Rhetorical Analysis Essay Introduction

As most of the world knows, the Pepsi-Cola versus Coca-Cola debate goes back almost a century. Around the world, people can be really passionate about their stance on the beverages and the company’s marketing teams are well aware of this. With Coke being a one hundred twenty-nine-year-old company and Pepsi being a one hundred twenty-three year old brand respectively, it’s safe to say that this rivalry is bound to continue long after I submit this post. When you’re dealing with two powerhouses going after each other, there’s bound to be competition when it comes to vying for consumer’s money and attention. Due to this competition, both of the companies have created slogans and advertisements that made enough of a cultural impact to act as their own commonplaces. For Coke, you may think of Santa Claus, the polar bears,  “Open happiness” and “Taste the feeling” . For Pepsi you may remember  the taste test commercials from the eighties and nineties as well as “Be Young, Have Fun, Drink Pepsi”,  “Live for now” and “That’s what I like”. Across the board one company marketing  implements the idea that drinking their beverage will lead to instant happiness. The other company pushes the difference in their product and associates this diversity with the interests of the youth. The similarity between the two marketing strategies is that they both aim to associate positive interactions and experiences with their products. Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola use their historical standings to capitalize on their consumers’ emotions.  Since Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola have already been confirmed to give consumers joyous and diverse experiences for ages, consumers are led to make positive assumptions about purchasing the products. Overtime, it becomes harder to separate which drink you actually like from the drink you’ve been convinced to like for ages.