Pepsi's New Collab Celebrates Breakfast In An Unexpected Way
Pepsi's ingredient list already includes high fructose corn syrup. So, obviously, when the soda company wants to create a new flavor, it turned to maple syrup. Well, that and the fact it's begun a partnership with IHOP. (We'll have to forgive them for producing this drink at a time when there may be a maple syrup shortage in the future.)
"There is truly nothing quite like the indulgent taste of Pepsi Maple Syrup Cola — sweet maple syrup blended with the refreshing taste of Pepsi cola," Pepsi's chief marketing officer Todd Kaplan said in earnest in the company's press release for the soda.
However, very few will be able to judge if the soda truly tastes like nothing else. Only the 2,000 winners of the #ShowUsYourStack program will receive a sampling. One of them will win the extra prize of a spout styled like an IHOP syrup pitcher.
The challenge is for a U.S. resident to post a video or picture of a pancake stack to Instagram or Twitter. Then, they must tag @IHOP, #ShowUsYourStack, and #PepsiSweepstakes. Further restricting the people who can indulge in this, the sweepstakes excludes Massachusetts and Vermont, where such activities are prohibited, and entrants must be 18 or older, except in Nebraska and Alabama, where the age threshold is 19.
If you do want to enter, you have until March 29, but some on social media aren't so sure about this collaboration.
Twitter's all-in while Instagram holds back
Because you can post pictures into the comments on Twitter, the responses to Pepsi's announcement differed drastically on Instagram and Twitter.
As hinted, Pepsi's Twitter post saw lots of people engaging with the sweepstakes. Stacks and stacks of pancakes were shared with the needed hashtags. Outside of that, a smattering of people separately commented on articles covering it with tweets like ,"This does not sound worthy of attention." However, they are a minority.
On Instagram, pictures have to be posted separately, so there was plenty of space for people to react in the comments of the post. In fact, one person eagerly wrote, "Yooo I'd love to try that." However, the expressed sentiment is best captured by another comment that read, "The fact y'all make this but won't bring back Crystal Pepsi." They were disappointed that Pepsi would go through the effort to make a limited soda in collaboration. Yet, even there, people put up pictures of pancakes with #PepsiSweepstakes. So, Pepsi's Maple Syrup Cola has ultimately won the social media game it set out to play. Now we just wait to see if this soda becomes one of Pepsi's products that became massive fails.