing seasons,” aka 10 sales drops in the past 10 years according to this article.

With the status of its best-selling Diet Pepsi drink as in turmoil and a backlash continuing against toxic aspartame (see study recap here), the company is finally dropping the controversial sweetener.

Despite these and other changes, it’s safe to say the company, along with its contemporaries in the chemical “food” and drink industry, is sweating.

And now, with the pressure mounting, these companies are pulling out all the stops with advertising campaigns mocking people who actually have the audacity to live a healthy lifestyle.

 

 

Pepsi Co. Battles Wheatgrass, Hipsters

In a recent ad for Pepsi Max, the forgotten step child of the Pepsi family which is basically a souped-up Diet Pepsi with more caffeine, Pepsi takes aim at the growing movement for healthy juice bars and restaurants.

A wheatgrass milkshake?” asks the slick-talking man on the right in the Pepsi Max commercial below. “What are you, a suspender-wearing hipster trying to grow his first beard?”

The man then proceeds to toss some of the frothy green drink at the stereotypical “hipster” style character to his right.

 

 

While this may seem like an innocent advertisement (hey, they’re meant to be funny and we’re all tired of the overly PC society), it’s also an admission, in a way, that Pepsi is feeling the heat from a customer base that’s now turning away from its aspartame and other chemical-laced drinks (just read the Pepsi Max ingredients here).

Of course the question is whether Pepsi will actually end up eating its words by actually coming out with a drink containing wheatgrass at some point down the line.

It’s not as farfetched as you might think: McDonald’s is now testing recipes with kale after mocking it in a previous advertisement.

At any rate, check out the Pepsi ad below and let us know just how desperate you think these companies are getting in the comments below:

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Categories: AltHealthWORKS and aspartame.
About Nick Meyer

Nick Meyer is a journalist who's been published in the Detroit Free Press, Dallas Morning News and several other outlets. He founded AltHealthWORKS in 2012 to showcase extraordinary stories of healing and the power of organic living, stories the mainstream media always seemed to miss. Check out Nick's Amazon best-seller 'Dirt Cheap Organic: 101 Tips For Going Organic on a Budget' by clicking here, as well as its sequel Dirt Cheap Weight Loss.