Friday, March 21, 2008

I want my Pepsi

I finally snapped yesterday and stood up for my rights as a consumer against corporate stupidity. The scene: Yer average brand-name restaurant. Sweetie and I settle down for a nice lunch and the young lady with a pad walks up.

YL: Hi, can I start you with something to drink?
BW: Pepsi, please.
YL: Coke OK?
[Snap. After an awkward pause]
BW: No. Coke is not OK. Coke tastes different from Pepsi. No, I'd like a Pepsi.
YL: All we have is Coke.
[Another awkward pause]
BW: Can I have a 7-Up, then?
YL: [hopefully] Sprite?

I stopped fighting there. I can't tell the difference among lemon-lime drinks. Sprite may as well be 7-Up, but Coca-Cola does not taste like Pepsi-Cola.

I know there must be some financial incentive for the business owner to sign an exclusivity contract with one purveyor of soft drinks or another, but the loser is the consumer. Every day, this scene is repeated millions of times in restaurants that only offer Coca-Cola products or Pepsi-Cola products. It's a stupid practice.

But if this is the only thing I feel compelled to complain about, yesterday was a good day.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a recovering Coke-a-holic, I do know what you mean. I went to the local county fair several years ago only to find the P-word product being sold everywhere. Not a happy camper was I. Even the vendors who were selling food and drink who personally liked and drank Coke and even had it in their booths for themselves couldn't sell it to me without getting kicked out of the fair according to several vendors!!!

On another note, you may be happy to know that the P-word is going back to the cane sugar formulation instead of the High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) which has been shown to be bad for you! Unfortunately, it's only available in the UK. Maybe South America, I don't remember.

12:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Pepsi in England is called Pepsi Raw and it is being tested in limited markets in England.

For Coke drinkers who want cane sugar in their soft drink, I heard recently that Coke makes a 'kosher' Coke that doesn't have HFCS.

Bwr, I am suspect of your ability to differentiate between Coke and Pepsi if you can't tell the difference between Sprite & 7-Up. ;-)
JN

10:44 AM  

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