Pepsi: for when they’re out of Coke. I’m paraphrasing a line from The Art of Lying, but that really should be the official company motto. As a longtime fan of Coca-Cola, I drink it whenever I have the opportunity, and I hate to hear the following words at a restaurant, “Is Pepsi okay?”

Okay, maybe I’m being a little hard on our pals at Pepsi Cola. After all, they need all the positive reinforcement they can get after Pepsi dropped to the #3 soft drink behind Coke and (of all things) Diet Coke. Since Diet Coke tastes like drinking battery acid combined with cheap gin, I sympathize with their predicament.

If you love Pepsi as much as I love their competitor, you’ll want to keep reading for info on where to find Pepsi coupons, a brief history of the company, and even a few examples of clever product placement on TV and in feature films. By the time you’re finished, you’ll be thirsting for a soft drink like never before.

My Experience with Pepsi

I’ve never been a Pepsi customer on a regular basis, but I did drink Mountain Dew like a fiend as a little kid (back when they still used a hillbilly on the bottle). There have also been a few occasions where I’d go to a theatre that only carried Pepsi, and so I would be forced to watch the film while slurping down something other than my chosen brand.

Oddly enough, I actually worked for Pepsi for a few weeks after graduating from college. A couple of friends worked there, and they put in a good word. It was a disaster, though, as I quit over the phone the first time I faced dealing with massive pallets filled with Pepsi in the back of a Wal-Mart. However, from what I’ve heard, it’s a dream environment compared to Coca-Cola and their habit of not paying employees for overtime.

I also remember buying a Coke to drink while I was being trained to work for Pepsi. My co-worker warned me that I could be instantly fired if anyone from corporate ever saw such a thing, which was another reason to get the hell out of there. Nobody tells me I can’t drink Coca-Cola.

Pepsi History

Pepsi was invented by Caleb Bradham in North Carolina in 1898. The concoction was originally known as “Brad’s Drink,” but someone wisely figured out that the name sucked. In 1903, it was changed to Pepsi-Cola.

The company made strides during the Great Depression by offering a larger bottle and a cheaper price than Coke. The strategy worked, and soon the two soft drink titans would engage in a battle throughout the decades.

It’s interesting to note that Coke had the opportunity to buy Pepsi out on three occasions between 1922 and 1933, but they declined each time. It’s a good thing, too, as I’d hate to order a Coke in a restaurant and be told that they have Big Red instead.

In case you’re wondering, the phrase “Pepsi coupons” extends far beyond the distinctive blue can. The company makes a ton of soft drinks and other beverages, and most coupon sources will carry a wide selection of these.

As of this writing, here are the 2012 Pepsi products available for purchase in the United States. If I left one or more off, be sure to bitch about it in the comments section.

Pepsi

Diet Pepsi

Pepsi Max

Mountain Dew

Diet Mountain Dew

Mountain Dew Voltage

Sierra Mist

Diet Sierra Mist

Gatorade

Tropicana Juice

G2

Propel Fit Water

Where to Find Pepsi Coupons in 2012

You’d have to be seriously dense not to be able to find Pepsi coupons. The darn things are everywhere, as Pepsi will try any method possible to lure customers away from the competition.

One option is to waste a bunch of time surfing the Internet in search of online, printable Pepsi coupons. But for every legitimate site you manage to find, you’ll have to deal with a dozen that feature nothing but spam and viruses.

No, your best bet is to buy the Sunday edition of the newspaper (preferably one for a city larger than 20,000). You’ll find it brimming with inserts and coupons, and rest assured that a number of these will be for Pepsi products. Clipping coupons isn’t my thing, but I do enjoy getting great deals (even if it’s on something other than Coke).

Pepsi Product Placement

Pepsi and Coke are in a constant battle for product placement and brand recognition. Of course, Pepsi needs it more considering that they’re behind in the cola wars, so they tend to pop up all over the place. In fact, of the thirty-seven #1 box-office movies in 2004, Pepsi products appeared in seven of them. Here are a few examples:

• Wayne’s World – Wayne and Garth discuss selling out through product placement while ironically hawking everything from Pepsi to Nuprin (“Little…yellow…different.). You won’t find a better and more hilarious commentary on the practice.
• Back to the Future – When Marty McFly travels back to 1955, he goes into a soda shop and asks for a Pepsi Free (Pepsi’s diet drink at the time). The soda jerk doesn’t get the reference, of course, and informs Marty that he’ll have to pay for his drink. That’s what I call high-concept humor, folks.
• Back to the Future 2 – The sequel finds Marty traveling to 2015, where we learn that the price of a Pepsi in an 80s-themed restaurant is considerably higher than you might expect.
• Total Recall – When Doug Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) heads to Mars, he’s surrounded by product placement on all sides, especially at the airport and bar district.
• Terminator 2 – Arnie is back, and this time a neon Pepsi sign is clearly visible behind him in the film’s opening minutes (while he’s naked, I might add).
• Antitrust – A bomb at the box office, this Ryan Phillippe thriller features characters running down a darkened hallway and coming upon a Pepsi vending machine that seems to glow like the Holy Grail.
• MacGruber – This was a commercial tie-in between the popular Will Forte SNL character and Pepsi. In it, the bumbling secret agent hypes Pepsi clothing and considers changing his name to PepSuber. Even Richard Dean Anderson (aka MacGyver) is appalled, showing up to call MacGruber a sell-out. If only the feature film could’ve been this funny.

In Conclusion

While I don’t like Pepsi as much as Coke, I’m always willing to drink it when the competition isn’t available. And thanks to the mountain of free Pepsi coupons released every week in newspapers, it’s often the smarter option for budget-minded consumers. Besides, when a movie is really good, it doesn’t matter what you’re drinking in the darkness.