The cola of the new generation now fashions a new look. A new logo, a new bottle. From a design point of view, Pepsi seems to be following the arch-rival, once again. Coca-Cola revamped their look so cleverly people hardly noticed the change. They went back to basics, dropped the added frills and fancies, cleaned up the “ribbon” and dropped the drop-shadow under the logo. Instead of going with Photoshop filters and adding bevels and “effects” like most new-age designers would do, they went back to the original, a simple wave that you and I could draw with a pencil, and colour with just one red marker pen. Coca-Cola also brought in the original brand name in the new “Zero” Can. Cleaning up, and consolidating brand-power. Clever.
Pepsi followed suit. They changed the famous “globe” in to something that’s supposed to be a “smile” – but went overboard. It looks more like Pacman gone wrong, or a “kindi” (sarcastic) smile, in our lingo. This smile also reminds me of Barack Obama’s campaign logo for some odd reason. Then, they went and fiddled around with the logo-type. Instead of keeping the well-established font, Pepsi went back to their 1964 one-calorie “Diet Pepsi” Can and brought it back to 2009, with a touch of femininity. A girlie look for the new generation. Perhaps to match the cosmosexuals who would love a Pepsi at their favourite nail-bar.
As if the damage was not enough, they played with the shape of the bottle too. The new Pepsi bottle now features an uncanny phallic-resemblance, complete with foreskin. For better grip, someone commented...
Pepsi did exactly what Coca-cola did. Dropped the 3D effects and gradients from their logo and cleaned it up. Opted for simple typography, no depth or drop shadows anymore. Chose a flat blue colour background that you and I could colour with a marker pen. And consolidated on the visual identity: just look at the bottles below.
Well, that’s the new generation, growing under the shadows of the old.
The evolution of the Cans, the phallic-bottles and the new aluminum range from Coca-cola and a century of Pepsi:
I have not seen the word cosmosexual before. I see a few definitions of it in the Web.
ReplyDeleteInteresting.
ReplyDeleteAnd great pics mate.
I also must add that the “Smile” changes from product to product, see the three bottles above.
ReplyDeleteAs for Cosmosexual – a term still in the making. Yes there are a few ‘definitions’ on the web; John Abraham’s interview with The Times of India brought this to the limelight I guess.
An interesting post, I'm fascinated by the Coca Cola Co and have been for many years. FYi my understanding is that Diet Coke hasn't been replaced by Coke Zero, more that the intention is to market the two products together.
ReplyDeleteCoke Zero is supposed to taste like Fat Coke, just without the sugar, whereas Diet Coke has a different taste that many prefer in its own right.
RD, yes you are absolutely right and I stand corrected. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteCoca-Cola Zero is the Classic Coca-Cola without any calories (Zero Calories) as marketed around the world, except for North America where it is sold as having Zero Sugar. So, same taste.
Diet Coke and Coca-Cola light are supposed to be the same; its sugar-free with slightly different taste from the Classic. That’s why one would see people ordering a pizza with extra cheese and a diet Coke. Different markets have different mixes of variants. Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Light did not perform the same way when we tried the Mentos Experiment, but that’s another story.
Its Reflect Original and Duplicate
ReplyDelete