Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi: Battle of the brands

By Brenna Eller
Editor-In-Chief

For over a century, two sodas, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, have been rivals in the soft drink industry. Each brand owns several other companies and has held competitions against the other.

For instance, in 1975, there was a Pepsi Challenge which led to the New Coke, a drink that failed so bad that people weren’t buying any and the company had to return to its old recipe.

After that, commercials were made against each other, and both brands adopted new slogans every now, and then to persuade people to buy their products. A couple of taglines that have resonated with audiences were, “Have a Coke and a smile” and “Pepsi, the choice of a new generation”.

People tend to drink whatever is in their household, so growing up drinking a certain type of pop might have influence on what someone prefers to drink, or whether they like a certain brand over another.

Ask anyone if they prefer Coke or Pepsi, and they will most likely answer right away, because it is that provoking of a topic. Coke and Pepsi are soda companies that have distributed to countries world wide, so they are always in competition against one another.

Hutchinson Community College has a contract with Pepsi that gives Pepsi exclusive rights to sell its products on campus.

Those who are more inclined to drink Coke aren’t agreeable about this decision. Some may not mind either way or choose to drink water.

Luke Nachtigal, a HutchCC student, prefers Coke.

“Coke is better in my own opinion, especially as they sell the California Raspberry flavor in glass bottles at our local Dillon’s Marketplace,” Nachtigal said.

Even though he favors Coke, Nachtigal’s grandfather would strongly disagree.

“He likes to reminisce about when Pepsi only cost a nickel in the 50s,” Nachtigal said, “I have an empty glass Pepsi bottle from that era sitting as a decoration on my shelf, and I must say, it serves as cool vintage decor.”

When referring to the contract, Nachtigal had some thoughts as to why Pepsi could be beneficial for the college.

“Pepsi seems to be more popular among especially those who don’t care enough to only want the best pop from out of glass bottles,” Nachtigal said, “I have heard many people say that they think Pepsi is better than Coke as well.”

Another HutchCC student who chooses Coke over Pepsi is Danielle Nading.

“I enjoy Coke products more, I think they are higher quality and have a better taste than Pepsi,” Nading said.

When asked if she was aware of the school being Pepsi-based, Nading said, “I was not aware that it was a Pepsi school, because I just assumed that most people drank Coke nowadays.”

Nading also mentioned that she thought Pepsi to be “an older product that is outdated”.

HutchCC student Laynee Barlow, prefers Pepsi to Coke.

“I’m not a huge pop drinker and Pepsi doesn’t have much carbonation, and is sweeter tasting than other pops,” Barlow said, “I don’t like the carbonation in pop, so that’s why I prefer Pepsi.”

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