Posts tagged pepsi

Pepsico’s new online forum for women, the Women’s Inspiration Network: “An online interactive network offering global female perspective, inspiration, and idea sharing through the involvement of experts, influencers and real women. It’s a network for all who are interested in listening, engaging, enabling and supporting women.” 

Apparently, corporate online networks are a brilliant new marketing tool for inspiring “brand loyalty” among women, via a faux “by women, for women” forum. For all their talk, it’s obvious that the only “inspiring” that pepsico intends for WIN to do is to inspire women to go buy a can of pepsi (perhaps in a new skinny can?).

Reasons we’re uninspired by WIN:

• Women deserve real networks, news, forums and general spaces—online or otherwise—that exist outside of conglomerate marketing.
  
• Also, didn’t Pepsi already kind of make this site already?
• Re: the above description - we don’t think this means what you think it means, Pepsico.
  

But wait, don’t despair! Here are some sites that we recommend you visit instead:

• RHRealityCheck: an online community committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights.
• Moms Rising: a soapbox where people across our nation can talk politics, policy, and parenting
• Ms. Magazine: engages a diverse readership with each other and with the world through extensive coverage of international women’s issues
• Feministe: one of the oldest feminist blogs online designed by and run by women from the ground up
• Feministing: a platform for feminist and pro-feminist writing, to connect feminists online and off, and to encourage activism.
• Hello Ladies: inspires smart, busy women to advance their agenda at work, at home, and in their communities.

Diet Pepsi presents the taller, sassier new Skinny Can at New York’s Fall 2011 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

“Diet Pepsi has a long history of celebrating women through iconic fashion imagery seen in our infamous and historical campaigns, and we’re proud to continue that tradition as an official sponsor of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week,” said Jill Beraud, Chief Marketing Officer, PepsiCo. 

Thanks, Pepsi:

• So, fashion(able) = slimmer and taller? That’s original.
• How exactly does this “celebrate” women? It seems more like it reduces women’s value to little more than the 5-cent deposit on an aluminum can (okay, 10-cents in one state!).
• Just to be clear, it’s the same old pepsi inside the can. We won’t be sprinting to the store for a taste of this “new” beverage.
• “Infamous” doesn’t mean what you think it means, Jill. (Or maybe it does, and she’s just being honest?)