61) Cola Wars

[00:00:01] The Rambler Network

[00:00:03] Cola Wars

[00:00:47] Which as you know was a very brutal bloody long-standing war between the cola companies and That divided us into the current factions that we're currently in and why the world is exactly the way it okay No, obviously it isn't what it is It is the term used for the ad campaigns between Coca-Cola and Pepsi

[00:01:16] through the 70s and 80s, specifically the 80s They always had, they were always, well I mean obviously there were competitors, there were sodas For the record, I know that this is always a debate among people In this podcast, we say soda Even though I'm from Ohio, we don't, I never have called it pop My friends in Ohio say pop and I'm like why do you call it pop and they're like

[00:01:44] Because it's called pop and I'm like, ah no, it's soda Like why do you call it soda? That's so weird Like uh... I could do a whole episode on that, but no I will call it soda Anyway So Basically Uh... It goes back to the 1800s Kind of Because

[00:02:09] Coca-Cola was invented in 1886 by Dr. John Pemberton In Atlanta, Georgia And Pepsi was invented A few years later in 1893 By Caleb Bradham Who was a pharmacist And it was originally called Brad's Drink But Uh... A few years later in 1898 It was renamed Pepsi-Cola

[00:02:40] Because Can you imagine if they never changed it? And to this day it was called Brad's Drink That would... That would be a little weird And kind of funny actually But They... Um... Coca-Cola is actually the one who Basically solidified the look of Santa Claus It was for an ad campaign And The famous look we have for Santa You know the red suit and the hat and everything That's... That's from Coca-Cola

[00:03:09] And of course it's red Because Coca-Cola is red It's... It's... That's the thing So Pepsi started something In the 70's Called the Pepsi Challenge Basically was They would have a Blind taste test In public And One Was Pepsi And the other was Coke And You'd try them both And it's like Which one do you like better? And

[00:03:39] According to them A majority of the people said Pepsi But I have never Preferred Pepsi To me Pepsi just feels It tastes like Watered down Coca-Cola That's That's honestly what it feels like to me Or Tastes like To me I keep saying feels like But I did the Pepsi Challenge Not Like an official one But someone tried to do it In my school And they're like Let's see if you can tell the difference And like

[00:04:09] Yeah They taste very different And like I took a drink I drank one And I was like This tastes like Watered down Coca-Cola This has to be Pepsi Yep It was Pepsi But yeah In In 1985 Coca-Cola They almost lost The Cola Wars Because They

[00:04:38] They introduced New Coke That was basically A reformulated Version Of The Classic Formula One thing about Pepsi Is it's more of like a It's a sweeter One With It's more of a sweeter Drink And it has I think they put like More sugar As someone said There's like caramel in it Or caramelized Or I don't know I never I This is the most I've looked into Pepsi

[00:05:08] And I did see someone Say It's like It's caramelized Or it's caramel Or something I don't know I don't like Pepsi But The point is Pepsi supposedly Tastes sweeter And that's why Supposedly I should say Allegedly Allegedly Allegedly Allegedly Supposedly That's why People Prefer Pepsi

[00:05:37] But I don't know A whole lot of people That prefers Pepsi I know people that Don't care either way I know people who Don't care Either way There's good and bad Each I like Mountain Dew Mountain Dew Is kinda cool It's a Pepsi product I don't like I don't like Pepsi Itself Like the Actual Drink Pepsi Pepsi Pepsi Pepsi Has some Some good Drinks in it They got rid of

[00:06:06] Sierra Mist Which I didn't like They replaced it with Starry Which What's wrong with Sierra Mist Anyway So they Introduced New Coke To Try to I guess kinda Rebrand Make it It was a sweeter Version of The classic Formula And Apparently People didn't Mind the Flavors so much Their problem Was that They were

[00:06:36] Replacing the Classic Coca-Cola For a few Months You actually Couldn't get Classic Coca-Cola Anywhere Cause they were Replaced with New Coke And so Pepsi Actually declared Themselves the Winner They put Like Front page Ads And everything Like We won Because people Don't like Coke now They made a Mistake And After a couple Months Coca-Cola Was like Okay We're gonna Reintroduce This As

[00:07:05] That's why The Coca-Cola Bottles It says Coca-Cola Classic Because You know It's the Original formula At back And at First they Were trying To do both Coca-Cola Classic And New Coke But People still Didn't like It All they Had to Do All they Had to Do Was rename New Coke People didn't Like it Cause they Were still Confused Like Is this Cause it's Called New Coke

[00:07:34] Like it's The new Coke It's replacing The old Coke Which is The one We like And so They could Have just Named it Something else Like Coca-Cola Sweeter Or something I don't know That's a bad Name But that's Why I'm Not in Marketing They could Have named It something Like Undiet Soda Or something I don't Know Because it's Sweeter I don't Know They

[00:08:05] During the Middle of the Cola Wars They They really Ramped up With the Whole Celebrity Endorsements And the Two big Ones That everyone Seems to Remember From back Then They didn't Exactly Age Well Pepsi Chose Michael Jackson Who Is Controversial In his Own Right That Also Didn't It didn't Age Well And it Didn't

[00:08:35] Go Well Because He was Filming A Pepsi Commercial Pyrotechnics Went off Early Or Wrong And Set His Hair On Fire And That's What Led Him Down The Whole The Countless Plastic Surgeries That he Ended Up Doing I Don't Know If He Had Done One Before But I Know I Read Somewhere That That's What Was The Beginning Of That

[00:09:07] Because Of Pepsi So That Wasn't Very Well But Also Because Of His Controversial What Everything He Didn't Age Well But That's Nothing Next To Coca-Cola's Coca-Cola Chose Bill Cosby Who I'm Not Even Going To Touch That One Poor

[00:09:36] Choice Of Words But Anyway Obviously They're Still Competing Now They're Competitors I don't Know They'll Always Be Competitors It's Just The Nature Of The Business But It's Not As Intense As It Used To Be Case In Point In 2006 Somebody Who Worked As A Secretary At Coca-Cola Got Ahold Of I've Heard Two Different Versions It Was Either The

[00:10:06] Secret Formula Or An Unreleased Drink For This For The Sake Of This Story Because I Know I've Heard Two Versions Of The Story And They're Both Identical Except For What She Took It's Either She Took The Actual Secret Formula That Coca-Cola You know One Of The Big Secrets Behind Them Is Nobody Knows The Formula Nobody Knows How It's Made

[00:10:36] All Of That It's Basically It's Big Secret There's Like That Joke About It Behind The Big Vault And Yeah So It Was Either That Or She Stole Some Unreleased Drink That Coca-Cola Was Working On Either Way She Took It And She Went To Pepsi And Try To Offer It To Them For A Few Million Dollars Like Hey Give Me Some Money And

[00:11:05] I'll Give You I'll Give You Their Secret Formula And Pepsi You Know What They Did You Know Someone Comes To Them Trying To Sabotage Their Biggest Competitor And Yeah You Know What They Did They They They Called Coca-Cola Right Up Here's The Thing That's Happening And They Got The FBI Involved So That's When I Read That I read That Years Ago And I

[00:11:36] Actually I Should Have Read Up Again On It I Did Read Up On It A Little Bit I Looked It Up Just So I Can Tell The Story Here And That's When I Heard Like Two Different Versions Again I've Always Heard Two Different Versions But Either Way They That's When I Realized The Whole Cola Wars Thing I Always Envisioned It Because Of The Naming Of It Cola Wars I Always Envisioned It Being This Really Intense One Or The Other

[00:12:05] Thing But Then When I Heard That Story Of Someone Trying To Sabotage Coca-Cola By Giving Their Secret Formula To Their Biggest Competitor And Pepsi Calling Coca-Cola Up And We're Not Going To Look At Those Because We Don't Want To Sabotage You That's When I Realized It's All Fun And Games Or Fun It's Light Hearted It's Light Hearted Competition In A Way I Mean It's

[00:12:35] Still Like It's Business It's A Big Corporate World But If It Was Really As Intense As Everyone Made It Seem Then Pepsi Would Have Looked At That And Sabotage Coca-Cola Which I Always Thought Was Kind Of Cool I Still Don't Like Pepsi As Much As Much I I Was Going To Say At All But I Do Like Some Pepsi Products My My

[00:13:05] Favorite Soda Actually Is Not Coca-Cola I I Like Coca-Cola But It's Not My Favorite I Actually Haven't Had Actual Coca-Cola In A Long Time Probably Like Ten Years I Don't Know I It's Been A Long Time I Haven't Had Pepsi And I Don't Even Remember How Long Actually Probably More Recent That I Should Probably Change That But My Favorite Soda Is

[00:13:34] Sprite Zero Which Is As You Know A Coke Product And My Second Favorite Soda Is RC Which Is Neither Coke Or Pepsi It's It's It's Own Thing Which I Didn't Know That Until A Few Years Ago I Was Like Which One Is It Is It Coke Or I Looked And The Answer Is It's Own Thing Which Is Cool Royal

[00:14:04] Crown That's What RC Stands For Which Is I Don't Know I Find That Cool But I Digress

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