“The cola wars are far from dead. “ (Sicher) PepsiCo recently disclosed Pepsi True: a new soda naturally sweetened by a plant called stevia. In contrast to the regular Pepsi soda, Pepsi True has “30% less sugar and 40% fewer calories”. (Peterson) This product is targeted towards people who are avoiding both sugar and aspartame. In Addition, The Coca-Cola Company previously launched a similar product: Coke Life.
The conception that coke is unhealthy is widely known. Even diet products such as Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi scare away customers who are trying to avoid aspartame. This is why the soda business has been in decay for the past 10 years in the United States. For this reason, many soda companies are releasing innovative products made from stevia and natural sweeteners in order to remain in business. In this case, stevia has the advantage of a natural image.
Furthermore, Coca Cola and PepsiCo have intermittently engaged in competition. The release of Pepsi True definitely triggers the revival of the companies’ unfinished rivalry. After three years of refining their product, Pepsi Co managed to enhance the sweeteners used in Pepsi True by experimenting with Sweetmyx. I believe that in comparison to Coca-Cola, Pepsi Co cares more about releasing a high-quality product rather than being the first one to release it. After falling behind Coca-Cola for so long, will PepsiCo manage to stand out?
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