Coke and Pepsi have been ruling the beverage industry for decades, essentially monopolizing it. The Coca-Cola company not only holds ownership of it’s main product Coke but also owns Sprite, Fanta, and even the milk company Fairlife. PepsiCo also owns a variety of companies including Lay’s, Poppi, and Gatorade. The two brands compete in every area possible: value, marketing, and most importantly; taste.
Recently we saw an interesting post by @pepsi and @_sportsball on Instagram about the “Pepsi Challenge”, a blind taste test against Coke. Their results showed that many people thought they would prefer Coke, but actually chose Pepsi for taste. Researchers think that many people are more visually attracted to Coke products because of aesthetic and marketing, but in reality, actually prefer Pepsi. So, we decided to conduct our own blind taste test.
Our participants were comprised of newspaper club members, a few teachers, and anyone else who volunteered to participate. While we cannot guarantee that all bias was eliminated, we tried our best to conduct a truly “blind” taste test. We did one round for regular Coke and regular Pepsi, then a second round for diet versions. Each participant received a small cup of each and was told to say which one tasted better. Here is what we found:
When we tested regular Coke vs. Pepsi, 8 out of 10 chose Pepsi while only 2 chose Coke. Similarly, when we tested the diet versions, 11 out of 17 chose Diet Pepsi while only 6 chose Diet Coke. Many of our participants were surprised after we told them what they had chosen.
This blind taste test goes to show how much visual appeal and marketing can affect our perceptions and preferences of products. Not only does this happen with Coke and Pepsi but in every isle of the grocery store. Oftentimes, we choose the name brand; not for the taste, but for the marketing. Over the years, companies have only gotten better at using psychology to trick us into buying their brand. One method used by companies is what is called the “Halo Effect”. This is when individuals perceive something positively or better due to another positive influence. This can be seen when companies use attractive celebrities to advertise their makeup or skincare. As a viewer, you might think this product works well because the person “using it” has great skin, when in reality it has nothing to do with the actual quality of the product.
One key takeaway from this is to not always resort to the name brand or popular choice. Even though one product, like Coke, might have better marketing, you might actually prefer Pepsi.
