Vivian Leung's Blog

What is this ad really saying? According to this article, PepsiCo is really stirring up problems with their new “skinny can” Diet Pepsi. Although Pepsi is seemingly promoting the image of beautiful confident women, “critics say the packaging just reinforces dangerous stereotypes that women must resemble beanpoles to be attractive.” PepsiCo is re-positioning its Diet Pepsi to target women who search for a slimmer and more confident body, but its effectiveness has yet to be seen.

The pop beverage market is at the mature stage of the product life cycle, and in order to differentiate themselves from Coke or other leading brands in the monopolistic competition, PepsiCo must re-model its existing Diet Pepsi to obtain greater market share, aka. market penetration. To do this, PepsiCo decides to go with a new packaging for their Diet Pepsi. Instead of the expected plump round, 355 mL can, they create an attractive silver, slim can, promoted with beautiful, equally slim models in their advertisements everywhere. I must say, it is quite effective. Since is it skinnier, it’s easier for consumers to hold onto and extremely convenient/portable. However, we must consider consumers’ perceptions and attitudes towards this new packaged Diet Pepsi can. As critics say, it is conveying the message that in order to be attractive, confident, and beautiful, women must be as skinny as this new product. Even their slogan, “Get the skinny?”, helps promote this idea.

Will the pros over weigh the cons? Will this fresh new slim image of Diet Pepsi attract more consumers, or be shot down by critics and opinion leaders?