1. 20 years of
Zoë Cumler
Zoë
Professor Maureen Ebben
CMS 200: Research Methods in Communication
4/22/12
Picture: (en.wikipedia.org)

2. Motivation for Research
Pepsi has been a popular soft drink for
many years. The television
many
commercials for Pepsi have
transformed year after year, and
provide a great example for how
Television ads have changed over
time.
time.

3. Question:
How have TV ads changed over time?
Pictures: (http://gregglitman.wordpress.com/; futurity.org)

4. HISTORY OF PEPSI
Pepsi-cola (originally named “Brad's Drink”) was
invented in New Bern, North Carolina in 1898 by
pharmacist and drugstore owner, Caleb Bradham.
Bradham founded the Pepsi-cola Company in 1902 in a
back room of his pharmacy.
The first Pepsi advertisement made history with it's
catchy jingle when it was played over network radio in
1940.
One of the first Pepsi commercials to air on television
was in 1950, featuring James Dean in his first paid job
as an actor.
Beginning in the 1990s, Pepsi-cola starts operations
worldwide.
(pepsi.com; retronaut.co)

5. Advertising History
After the Great Depression, Pepsi begins using the
theme, “Twice as Much for a Nickel” in 1939 to
show customers that it is still affordable.
In 1950, Pepsi's theme is changed to “More Bounce
to the Ounce” when the company is forced to raise
it's prices.
To reach out to the younger, trendier audience, Pepsi
changes it's theme in 1958 to “Be Sociable, Have a
Pepsi”
In 1966, Pepsi introduces Diet Pepsi to the mix,
who's new musical campaign, “Girlwatchers” was a
Top 40 hit.
The “Pepsi Generation” campaign was launched in
the early 1960s and continued through the 1980s.
(Pepsiusa.com; Pepsi.com)

6. Gender Stereotyping
In a study done by Martin Eisend (2009), he found that the odds
that females in ads “are associated with domestic products
(body, home, food) is more than two times the odds for males”
(p. 431).
According to a study done in 2000 (Coltrane, Messineo), research
continues to prove the use of gender stereotypes in advertising,
“with women shown as young, thin, sexy, smiling, acquiescent,
provocative, and available” (p.369). On the other hand, male
characters are portrayed as “knowledgeable, independent,
powerful, successful, and tough” (Coltrane, Messineo, et al.).
Women are often shown wearing clothing that is sexy, revealing,
alluring, etc., and are usually the focus of another's attention
(Signorielli, McLeod 1994).

7. Cola Wars
Huron (as cited in Klein, 2008), explains that Pepsi and Coca-Cola
are examples of “parity products”, where similar products
compete very closely with each other in advertising.
In Moraru's study (2010), the positioning efforts in the competition
between Pepsi and Coke are explained. The author describes
how “Pepsi started as a poor and distant relative, but had used
every moment of Coca-Cola’s weakness for gaining points in
front of the enemy” (p. 53). Now, Pepsi is just as stable as
Coca-Cola.
Klein (2008) explains how Cola companies compete by using
popular music in their advertising as a way of saying that music
can change the world, “and transformed it into the suggestion
that cola can change the world” (p. 16).

8. Child-Targeting
In a study about ads targeting children (Warren, Wicks,
Wicks, Fosu, and Chung, 2007), it describes how
advertisers use a combination of “production techniques
and emotional appeals” (p.797) as a strategy to come
across to children.
Kaiser Family Foundation (as cited in Zwarun, 2008) found
that food advertisers often feature children's favorite
characters from the media in their ads.
According to Larson (2003), “More than one-third (35%) of
the commercials that featured child characters included
some type of aggression” (p. 73).

9. Expectations
The information that I found in the literature tells me about the
trends in advertising from the past 2 decades.
I am expecting to observe ads that contain Gender Stereotyping.
I also expect to observe ads that contain competitive material
between the products.
Finally, I should expect to see ads that feature (therefore,
targeting) children.
Hypothesis:
Hypothesis:
By watching the ads, I expect to find many changes in
marketing strategies over the past 20 years.

10. Methods
I have decided to conduct a content analysis on a
sample of Pepsi commercials aired over the
course of the past 20 years (1992-2012).
I chose this method because I thought that it
would be the best indicator of how advertising
strategies have changed over the past 20
years, by allowing me to categorize and code
each commercial I watch.
I will then be able to conclude the major changes/
trends in advertising over this period.

11. Categorizing
The method I used to categorize the ads depended on
the overall tone of the commercial.
The first category was called 'Celebrity'. If the ad used
one or more celebrities to endorse the product, I put it
under this category.
I chose to use this as a category because celebrities
hold huge influences over consumer audiences. For
example, if a person sees their favorite singer drinking
a particular brand of soda, they are more likely to buy
that brand of soda.

12. Categorizing (cont.)
The second category was titled 'Humorous'. If the
ad's main focus was to endorse the product by
using humor, but didn't involve a celebrity, it
was placed under this category.
I chose to use humor as a category because
people enjoy ads that make them laugh, or
incorporate some form of sarcasm that seems
comical.

13. Categorizing (cont.)
The third category I used was named 'Serious'. If
the commercial used a serious tone to market
the product, I placed in under this category.
I used this as a category because there were
specific instances where the company was
trying to depict the product with a serious
message.

14. Coding
Under the 'Celebrity' category, I had 5 different ways that the ad
could be coded.
1. The first code was called 'Sex Appeal'. This section included
ads that used gender stereotyping. If a celebrity was shown
wearing revealing clothes, dancing, or just plain strutting their
stuff, or if the ads main focus was to portray the celebrity in an
alluring, desirous, sexy, etc. manner, I used Sex Appeal as its
code. Celebrities like Cindy Crawford, Britney Spears, Beyonce,
Pink, and Shakira were used in these ads.
2. The second code was called 'Goal'. This section included ads
where the celebrity/celebrities used racing, martial arts fighting,
soccer show-downs, sing-offs, or any other form of competition
to get to their Goal, in this case, Pepsi, it was placed in this
code. Celebrities like Jeff Gordon, Hallie Kate Eisenberg,
Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, David Beckham, and others were
used in these ads.

15. Coding (cont.)
3. The third code was named 'Competitive'. Commercials included
in this section were ones that compared Pepsi to other
beverages/soft drinks (mainly colas). One commercial used
Pepsi's ongoing battle with Coca-Cola to prove that it was the
better soda. Celebrities like Michael Richards, Cindy Crawford
(again), and Jackie Chan were used in these ads.
4. The fourth code was named 'Next Generation'. The only ad in
this section features the female pop group from the UK, the
Spice Girls. This particular commercial was difficult for me to
code because the girls are all wearing “sexy” clothing and
dancing around, so originally I was going to put it in the 'Sex
Appeal' code. However, the whole commercial is a music video
of them singing about “Generation Next”, which was a
campaign for Pepsi's next generation look. Since there are no
apparent “admirers” or fans shown in this ad (which are shown
in the 'Sex Appeal' codes) I put it in a new section.

16. Coding (cont.)
5. The last code for the 'Celebrity' category was called
'Classic/Timeless'. The only ad in this section features singer,
Britney Spears. It shows her holding or drinking Pepsi through
the different generations (1958, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1989, and
2002, which was the present day). She repeats the jingle
“Pepsi. For those who think young” throughout the ad.
Under the 'Humorous' category, there were 4 different ways that
an ad could be coded.
1. The first code was called 'Competitve'. Again, these ads used
Pepsi's ongoing battle with Coca-Cola to prove that Pepsi was
the better choice. In some ads, it even Coke “employees”
preferred Pepsi over their own brand of soda. The message
throughout these codes was that Coca-Cola was the worst
choice.

17. Coding (cont.)
2. The second code was named 'Healthier'. The only ad under this
section featured a husband who makes unhealthy choices when
it comes to food, and his wife who punishes him for his poor
choices. At the end, it shows him drinking a Pepsi Max, which
has 0 calories but still tastes great. When his wife sits next to
him, he thinks he's been caught again and flinches away
expecting her to hurt him. Instead, she tells him that he did good.
3. The third code in the Humorous category was called 'Next
Generation'. Again, there is only one commercial under this
particular section. It was an ad for the Superbowl, and it features
sports announcers, celebrities, and people from all over the world
who are falling asleep at inconvenient times. Its supposed to be a
parody of a Saturday Night Live skit called “Night at the
Roxbury”. The only cure to everyone's sleep-attacks is the new
Diet Pepsi Max, which now has Ginseng, more caffeine and 0
calories.

18. Coding (cont.)
4. The last code for the Humorous category was called 'Youth'. The
only ad in this section shows 2 bored teenage boys. Boy #1 asks
his friend what he wants to do. Boy #2 answers this with his
plans for the rest of his life. He goes off on this rant about all the
things he plans to do (all of which are very average – “wife,
house, kids, bowl on Wednesdays, etc.). When he is done, his
friend rephrases the question by asking him what he wants to do
“TODAY”. He replies “The beach!”. The point of this ad is to
enjoy youth while you still can. “Be Young. Have Fun. Drink
Pepsi.”
Under the 'Serious' category, there were 2 ways an ad could be
coded, each code has 1 ad each.
1. The first code was called 'Classic/Timeless'. This ad shows how
the look of Pepsi (can/bottle) and it's label has changed
throughout the century. It incorporates Pepsi into major events
throughout the generations to show that it is a timeless favorite.

19. Coding (cont.)
2. The last code in the Serious category is named 'Going-Green'.
This ad shows dozens of frames of different people. In some
shots the people are holding signs about how they care about
trees/the planet/community. The ad is to introduce the Pepsi
Refresh Project, which gives away money to people who give
Eco friendly ideas. The ad follows the “Going-Green” trend that
has become popular in recent years.

20. Results
Category: Celebrity Humorous Serious
Code: Years Years Years
1992, 2001, 2003,
Sex Appeal
2004 - -
2000, 2005, 2007,
Goal
2012 - -
1995, 1996, 1998,
Competitive 1994, 2006
1999 -
Next Generation 1997 2008 -
Classic/Timeless 2002 - 2009
Healthier - 2011 -
Youth - 1993 -
Going-Green - - 2010

21. Findings: Gender Stereotyping
First, one of the expectations I had after the literature review, was
to observe Gender Stereotyping in the ads. The first type of
Gender stereotyping I was expecting to see was that females are
associated with domestic products (in this case food/beverages)
twice as much as males. 9 of the 21 commercials had females as
the main character(s): 2 of those 9 were of a little girl; 7 of those
9 were of women.
5 of the 21 commercials had males as the main character(s): 1 of
those 5 commercials were of 2 teenage boys; 4 of those 5
commercials were of men.
7 of the 21 commercials had both males and females as the main
characters.
With these results, my original expectation was almost met, with
almost twice as many female main characters as there were
male.

22. Findings: Gender Stereotyping (cont.)
The second type of Gender stereotyping that I expected to see
was that women in advertising are often portrayed as lean,
sexy, available, young, provocative, etc. ,wearing sexy clothing,
or the object of someone's attention. I found 8 of the
commercials to have one or more of these characteristics in the
female characters.
The last type of Gender stereotyping I expected to see, was that
men in advertising are often portrayed as smart, independent,
powerful, successful, or tough. I found 7 of the commercials to
have one or more of these characteristics in the male
characters.

23. Findings: Cola Wars
The second expectation I had after the literature
review, was to observe some sort of
competitive material between Pepsi and some
other beverage (most commonly Coca-Cola) in
the ads. In total, I observed 6 commercials that
contained some sort of competitive nature
between Pepsi and another brand of soda.

24. Findings: Child-Targeting
The third expectation I had after the literature review, was to
observe ads that targeted children in some way.
The first type of child-targeting that I expected to see was
commercials that use children's favorite media characters. In
total, I found 4 of the commercials that featured children. 3 of the
commercials I observed featured a child actress named Hallie
Kate Eisenberg. She starred in Pepsi commercials for 3
consecutive years in a row (1998, 1999, 2000). Between
1998-2000, she starred in 4 children/family movies. Since she is
a child and she is an actress that other children would recognize,
this commercials would most likely have influenced child
audiences.
The second type of child-targeting that I expected to see was that
advertisements featuring children would include some form of
aggression. However, these 4 commercials were the only ones
that featured children, and there was no aggression whatsoever.

25. Conclusion
My findings and results lead me to believe that most of my expectations
were correct. I observed clear instances of gender stereotyping. I
found clear instances of competition (a.k.a. Cola Wars). As for child
targeted ads, I only observed a total of 4 commercials that featured
children. The only possible reason for me to believe that they could
have targeted children in any way, were only the ads that featured the
child actress. Other than that, I really didn't see any other techniques
used to appeal to children in any way.
As I expected, my hypothesis was correct in that I did observe many
different marketing strategies used in these commercials over the
past 20 years. These commercials used celebrities to influence
audiences. Humorous competition was another strategy used to
casually give other similar products a bad name in order to endorse
this particular product. Another major strategy used was taking
matters that people can relate to at any age, like incorporating brief
histories of the products, or using the brand to raise awareness about
Global Warming.

26. Conclusion (cont.)
The strategies used in these commercials are good examples of
the trends that have occurred in advertising over the course of
the past 2 decades. We know that strategies like gender
stereotyping and child-targeting aren't the most morally correct.
Measures have been taken in recent years to fix these
problems, which is mostly evident in commercials from the past
4 years.

27. Works Cited
Coltrane, Scott, and Melinda Messineo. "The Perpetuation of Subtle Prejudice: Race and
Gender Imagery in 1990s Television Advertising." Sex Roles 42.5/6 (2000): 363-89.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Apr. 2012.
Eisend, Martin. "A Meta-analysis of Gender Roles in Advertising." Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science 38.4 (2010): 418-40. Communication and Mass Media Complete.
Web. 15 Apr. 2012.
Huron, David. ‘‘Music in Advertising: An Analytic Paradigm.’’ The Musical Quarterly 73, 1989:
557–74.
Kaiser Family Foundation (2004). The role of media in childhood obesity,
http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/The-Role-Of-Media-in-Childhood-Obesity.pdf
(accessed June 17, 2007).
Klein, Bethany. "In Perfect Harmony: Popular Music and Cola Advertising." Popular Music and
Society 31.1 (2008): 1-20. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.
Larson, Mary S. "Gender, Race, and Aggression in Television Commercials That Feature
Children." Sex Roles 48.1/2 (2003): 67-75. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Apr.
2012.
Moraru, Madalina. "The "positioning" Concept and the Fight between Two Well Known Brands
Coca-Cola and Pepsi." Journal of Media Research 3.2 (2010): 47-62. Communication
and Mass Media Complete. Web. 23 Apr. 2012.
Signorielli, Nancy, Douglas McLeod, and Elaine Healy. "Profile: Gender Stereotypes in MTV
Commercials: The Beat Goes on." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 38.1
(1994): 91-101. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.

28. Works Cited (cont.)
Warren, Ron, Jan L. Wicks, Robert H. Wicks, and Donghung Chung. "Food and Beverage
Advertising to Children On U.S. Television: Did National Food Advertisers Respond?"
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 84.4 (2007): 795-810. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.
Zwarun, Lara. "Policy Worth Perpetuating? An Analysis of How Well Food Commercials
Marketed to Kids Comply With CARU Self-Regulatory Guidelines." Southwestern Mass
Communication Journal 23.2 (2008): 1-12. Communication and Mass Media Complete.
Web. 16 Apr. 2012.
Websites:
Pepsi. PepsiCo, Inc., 2005. Web. 23 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.pepsi.com/PepsiLegacy_Book.pdf>.
"Pepsi - FAQs." Pepsi. PepsiCo, Inc., 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.pepsiusa.com/faqs.php?section=highlights>.
"James Dean ' ˜Pepsi' Ad, 1950." Retronaut. 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.retronaut.co/2011/08/pepsi-commercial-with-james-dean-1950/>.
* All Pepsi commercials (1992-2012) were watched at www.youtube.com