Pepsi is drawing on its vast reserves of cultural currency to revive the old school Pepsi Challenge. Across Australia, Pepsi is giving you the chance to do what so many have done before you and compare its soft drink with that other ubiquitous brand of cola in a reprisal of the 1970s campaign that moved them from scrappy underdog to soft drink superpower.
The revamped Pepsi Max Taste Challenge pits the new no-sugar drink against its fully sweetened competitor to find out which drink Aussies prefer. Pepsi is so confident that you’ll find its new beverage a more preferable sip that it’s offering you the challenge to try the two side by side and make your own mind up.
It’s a bold strategy but one that has paid off for Pepsi in the past. This time around, the brand has enlisted the help of Chris Hemsworth’s stunt double Bobby Holland Hanton, former Miss Universe Australia Erin McNaught fresh from her gruelling SAS Australia experience, and Winter Olympian and World Championships figure skater Kailani Craine.
While you don’t need to do a backflip blindfold with a can in each hand to take the challenge, Pepsi is looking to push the curious and the quirky with the challenge and hope people will develop their own approaches to the blind taste test. Use the hashtag #FlavourFavourstheBold to share your own experiences.
For the above stunt, Hanton says that “jumping and crashing into just about anything while taking the blind cola test is simply, just another day in the office for me.”
Kailani Craine’s challenge is here on her Instagram where she wrote that she “had so much fun taking on the Pepsi Max Taste Challenge!” and prompts others to do the same.
Erin McNaught took the challenge hanging upside down from the monkey bars and spoke about the experience by saying that “after recently finishing the hardest few weeks of my life, I was really keen to put my newfound skills to the test, being upside down to try out the Pepsi Max Taste Challenge. It was refreshingly simple!”
All the above participants picked Pepsi Max over the full-sugar red can they also sampled. If you want to take the challenge for yourself, Pepsi Max is giving you the chance to give each beverage a simple sip side by side over the next few weeks.
You can find your nearest participating location and get amongst the Pepsi Max Taste Challenge here:
NSW
Westfield Parramatta (30/11/2020 – 13/12/2020)
Chatswood Mall (19/12/2020 – 22/12/2020)
Manly Wharf (07/01/2021 – 10/01/2021)
Westfield Penrith (10/12/2020 – 13/12/2020)
QLD
Queen St Mall (10/12/2020 – 13/12/2020)
Westfield Garden City (18/01/2021 – 24/02/2021)
VIC
Flinders Street (18/01/2021 – 31/01/2021)
Chadstone Mall (04/01/2021 – 10/01/2021)
SA
Rundle Mall (14/12/2020 – 20/12/2020)
WA
Westfield Carousel (11/01/2021 – 17/01/2021)
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