Congrats to Pepsi for taking a break from being a totally evil, insane, barbaric corporation by announcing that, for the first time in 23 years, they will not participate in the stupefying situation that is Super Bowl advertising. Pepsi made sure that it was well publicized that instead, it is investing that money in its "Refresh Project." In addition to being a marketing campaign (apparently Pepsi has used the tag line "Refresh Everything" for a year, who knew?), the Refresh Project awards grants in five categories: Heath, Arts & Culture, Food & Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods and Education. Ten days in January, applications will be accepted for the grants via refresheverything.com. The site will also provide tool kits for preparing the grant application. I had trouble finding exactly what kind of funding Pepsi has committed towards this project. According to one MSN article, Pepsi is hoping that other companies and investors will partner with them to provide even more funds. Pepsi's fancy pants front page claims that "millions" is promised.
So, I'll give Pepsi the chance to put their money where their mouth is. But, as always, I expect some results. I signed up for their newsletter, so I'm going to keep close tabs on exactly how many projects they end up sponsoring. I fully expect that Pepsi will find some way to back out of this, and not much will ever come of it, and it will all just be a spectacle to put their soda in headlines for a little while and look a little less bloodthirsty, oh, and by the way, save $30 million or so in advertising dollars. Because, let's face it, most of the Super Bowl commercials, as entertaining as they are, are for products that ALREADY FUCKING SELL. That's why the companies can afford the advertising. Holy Shit! It's not like without a Super Bowl ad, people will forget about Pepsi or stop buying their product. So they can simply not do the ads, save some dough and look like sweethearts because they are going to "invest in community."
Now my heart isn't completely made out of stone. No no no no no no. I truly hope that Pepsi gives a whole bunch of people a whole bunch of money to make this world better. So I don't wish them ill. Instead, what I propose is to flood the fuckers with ideas. Let's give them a chance give back. I know there are a couple of you people out there who went to business school who can draft up some fantastic plans and dazzle the pants off Pepsi. Let's give them some ideas worth funding.
A call to arms, my friends! Spend Pepsi's money!
refresheverything.com
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