The space race between Pepsi and Coca-Cola

War. War never changes. Except that war isn‘t necessarily what we think it is. Fallout references aside, war isn‘t just about blood, guns and sweat. Indeed, the current trend in warfare is more economical and psychological. This is not a trend I see changing soon. The subject might be a bit bleak but what is fought over sometimes isn‘t. Today, I want to tell the history of one fascinating and often forgotten war that took place last century - the space race. Not between the USA and the USSR - no. But between two titans of the soft drink industry: Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Let me explain.

Calm before the storm

To my knowledge, companies always pushed for new forms of advertisement - sometimes to ludicrous highs. Economically, the argument is sound: if you can stand out from your competition, you win. In that way, many historical publicity stunts are worth bringing to your attention but let‘s stick with Pepsi and Coca-Cola for now. For those two bickering rivals, almost every situation or new fad was worth fighting over. This includes association with sports teams, music groups, public personalities and even holidays (the modern depiction of Santa Claus is largely associated with Coca-Cola‘s history). The sky was the limit. Until it wasn‘t. From what we know, Pepsi was the first to brainstorm ways to advertise outside Earth. From at least the 1920s, we can find drafts for logos on the moon and the like. But these drafts stayed as such. Remember that we are preceeding NASA itself (founded in 1958). Oh, but things would get real when NASA entered the picture.

Star Wars

Interestingly, it would be discrete during Apollo‘s missions. Coca-Cola would be the first to set his claim on space in 1985 and the Challenger space shuttle. They would spend about a quarter of a million dollars to design a Coke can for astronauts (made to drink in zero gravity). Coca-Cola changed the can and even its titled formula. After much convincing, NASA would agree to use the product on Challenger.

That‘s all the provocation Pepsi needed. They decided to develop a space soda can of their own (supposedly spending 14 million on it) and push NASA to use THEIR product instead of Coca-Cola‘s. Things got heated. To the point that the political scene entered the fray. Senators would weigh in for one side or the other. Much speculation on the “allegiance “ of the White House would also abound.

NASA, trying to calm things down, would rename both products as the "Carbonated Beverage Container Evaluation" (CBCE) and try to downplay their importance between scientific studies. When the shuttle launched, it would include four cans of Pepsi and four cans of Coke.

Revenge of the sips

On board Challenger, astronauts from the day and night shifts would test the Coke cans and Pepsi cans respectively. Funnily enough, it turns out they didn‘t like the taste of any of it. It was a draw and probably a letdown for both companies.

But Challenger wouldn‘t be the end (although it was the high point).

Coke would send a custom-made dispenser on STS-63, STS-77 and Endeavour from 1994 to 1996. At about the same time, Pepsi paid Russian cosmonauts to pose with Pepsi during their spacewalk outside the Mir space station.

According to an article by Jon Christian, Pepsi still has extra-terrestrial ambitions. He describes plans made by the company for a satellite cluster. That cluster would be used to catch the early morning sunlight to reflect back at Earth advertisement for Pepsi products Besides the ethical implications which we cannot ignore, it shows that their ambitions are in no way fizzled out.

The dust settles

Since then, both brands remained on Earth (as far as we know). I find the story of that so-called Space War quite fascinating. It shows what heights we can go to when we convince ourselves that it is important. It wasn‘t made for good reasons by Coca-Cola and Pepsi but it still could be. Knowledge of what we can achieve is the first step in using it properly.

Anyway, see you next time.

References

• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-cola-wars-smear-campaigns-in-space-27520139/
• https://archive.ph/20210404034207/https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/04/pepsi-advertisement-space/587608/
• http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-081120a-space-cola-wars-35-years.html