PEPSI RIPS OFF OBAMA BRAND!!

TOP: PEPSI AD & LOGO, 2009 | BOTTOM: OBAMA AD & LOGO, 2008

Pepsi has taken 'riffing off of' to straight ripping off with their new logo & branding. Look familiar to anyone else? Sound familiar to anyone else??

TOP: PEPSI AD & LOGO, 2009 | BOTTOM: OBAMA AD & LOGO, 2008

Pepsi's new logo and branding material are shameless rip-offs of the Obama brand built in 2008....

I first saw it this week in downtown San Francisco. Pepsi had plastered the word "JOY" on a yellow background to the side of a building, running around four stories high. It actually didn't say Pepsi anywhere but the circle logo & placement on the O of JOY immediately reminded me of the Obama campaign.

When I got into the BART subway, I learned it was Pepsi, as they had bought out the entire station, with a huge "Yes You Can" billboard on the descending staircase. The other phrases were vaguely inspirational but all seemed to speak in the language coined by the Obama campaign, as you can see in the pictures above.

When I got home I did some research and learned that Pepsi had announced a full re-branding within a month of Obama's victory and revealed its new materials in early 2009.

Part of this was changing their slogan to "Refresh Everything," complete with its own website. In keeping with their branding theft motif, they simply use the international recycling symbol for their 'refresh everything' movement, as seen in other ad materials:


When you click on the website, there are environmental and politically progressive overtones including a "Dear Mr. President" section which apparently connects consumers to the president via Pepsi?

I think this is pretty funny. We all know PepsiCo is multi-billion dollar corporation. They have been busted for environmental destruction in Asia and again for selling pesticide-laden sodas in India. Typical stuff, really- but from their re-branding you'd think this was like a National Ad Counsel thing or something.

I am just struck how blatant Pepsi's appropriation of the Obama brand is and I wonder how succesful it will be. Maybe they can get Shepard Fairey to do screen-printed Pepsi hoodies or get moveon.org to get in on this "refresh everything" deal.