Food - Drink
Coke Vs. Pepsi: The History Of The Age-Old Cola Rivalry
By HEATHER LIM
The rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi feels like it's been around forever, but this isn't true in the slightest. While both companies were founded in roughly the same time period, with Coca-Cola in 1886 and Pepsi in 1898, they did not become direct competitors until 1975, the year that Pepsi decided to launch an attack against Coke.
Pepsi launched a "Pepsi Challenge" advertisement campaign in which drinkers partook in blind taste tests between Pepsi and Coke; supposedly, they all preferred Pepsi. Coke fans were so shocked that these "challenges" were soon held in public spaces like shopping malls, and Pepsi let participants who preferred its cola wear "Pepsi badges."
However, Coca-Cola would not go quietly, and when the company launched Diet Coke in 1982, it became the most popular diet soda on the planet. More strangely, when the company debuted its reformulated "New Coke" in 1985, it became one of the biggest failures in marketing history, but built tons of lucrative hype for the original Coke's re-release.
In 2010, Diet Coke took Pepsi's place as the second most popular soda in America, leading consumers to think that Pepsi lost the "Cola Wars." However, CNN Money shows that this loss was the best thing to happen to the company, as PepsiCo now thrives due to its ownership of brands like Frito-Lay, expanding far beyond just soda.