Transcription
[Music] Today's the day, Alex.
You think I'm ready, Doc?
I know you're ready, son. Come on.
I don't know if I can trust myself out there, Doc. What if he... I'm terrified of God? I'm still insane.
You're not insane, my boy. You're human. One that has experienced far more trauma than any should. And as humans, we manifest our own unique ways to cope with excess stress. Yours, of course, being vivid, even hallucinations. I know this. I know you're a smart boy. You've heard all this already. But it's important that in our darkest moments, we remind ourselves of what we know to remain calm. And what do we know, Alex?
That I'm strong.
Yes.
That I am in control.
Yes.
And that there's no such thing as giant omnipotent bird demigods.
You're ready. Susan, help Alex check out, would you?
Thank you for everything.
You did all the work, Alex. I just handed you a wrench. I'll see you again soon for our checkups.
All right.
Right. Of course.
All right, honey. I'll just need you to sign right here.
Sure thing.
$123,000. Is this right?
You needed a lot of help. A lot of help that your insurance deemed non-essential.
No, no, no. This can't be right. Surely, there are some discounts for extended stays, or fees that can be waved, or perhaps some charges that can be forgiven?
That's quite a bit of medical debt you got there, Alex.
No. No. The pills. Give me the pills.
Oh, how I've missed you, buddy.
You can't be here. You're not supposed to be here.
And miss my good old pal's release day from the psych ward? I would never. And good thing I didn't because that's a pretty penny you owe there, Alex. But hey, while 123K sounds like a lot, Coca-Cola makes that much every 1 minute and 25 seconds.
Cool.
I don't own Coca-Cola.
No, but you do own Alexa LLC.
No. No more adventures. C-Can I just do some kind of payment plan?
We also accept payment in the form of organs and/or firstborn children. I own the hospital, Alex. Just kill me later. But first, we're going to dive into the propaganda-driven, diabetes-given, controversy-ridden history of the soft drink business to teach you how to run a soda [Music] company.
First things first, I'm going to need you to put on this little hat. Just... Just real quick. Come on.
Great.
What happened? Why do I smell purple?
Don't worry about it. Say, Alex, do you remember your mother's name?
Of course I do. It's uh... Blue Jay, what did you do to me?
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Oh, how wonderful. I never knew that, Billy.
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Oh dear. FBI, don't move.
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The first step to starting any great soda company is crafting the perfect recipe. Just as Picasso first needs his spark of passion before putting brush to canvas, so too does an aspiring soda entrepreneur first need his inspiration. Any back-alley adult can chuck a bunch of chemicals and fluids in a rusty jug of water and call it a soda. That's how we get ginger ale, after all. But only a true artist can concoct a recipe that decisively takes off, encapsulating society in a glycogenic fervor that shapes the face of culture for generations.
Take John Stith Peton, a wounded Confederate Civil War veteran who sought to cure his post-war morphine addiction by experimenting with various painkiller and toxin cocktails. A sentence that is littered with perhaps the most red flags I've ever seen. Like many artists, Peton was inspired by another person's work, a French drink called Vin Marriani that he found to miraculously help with his morphine addiction, which makes sense because he was drinking cocaine. Coined a "cocoa wine" due to the drinks ingredients being just coke and wine, Vin Marriani was touted as a patent medicine and came off the heels of the booming popularity of cocoa leaves and all their lovely brain tickles. Having found a magical alternative to the morphine and heroin-based concoctions on the market, our little Confederate was determined to sell some cocoa wine of his own.
I'm telling you, this is going to be huge. All I need is one of them patents.
Well, that's the thing, John. The point of a patent is that you can't just sell the same thing another person made.
Oh, come on. The French aren't people.
They most certainly are.
Really?
Yes.
Oh, well, it's not the same thing. It's not... No. Holy...
To give it a little character of its own, Peton took this devil's dandruff cocktail and chucked in a few cola nuts for caffeine, calling it "Peton's French Wine Coca." A quote, "great and sure remedy for all nervous disorders." And he meant all of them. Whether it was nerves in the brain or nerves in the bed, Peton's French Wine Coca was sure to set not only your mind straight, but your as well. Now, did he come to these conclusions after rigorous experimentation in the application of the scientific method? No. But he didn't need to waste time on petty cocaine research. Why, the famous Sigman Freud made such claims himself? And when was he ever wrong or sexually attracted to his mom?
So, you're telling me, wait, what was that last part?
No time for that.
Um, okay. So, you're telling me that they just let adults get blasted off Coke wine?
No, of course not. The children could, too. But don't worry, they were only recommended half the dose. And no one had a problem with this.
Actually, Alex, some people did. In fact, cocoa wines were banned in Atlanta shortly after Peton's debut.
Oh, thank God.
As you should. After all, only sinners drink alcohol. So, after Atlanta passed prohibition in 1885, Peton swapped out the problematic alcohol for a boatload of sugar and called it Coca-Cola. Cola for the cola nut extract and cocoa for the fact that it still very much so contained cocaine. And thus, an American staple was born.
Great. Well, cocaine is illegal, and I'm not a morphine-addicted Confederate, so I'm not sure how any of this applies to me.
You may not have a physical wound to exploit yet, but according to your medical file that I bribed an intern for, you are just riddled with depression and anxiety. So, let's just throw a Xanax in your soda and call it a day.
Now that you've got a product to sell, it's time to move on to step two for starting a soda company: propaganda. Or, as companies put it, to make a more palatable marketing. While you might think this is something only done by a company with an ad budget, marketing, or the act of getting one's message out there, is one that we all participate in on a daily basis. Even something as simple as thanking people for their support can come with an underlying motive. Like maybe one appraised to viewer as well. Advertising and communication are core parts of the human experience. And nobody understands this better than soda companies. Coca-Cola alone spends upwards of $5 billion a year on advertising. With every penny going towards making sure that no matter what you're doing, the only thing going through your little head is just how much better things would be with a cold glass of soda.
Amazed that LeBron can jump that height? Well, that's because he drinks a Sprite. Calling gamers slurs online? Not without your lemon-lime. Sun dying from epilepsy? Hey, that kind of rhymes with Pepsi. But getting people to simply know about your soda's existence isn't enough. You need to get them to want to buy it. And with today's pesky scientists publishing their stupid research on soft drinks and their contribution to obesity, diabetes, or whatever other nerd, soda executives face the unique challenge of convincing the broader public to willingly drink their poison.
Hello, my good man. May I interest you in a scrumptious mouthful of my savory syrup?
What? A glass of soda? Oh, no thanks. I've heard it's not all that healthy.
Nonsense. It's perfectly healthy, my friend.
Well, my diabetic aunt just had have her leg amputated after drinking three Mountain Dews a day.
But have you considered that? Maybe it just did that. Her leg just did that. Yeah. I mean, who's to say?
Well, her doctor for one.
Funny you mentioned doctor. I got one right here.
Hello. I am doctor.
Really? What's your field?
Doctor.
Hey, doc. What do you think about my soda here?
Is good. Make healthy and fertile.
Oh, really? The wife and I have been trying for a while now. Does it help with low sperm counts?
We can arrange for more semen.
Ew, that skit was disgusting.
Hey, don't be mad at me, Alex. Diet Pepsi isn't vegan, but the company won't say what animal product is in it. What else am I to assume if not the worst?
But anyway, when faced with combating the "sugar bad" narrative pushed by scientists, soda companies learned that the best way to inform was to misinform. So, if researchers are going to research, how about we buy some of our own?
Well, you can't just buy scientists to say whatever you want.
No, of course not. We could never undermine the ethics of scientific research, but we can underline just how many millions of dollars were giving to it. Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi are notable for having shriveled millions of dollars down the gullets of universities and scientists to publish studies showing that the lack of exercise and not diet was responsible for obesity, a strategy expertly pulled out a big tobacco's playbook. Sure, they can't make scientists say exactly what they want. But let's just say a few Scrooge McDuck sacks of gold can have anyone saying nice things about you.
Thank you all for coming and thank you to our benefactor from Coca-Cola, Mr. Bernard, for organizing this conference. Yo, we're excited to report that after rigorous trials, we've been able to conclude that sugar does not meaningfully contribute to obesity. In fact, it's rather the lack of exercise that's the biggest culprit.
And your confidence in your findings. Was it a small sample size?
Our trials were quite extensive and were conducted across many species as well. Everything from a hawk to a rat.
Fascinating.
We've also found that consumers of the new limited edition "Blueberry Blast Coca-Cola," in stores now, showed athletic improvements, and people that signed up for the subscription model using code "science" for 15% off were all able to dunk even with, quote, "the rim like all the way up." All the way up.
Surely they still had to use the mini trampoline.
Nuh-uh.
Oh my god.
Furthermore, our research showed that executives of beverage companies last on average 15 minutes longer in bed and leave their partners 25% more satisfied than non-executives.
That's crazy. I mean, hey, if the science man said it, you know.
Even if some of these universities wanted to conduct completely unbiased research, according to one analysis, Coca-Cola in many instances reserve the right to control what scientific findings were published and even terminate studies early without reason.
Well, they eventually removed the cocaine, right? So, clearly they care somewhat about health.
Oh, trust me, Alex. Coca-Cola was more than happy to indefinitely let men, women, and children run a muck thoroughly blitzed on cocaine. You know, so long as they weren't black.
What?
At the start of its lifetime, Coca-Cola was only sold at soda fountains and drugstores andarmacies, where a man called a soda jerk would crank out some delicious syrup and mix it with carbonated water, or jerk it into a cup, if you will.
One of your fine Coca-Cas, my good sir.
Uh, no problem. Let me just jerk one out real quick.
Excellent. Say, do you gentlemen do catering, by the way?
Uh, it depends.
Depends on what.
Whether it's within 100 ft of a school or playground.
Oh, children don't make good customers, then I take it?
Well, that's just what the judge thinks.
Ah, so can I have my soda?
What? Oh, yeah. Coming right up.
Soda fountain exclusivity remained the norm up until 1899 when Coca-Cola was finally convinced to start bottling their drink, especially once they learned they can make them all sexy-like with childbearing hips. Since OnlyFans wasn't a thing yet, sales went through the roof, which on one hand was great because the drink can now reach a wider audience, but also terrible because the drink can now reach a wider audience.
You people are trying to take our culture. This is our drink.
No, man. I just like the taste.
Oh, okay. Then why didn't y'all drink it before? But not Rodney, too. What's your excuse?
I, uh, just never got around to it.
Now that minorities had access to the drink, middle-class whites became terrified that Coca-Cola was churning out coked-up African-Amean lunatics. With southern newspapers even running with headlines stating, quote, "Black cocaine fiends were raping white women." Only they didn't say black. Naturally, Coca-Cola, who had hitherto been seen as an intellectual drink for well-off whites, panicked at the prospect of being associated with scary minorities. But that's not something a little rebrand can't fix. So, before it was ever even banned, Coca-Cola removed cocaine from their drink, not for legal reasons, nor for health reasons, but to cleanse their image of any association with black people.
Don't get too worried, Alex. They didn't stick to their anti-lack policy forever. They would later make up for their bigoted past by embracing the black community. See, they're not racist. They've got Bill Cosby handing out Cokes now. Just make sure they're not opened first.
Now, when you see a company openly avoid African-Americans, exploit and benefit from South African apartheid, and land themselves the biggest racial discrimination settlement in American history, there's probably one thought that immediately comes to mind. That's right, an open market. And who else was better positioned to capitalize on so many unwanted customers than Pepsi? Always nipping at Coca-Cola's heels, Pepsi decided to embrace these neglected customers with open pockets. So much so that Pepsi even opened a "black markets" division in the 1940s solely focused on targeting the demographic. Only they didn't say black. This division focused on advertisements showing black Americans in a positive light, avoiding stereotypes and attacking Coke for their anti-lack discrimination and support for segregationist politicians. The push was a huge success, resulting in black Americans being three times more likely to buy Pepsi over Coke. All while the marketing team received discrimination themselves from their co-workers and even threats from the KKK.
We warned you, Pepsi. This was y'all's doing. String them up, [Applause] boys. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Demography-targeted advertising wasn't exclusive to race, however. Mountain Dew, for example, got its start making fun of poor Appalachians with the subtle mascot, Willie the Hillbilly, promoting the soda with his titular catchphrase, "Mountain Dew, it'll tickle your inards." What the hell does that mean? Who knows? Perhaps it's a whimsical way of pointing out that your bloodstream will never have more glucose in it. Or maybe it was just more catchy than "it'll destroy your tooth enamel and skyrocket diabetes statistics." But either way, it sure is an interesting choice of words when talking about the people known for incest.
That's disgusting.
Well, it seems they thought so, too. But that's not something a little rebrand can't fix. So, they soon replaced it with "get that barefoot feeling drinking Mountain Dew."
Oh, and that's supposed to be better.
This is a Blue Jay video, Alex. Things don't get better.
While marketing is important, you won't always have control over your soda's narrative. So, part of the propaganda biz is battling misinformation. But, you just showed how big soda literally pedals misinformation. You're a corporation in the 21st century, Alex. Misinformation is whatever you want it to be. But regardless, there are times where these companies have been faced with actual falsehoods, some of which you may have heard yourself.
Take, for example, the urban legend that claims a disgruntled Pepsi employee infected batches of the soda with his own HIV-contaminated blood. It's a tale that's made the rounds multiple times over the past few decades. It even got to the point where the CDC themselves released a statement to debunk the rumor.
No, there's absolutely no merit to the story. Of all the bodily fluids we've analyzed in Diet Pepsi, none contained any trace of HIV.
Bodily fluids plural. I mean, we said it's not vegan.
Another time in 2004, farmers in India began buying Coke and Pepsi en masse to use on their crops. By spraying the soda on their cotton and chili fields, the sugar would attract ants who would then feed on the larvae of insects that were damaging the harvest, which makes these colas pretty great at pest control. Almost like a pesticide, which is not a word you want associated with your beverage.
Hey, can you pass me the pesticide?
Yeah, here.
No. Tell me you've not been using this.
Of course, I've been using the pesticide.
No, Oddvvic. This is Red Bull. Do you have any idea what you've done?
Rumors spread throughout the region that Pepsi and Coca-Cola were pesticides, requiring the companies to put in a lot of work to dispel these narratives. So, it wasn't all that helpful when a 2006 investigation showed that both sodas had, quote, "unacceptably high levels of pesticide," resulting in a ban. The Indian government would later say that these tests were flawed. But rumors are kind of like homeless people. They always stick around where you don't want them, no matter how much you try to extinguish them.
Misinformation can also be spread in the form of frivolous lawsuits. Such was the case in 2009 when a man sued Pepsi for finding a whole dead mouse in his can of Mountain Dew. Now, whether or not this was actually true or just some Tom and Jerry shenanigans at the soda factory isn't important. What's really important is deciding how to respond to this legal attack. And if we just take a look at our fancy decision generator here, Pepsi could either A) quietly settle the matter outside of court to avoid media attention, B) make arguments about the quality of their safety standards throughout their facilities, or C) utilize experts to scientifically prove that a mouse couldn't possibly have been found in the soda, as the acidic concoction would have dissolved the body into a, quote, "jelly-like substance" in a matter of 30 days.
No way. They publicly said "jelly-like substance."
Of course not, Alex. They actually said more than that, adding, quote, "By 30 days of exposure to the fluid, all of the mouse's structures will have disintegrated to the point the structures, excepting possibly a portion of the tail, will not be recognizable." Really adding some colorful imagery to the soda that sports the catchphrase, "It'll tickle your inards." Pepsi would continue to bring in experts to present arguments that Mountain Dew was actually more corrosive than your average soda. And while that might have been helpful from a legal standpoint, arguing that your soda, which already looks like toxic waste, is strong enough to dissolve cute animal corpses, doesn't necessarily bode well for the marketing department. Thankfully, to my knowledge, Pepsi's experts didn't provide an experimental study for the court. But that didn't stop the internet's experts from conducting experiments of their own. I'll link to one such video in the description, and I do mean from the most sincere pits of my cold, dead, wretched heart to truly watch at your own risk. But hey, if Pepsi ever wants to truly embrace their hillbilly origins and release "Mountain Dew rat float," at least they have a recipe up their sleeve. Or maybe that's just how they made Code Red.
But how about we take a quick break from marketing to talk about another vital sector of the soda business: scaling and product improvement. To meet your new demand, you're going to need to increase your production. And to keep that demand growing, you're going to need to improve your products. Now, seeing this self-fulfilling cycle, you're probably wondering, when does one become satisfied with their product and level of demand? But now you're already making your first mistake. As the only question that should be on your mind is how to increase shareholder value.
In 1996, unionists for a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Colombia were working hard lobbying to improve the wages and living conditions of the workers. Now you have a business to operate and profits to populate. So when faced with this crisis, how would you retaliate?
Um, I...
That's right, Alex. Why increase a wage you have to pay every single week when bullets are a one-time fee? So, the Coke plant sent a Colombian death squad to kill union leader Ezro Gil, burn down the union hall, and force the workers to resign at gunpoint. Now, that's thinking with shareholder value. This marked the eighth trade union leader to be assassinated by Colombian death squads at Coke facilities, igniting the "Stop Killer Coke" campaign that saw schools and universities terminating their contracts with a soda company. But that's not something a little rebrand can't fix. So Coke went balls to the wall cleaning their image, scrubbing search engines and websites of any mention of the activist campaign and pushing the results of a flawed UN investigation that notably only analyzed current working conditions of the bottling plants. You know, after all the death squatting.
Wow. I mean, everything looks great. I think we're done here.
Oh, yeah. Wait, what's behind this door?
Renovations.
I see. And what about this double-tapped gentleman right here?
Technically, he died yesterday.
Excellent. Excellent. Uh, sir, we need to report this.
Daniel, read the top of your form for me. "Inspection of current working condition." Exactly. Now, tell me, is this deceased gentleman currently bleeding out?
No.
So, do we report this?
No, sir. No, we do not. However, your attitude is currently affecting my working conditions. So, we will be reporting this to HR.
The events would also spark an international lawsuit against Coca-Cola for the responsibility in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of union activists in Colombia, after which the hitman fired 10 shots into Mr. Gill's hot, groin, and head, killing him on the spot.
And does the defense have an argument?
Yes, your honor. Has the court considered that maybe his head just did that?
Coke would end up winning the case due to a lack of evidence, and both they and the bottling plant would forever deny any connections with the Colombian death squads. So I guess they killed unionists, forced workers to resign, and even murdered the widow of Azidro Gil, who continued to protest her husband's death, leaving their two children orphaned because they felt like it. I mean, obviously that can't all be a coincidence. How can they possibly treat these people this way?
Hey, when you're outside the US, you can get away with a lot with those who you don't view as people. And inside the US, the same can be said with those who literally aren't people.
Animal testing has been a hot-button issue since as far back as the 1800s, with corporations and scientists alike selecting, injecting, and dissecting practically every one of God's creations. And Coca-Cola, ever seeking the perfection of their craft, decided, why not try their hand at this animal testing strat? But where a cosmetic company might test their lipstick on a rabbit to examine skin sensitivity, how might Coca-Cola test their soda on a chimp to examine sweetness reception?
Okay, hear me out. Coca-Cola decided that the optimal way to test sweetness was to take a chimpanzee, cut open its face, and study the nerve impulses that are used in the perception of sweet tastes. Now, is it ethical to skin animal faces Hannibal Lectctor style to find out if their soda is finger-licking good? That's right. It doesn't matter as the integrity of the primate's face has no impact on shareholder value. But regardless, public pressure resulted in Coca-Cola pledging to cease all unnecessary animal testing in 2007.
But they still have employees. I'm a little bitter. You could just ask me.
John, please sedate the monkey.
As you can see, by following the gods of profit, the world is your oyster, Alex. Sure, your manufacturing might decimate local water supplies for impoverished communities, but making sure people have water doesn't increase shareholder value. Selling it back to them in a bottle does.
This feels more and more like Nazi Germany.
Alex, how dare you bismerch the good name of Coke. Calling the delicious bottled freedom that is Coca-Cola a Nazi brand is completely uncalled for. That would be Fanta.
Now that you've got your production scaling to greater and greater outputs, so too must you market on an ever-growing scale. And sure, this can easily be done with stuff like stadium advertising, product placement, releasing iPhone apps that objectify women and teach pickup lines to help you get laid, etc. But nothing quite scratches the fun itch like sweepstakes.
Do you ever watch "Charlie in the Chocolate Factory" while slurping down a cola and wish that you too could find yourself a golden ticket amongst the caramelly syrup slithering its way into your mouth? Well, apparently some freak of Coca-Cola did, as this was essentially the premise for the "Magikan" promotion in 1990. A Magik was a disguised Coke can, but instead of containing diabetes juice, it was stuffed with a spring-loaded mechanism that popped out a cash prize or coupon. However, to make sure their secret Magic cans not only looked, but also felt like a can of Coke, they needed to partially fill them with some kind of liquid. So, what liquid did Coca-Cola decide to put in their Coca-Cola promotional can disguised to look like Coca-Cola? That's right, chlorinated water. This liquid was put in the sealed area of the can, but just in case it leaked, they added a foul-smelling chemical to the water to ensure people didn't drink it. As if the go-go-gadget money dispenser in your face wasn't enough. I'm sure you can see where this is going, Alex.
They drank the liquid.
They drank the liquid. Yes. Tons of these Magic cans were plagued with technical difficulties ranging from mechanism jams to faulty seals. This resulted in soggy Benjamins, people drinking them, and one kid even going to the hospital after drinking the "no-no water." Terrified of making their customers unhappy, but more importantly of any bad publicity or lawsuits, Coke immediately pushed a big advertisement campaign with the headline, "Take a good look." Warning people that some cans were faulty and not to drink any fluids they found in their money-stuffed Magic cans.
Yeah, we get pretty busy. So, honestly, when I really have to go, I just use one of the cans and store them down here for later.
Uh, Mike, did you see any cans down here?
Oh, the Mountain Dew I put on belt.
No, this is a Coke facility, Mike.
Oh my god.
So, due to a manufacturing defect, a very small number of Coke cans may or may not contain a, uh, a foul-smelling but but harmless liquid that should just not be ingested. So just look before you drink.
Okay. I take it this is about the promotional Magic cans that you probably filled with some sort of liquid to weigh them down. And this manufacturing defect you refer to must be a partition failure that resulted in this liquid, which was made to intentionally smell bad so as to discourage consumption, contaminating the rest of the can.
Yeah.
Their efforts would be in vain, however, as the promotion was cut short after a measly 3 weeks. Which is anyone really surprised that the "hey please don't drink the bad liquid" campaign didn't work? I mean, it's just like those little silica packs that say "don't eat" on them. Of course that's not going to work. Like what are they hiding? Clearly something delicious. You all should eat those right now. I mean it. Pause the video and go into your parents' room this instant and dig through their dresser.
Pepsi also ran a promotion in 1990 called "Cool Can Swear." Instead of whimsical and convoluted spring contraptions, they just wrote codes at the bottom of the cans. However, even Pepsi wouldn't be safe from the controversy bug, as apparently, if you stacked two of these cans on top of each other in just the right way, the word "sex" would appear and shock the delicate hearts of proper, god-fearing Christians across America. While being one of the stupidest controversies I've ever heard, imagining the worst-case scenario for some parent genuinely outraged at this obscure coincidence is very funny to me.
Another mommy, another.
All right, sweetie, but this is your last one.
Yay!
Mother, what is the meaning of this text? Are these glyphs vulgar? What have you taught me, mother?
A few years later, Pepsi would run a much bigger promotion in the Philippines called "Pepsi Number Fever," where special bottles of soda were marked with the number under the cap. Each night, Filipino TV would broadcast a winning number with prizes ranging anywhere from 100 to 1 million pesos. That's roughly 16 to 160,000 gumballs at the time. Therefore, not only could people satisfy their sin of gluttony, but they could check off greed with a lottery as well. Packaging two vices in one, now that's thinking with shareholder value. The 1 million peso grand prize was worth roughly 611 times the average Filipino monthly salary, and only two bottle caps would have the winning number. With the magnitude of the promotion, a mania had engulfed the Philippines. Kids scavenged through trash. People fought over caps in the streets, and two Pepsi salesmen were even murdered over a disputed cap. So, I guess you could say Pepsi wasn't the only pop in their stomachs. Get it? Like a gun.
No, I got it. It just wasn't a good joke.
Yeah. Well, you know, they can't all be bangers. Just tell the story, right?
But everything would change on the evening of May 25th, where a whopping 70% of the entire country's population tuned into the evening news when the magical grand prize number was read: 349. Somewhere in the Philippines, two people's lives were changed forever. Filled with the ecstasy of world-altering luck, the two winners rushed out their doors and were shocked to bump into each other just outside. What were the odds that not only were these two people winners, but next-door neighbors as well? In fact, what were the odds that a third winning neighbor rushed outside, too? And a fourth and a fifth. And turns out 800,000 people had the winning number, with an estimated cumulative value of their caps being worth a staggering 32 billion US. Obviously, this wasn't supposed to happen. Apparently, a computer glitch coupled with an extension of the promotion resulted in 800,000 additional caps being printed with the number 349, which they, I guess, forgot was already going to be a winning number. Oops, silly mistake. Better tell that to the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos storming the bottling plant for their money.
Even though Pepsi tried to retroactively change the winning number, the cluster of this lottery was only just beginning. They decided to give the people with the 349 number 500 pesos as a gesture of goodwill. But going from winning enough money to buy a Corvette to barely enough to afford one in GTA understandably still had people pissed. Protests erupted around factories. Pepsi trucks going to and from were flanked by armed guards. Stones were thrown at Pepsi managers. Bomb threats were made. Death threats were gave. Trucks were overturned, stoned, and burned. Chaos and lawsuits ensued long after the incident, but it took a year for the peak of the violence to occur. In one incident, an improvised explosive was thrown at a Pepsi truck, killing a 5-year-old and school teacher. In another instance, a grenade was thrown into a warehouse, killing three Pepsi employees. After what some say was the biggest marketing disaster in history, Pepsi's market share plummeted. Trust in the brand was destroyed, but most importantly, millions of dollars was lost, and some people died.
So, Alex, after what you've learned here and from all your lessons before, how would you address this crisis?
Wow. I mean, I suppose the best thing to do here would be to admit fault and bite the bullet. We probably couldn't afford paying all the winnings, but maybe we can apologize, invest in community infrastructure, and compensate families for losses and damage.
No, what you should have said is that's not something a little rebrand can't fix. Disasters are seasonal and memories are fickle. Just puke out a few commercials, flash some bright colors, bada bing, bada boom, market share recovered two years later. As for the lawsuits, one reached the Supreme Court of the Philippines after over a decade of legal battles, resulting in the two magic words that can cure any executive's ED: not liable.
So, Alex, now that you're a proper wolf in sheep's clothing, are you ready to start making millions and paying off that medical debt?
Uh, I guess. But how do I get the money for the manufacturing equipment, patent attorneys, and workplace rent?
Ah, well, that's actually step zero. Phone a friend for money.
Well, I guess I could reach out to my dad. My dad, um, uh, uh-oh, looks like you still need to claim that 14-day free trial for My Heritage by clicking the link in the description. Discover more about your family history today.
Blue Jay, I seriously need to know what you did to me. I can't remember my mother's face. Am I dying?
Death comes for us all one day, Alex. Yours just might have been moved up a decade or two.
What?
The history of soda companies. Four out of 10 stars. Don't. Don't eat silica packs. That was a joke. Unless... No, don't. But maybe... No, don't. It doesn't taste good. But does it? No. [Music]