Featured Image Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/Tom Kelley/Getty Images
Topics: Food and Drink, Social Media
Mia Williams
Topics: Food and Drink, Social Media
Pepsi drinkers have been left baffled after discovering what the drink was originally called.
The battle between Coca-Cola and Pepsi is probably something that will never be agreed upon.
However, we all know there is nothing better than whipping out a nice, cold can of soda out of the fridge on a warm day.
Let’s face it… we don’t even need warm weather as an excuse.
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But you might not be aware that Pepsi - which is concocted from sugar, water, caramel, and spices - was actually introduced under a completely different name.
And it seems as though the creator was lacking real inspiration.
In 1893, Caleb D. Bradham, from North Carolina, began selling the carbonated drink at a local pharmacy when he left university.
As something which started as a side hustle to generate a bit of extra cash, we’d say it’s been pretty successful.
It turns out that Bradham looked inward when naming the drink, and chose to go for a variation of his last name.
The original product was called ‘Brad’s drink’... and just imagine if it had stayed like that!
It wasn’t until about half a decade later that Bradham bought the name ‘Pep Kola’ from a nearby competitor and then finally settled on Pepsi-Cola.
According to linguistics, the name ‘Pepsi’ is derived from the Greek work for ‘digestion’, which makes a lot of sense when you look at the brand’s old slogan.
In 1904, its message was ‘Exhilarating, Invigorating, Aids Digestion’.
After making the revelation about the brand's name, Pepsi lovers have taken to X to share their thoughts.
One person said: “I just learned that Pepsi was originally called Brad's drink.
“So anyway, I'm going to be reeling from that for a week or so.”
Another added: “Brad's Drink sounds like the name of a 90s alt-rock album.”
While a third said: “What? ? ? Oh my God.”
Despite the name changes, the logo has always been very similar.
In fact, the last time its logo had a revamp was in March 2023.
One of the reasons behind this was because many people couldn't actually recall the actual Pepsi logo but had an idea that it included a variant of the red, blue and white colours and the text somewhere on or in the circle.
PepsiCo’s first ever Chief Design Officer Mauro Porcini told CNN: "We couldn’t ignore that kind of insight.
"Instead of rejecting it, we decided to embrace it."
The 'Pepsi' in the logo is 'decoupled from the globe' noted Pepsi’s Chief Marketing Officer Todd Kaplan.
"It’s this lowercase, italicised font, the blue is a little bit muted … it doesn’t exude that confidence and energy that the brand really represents," he added.