The REAL Differences Between Coke And Pepsi People

Business Insider ^ | 13 May 2011 | Alana Horowitz

[smokingfrog]

You probably can't describe the difference between Coke and Pepsi. Perhaps one cola seems sweeter, but you couldn't certainly distinguish them in a taste test. Yet you know without a doubt which one you like more.

The fierce brand loyalties of Coke vs. Pepsi are a marvel of American marketing.

Slightly older, Coca-Cola was always the dominant brand.

Pepsi gained market share in the middle of the century with a series of ad campaigns. In 1975 the first Pepsi Challenge claimed that people preferred Pepsi in a blind taste test. The brand was also marketed as the soda of the new generation, with celebrity spokespeople like Michael Jackson.

Today America's preference is firmly divided by demographics, according to research by Hunch.com. Surprisingly there's a big divide based on wealth and education.

• Coke drinkers are more likely to have graduated college. They also tend to speak more than one language.

• Pepsi fans are less likely to have attended college or speak more than one language.

• Coke people are classy eaters. They're big sushi fans and they've probably tried caviar.

• Pepsi people prefer classic American snacks, like Cheese Whiz and Spam.

• Coke drinkers read the New York Times.

• Pepsi people prefer USA Today.

• Coke drinks consider themselves well traveled. They're also more likely to own a passport.

• There's a good chance that a Pepsi drinker hasn't been on vacation in over 6 months.

• Coke drinkers will show up early.

• Pepsi people will show up on time or late.

• If you prefer Coca Cola, you've probably been to an art gallery.

[La Lydia]

MEXICAN COKE with real sugar instead of corn syrup. I don’t drink very many soft drinks, but occasionally one hits the spot and this is what I like. With a squeeze of lime juice.

[dainbramaged]

I’ll have an RC Cola and a Moon Pie. Now.

[cripplecreek]

The only thing missing is that pepsi drinkers are alcoholic wife beating child molesters. (and quite possibly terrorists)

Sheesh

[Parley Baer]

I don’t know. The survey looks entirely reasonable to me. Hehehehe.

[WellyP]

Coke with my burger and fries. Coke with the right kind of rum (Santa Tereasa Superior) and lime. Almost never Coke by it’s self.

I just don’t like Pepsi!

[Kickass Conservative]

The Coke and Pepsi of today taste nothing like they did when I was a kid 50 years ago.

I always drank both, but an ice cold Pepsi in the swirled glass bottle almost burned going down and it had a much sweeter and distinctive taste than Coke.

Today, I drink Pepsi Throwback or the Mexican Papsi in the glass bottle if I find a Roach Coach that has it. In CA, they banned Mexican Pepsi because the paint on the OUTSIDE of some of the bottles had lead in it. First thing I ever do is lick the outside of the bottle you know, idiots...

[momtothree]

I like an occasional Diet Dr Pepper. Does that make me a fat hillybilly? Or, should I say that I am a voluptuous gal of Southern descent?

[Kickass Conservative]

Mexican PEPSI, geez...

[eclecticEel]

Ok fine, but what about us Dr. Pepper people, where do we fit on the spectrum?

[smokingfrog]

You're just weird. ;-)

[raccoonradio]

I don’t fit the stereotype, as a Pepsi drinker. I am a citizen of America (though admittedly the Pepsi rebranding in ‘08 to look kinda like the Obama “O” was not pleasing to me). I work and play hard and am a conservative and vote Republican.

To paraphrase the SNL skit based on the Billy Goat Tavern,
for me it’s “No Coke, Pepsi”. Though diet Coke with lime is OK.

[Yo-Yo]

but you couldn't certainly distinguish them in a taste test.

Might be true for fountain drinks, since their are so many variables with mixing syrup and making carbonated water at the dispenser, but any Coke or Pepsi lover can instantly tell the difference in a blind test when using bottled product.

[WellyP]

I will drink a little Moxie, if I can ever find it!

Moxie originated as a patent medicine called “Moxie Nerve Food,”[2] which was created around 1876 by Dr. Augustin Thompson of Union, Maine.[3]

Moxie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Wikipedia
History · Advertising · Moxie today · Derivative products
A lawsuit was filed in 1907 by the Moxie Nerve Food Company of New England against the Modox Company and others, alleging that they had copied the ingredients of Moxie ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxie

[x]

That doesn't fit very well with what the article says.

Essentially you're saying that Coke drinkers are Southerners or rural folks and Pepsi drinkers are Northerners or big city people.

Or maybe it's the similarity of Pepsi's logo with Obama's.

But that doesn't really work.

Coke has a massive captive audience in the Southeast. People there would probably much rather drink some off-brand competitor than Pepsi.

But apart from that, in the country as a whole, "Pepsi" is kind of a silly name. It's the sort of word grandma might have used.

So those sophisticated urban cosmopolitans order Coke a lot more than Pepsi. The further you get from Atlanta the more likely it is that your poor, stay-at-home country mice drink Pepsi or RC or the supermarket generic and the affluent, elitist city mice buy Coke.

And didn't Jimmy Carter refer to the Coca-Cola company as his State Department when he ran for President?

[Volunteer]

"I’ll have an RC Cola and a Moon Pie. Now."

Wow, that reminds me of growing up back home in Tennessee.

I'm a Coke Zero drinker. The Pepsi Throwback with real sugar is good however.

[momtothree]

“... where do we fit on the spectrum?”

(post 27) If you are drinking regular Dr. Pepper then you aren’t voluptuous. There, you fit into a spectrum. LOL

[normy]

Wife drinks diet Coke, I drink Dr. Pepper. I guess there maaaay be a couple of you Pepsi drinkers out there not drinking the Obama Koolade ;-)

[raccoonradio]

Which drink dumped its 99 year old successful formula?

A)Coke

B)Pepsi

Wikipedia:
>>Ads for New Coke were booed heavily when they appeared on the scoreboard at the Houston Astrodome. Even Fidel Castro, a longtime Coke drinker, contributed to the backlash, calling New Coke a sign of American capitalist decadence.

[Sporke]

Thank you, that was quite interesting. :)

[FrdmLvr]

Well, when called for I’m a Coke drinker, I hate Pepsi, although I’m not much of a soft drink drinker anyway. But I sound more like I fit the demographics of a Pepsi drinker!