Weight Watchers - Jennifer Hudson, Nutri-System - Marie Osmond, Jenny Craig - Valerie Bertinelli, and now Pepsi - The "Skinny" can. As if they didn’t have enough to keep them aware of their size, weight and popularity with celebrities hawking the latest diet program, our young women are now faced with their beverages defining who they are. Pepsi has decided to come out with a “thin” can to celebrate beauty and confidence. I say bologna. What does a thin can have to do with celebrating beauty and confidence? To me it sends a signal to our young women that they must be “skinny” to be considered beautiful and confident.
Pepsi Thin – According to PepsiCo, the "taller, sassier new Skinny Can" is a "celebration of beautiful, confident women" and will be available come March, alongside the classic can, which won't be going away.
This is not the first blunder Pepsi has had in recent weeks. During the Superbowl they ran a commercial during prime time for Pepsi One with the kids watching of a guy and a girl and the guy kept saying in his mind that he wanted to sleep with this girl. Try explaining to your 5 year old what he’s saying and why? Totally inappropriate.
As parents we must take a stand with companies like this and hold them accountable for their actions. We have the power and if we channel it correctly we have the ability to force them to make a change. Boycotting Pepsi and their products while conveying to them our displeasure is a very resourceful use of our power. I called and complained to Pepsi and they apologized for their actions and noted that they have placed the ad to run at a later time. This seems to make them believe that it solves the problem. True to their word I saw the commercial run at 10:00 pm last night when most children are asleep but the gist of the conversation still does not sit well with me. Sex is still the main focus of this commercial and likening soft drinks to sex is just wrong.
I will not buy their products because of this obvious breach of family values and this Pepsi Thin is just another reason to reinforce the idea of boycotting their products going forward.
Young women today have enough to deal with from TV, magazines, music and school (i.e. grades, popularity, bullying and peer pressure) getting even more from a soft drink company just isn’t acceptable. They struggle with self-esteem, perfectionism and fitting in on a daily basis. Life shouldn't be this hard. We need to counteract all this negativism with positive images of "real women" who are grounded in the fact that they look, act and think different yet they are confident in themselves regardless of what the media says is beautiful.
What are your thoughts?
Pepsi Thin – According to PepsiCo, the "taller, sassier new Skinny Can" is a "celebration of beautiful, confident women" and will be available come March, alongside the classic can, which won't be going away.
This is not the first blunder Pepsi has had in recent weeks. During the Superbowl they ran a commercial during prime time for Pepsi One with the kids watching of a guy and a girl and the guy kept saying in his mind that he wanted to sleep with this girl. Try explaining to your 5 year old what he’s saying and why? Totally inappropriate.
As parents we must take a stand with companies like this and hold them accountable for their actions. We have the power and if we channel it correctly we have the ability to force them to make a change. Boycotting Pepsi and their products while conveying to them our displeasure is a very resourceful use of our power. I called and complained to Pepsi and they apologized for their actions and noted that they have placed the ad to run at a later time. This seems to make them believe that it solves the problem. True to their word I saw the commercial run at 10:00 pm last night when most children are asleep but the gist of the conversation still does not sit well with me. Sex is still the main focus of this commercial and likening soft drinks to sex is just wrong.
I will not buy their products because of this obvious breach of family values and this Pepsi Thin is just another reason to reinforce the idea of boycotting their products going forward.
Young women today have enough to deal with from TV, magazines, music and school (i.e. grades, popularity, bullying and peer pressure) getting even more from a soft drink company just isn’t acceptable. They struggle with self-esteem, perfectionism and fitting in on a daily basis. Life shouldn't be this hard. We need to counteract all this negativism with positive images of "real women" who are grounded in the fact that they look, act and think different yet they are confident in themselves regardless of what the media says is beautiful.
What are your thoughts?
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