Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Pepsi Generation

Perhaps there is a bit too much of a Tyler Durden influence in this post, but today I bought a Pepsi. While there is nothing exciting about that in itself, what is interesting is that Pepsi recently changed their logo and darkened the blue color scheme on their bottles’ labels. The old red/blue yin and yang logo they had has been altered, so it is no longer symmetrical. Looking past my OCD on that, I went off on a tangent, one of those “I remember when…” moments thinking about the past Pepsi logos I had come to know (to see the complete evolution you can go here). Which beings me to my point: I loathe the idea of civilizations dating themselves by the products they used or the logos they covered ourselves in.

Is this really how we are going to define ourselves, or rather, let ourselves be defined? The answer to that question is fairly obvious; just look around. Huge brand names lining the rear of pants, going down the pants’ legs. Sorry ladies, I’m not intentionally staring at you, I was merely trying to perceive the meaning of the word “JUICY” sprawled across your ass. With millions of women obsessed with their weight, why do so many women willingly turn their rear into billboard space? When I design pants, I’ll be sure to place “Advertise Here!” or “This Space For Rent,” followed by some phone number etched upon the backside of all women’s jeans. I guess that’s why you never women in pantsuits with anything on them. Businesswomen don’t just give ad space out for free.

Logos are everywhere, it’s horrible. When it came time for me to actually venture into a store for a new sweatshirt, I had to visit 3 separate stores just to find one that didn’t have any brand name splattered across it. It doesn’t just stop there, though; some companies have capitalized on giving people money to tattoo their brand name or logo upon themselves. I hope, for the comedic joys of their grandchildren, those companies betray everything they stood for in the eyes of their customers before going completely bankrupt and demonized by history. Try explaining how cool it used to be now, Grandpa!

Companies should just fess up to what they are doing. Pepsi is just selling us a sugary waste of a beverage which most likely poisons our bodies while at the same time feeding us addictive caffeine to ensure we keep coming back for more. Let’s define our own generation.

2 comments:

  1. right on I noticed the new pepsi logo also. I thought it looked remarkably similar to Obama's logo while he was campaigning. Likewise it was my OCD that led me to staring at the logo in the first place.

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  2. Either the Colbert Report or the Daily Show commented on it looking like Obama's campaign logo as well.

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