In recent news, Pepsi is poised to replace Snapple as the official UW-Athletics beverage, beginning in July 2018. At a later press conference it was announced that this change comes as a part of the school’s previously unannounced diversity initiative. This news was a surprise to many UW students, who feel that Pepsi’s commercial with Kendall Jenner earlier this year shows the company’s lack of understanding concerning the current socio-political state in the U.S.
In response to this, the Daily Cardinal has reached out to UW administrators for answers. One UW-spokesperson, Kyle Lee, responded to Cardinal staffers saying, “While many students may disagree with our decision, we actually brought on Pepsi as a result of their commercial this past summer. We believe the commercial accurately showcased the power of Pepsi products to bring people together.” He continued, “the commercial clearly showed that a single can of Pepsi has the power to stop protests. And if one can of Pepsi can do that, imagine what that means when they’re everywhere on campus!”
Cardinal staffers also reached out to the current UW-Madison chancellor, who had this to say: “In light of recent policies that may expel student protesters, we saw fit to introduce Pepsi as our official beverage in order to mitigate the amount of students we may have to remove. Pepsi has assured us that their products do exactly as the commercial proposed and we are more than willing to take them at their word.”
Some students, like UW sophomore Wendy T. Frances, are a bit skeptical about the reasoning behind the decision asking, “I don’t agree with Mr. Lee’s reasoning, but even if it were true that Pepsi products could stop protests, aren’t there already soda machines with them everywhere on campus?”
At the time of this publication, Pepsi could not be reached for comment.
