Two nights ago a group of us went to see the Pet Shop Boys and New Order in concert. And this morning I’m looking up “The Pepsi Challenge.” Can’t fathom how these two are related? Read on …
Here are the relevant excerpts (actually, an “excerpt inception”) from Pepsi Challenge – Wikipedia to give you the necessary context:
Method
The challenge originally took the form of a single blind taste test. At malls, shopping centers, and other public locations, a Pepsi representative sets up a table with two white cups: one containing Pepsi and one with Coca-Cola. Shoppers are encouraged to taste both colas, and then select which drink they prefer. Then the representative reveals the two bottles so the taster can see whether they preferred Coke or Pepsi. The results of the test leaned toward a consensus that Pepsi was preferred by more Americans. The Pepsi Challenge has been featured in much of Pepsi’s TV advertising.
History
In his book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), author Malcolm Gladwell presents evidence that suggests Pepsi’s success over Coca-Cola in the “Pepsi Challenge” is a result of the flawed nature of the “sip test” method. His research shows that tasters will generally prefer the sweeter of two beverages based on a single sip, even if they prefer a less sweet beverage over the course of an entire can.
Sitting down at dinner before the concert, the question posed at the table was “Who’s the opening act and who’s the headliner?” This drew very divided responses accompanied with looks of incredulity from one party to the other. “Of course PSB is going to be the main act. They were the more popular group!” “New Order is the obvious headliner. They are the symbol of New Wave Music.”
I was in the PSB party, having given more ear time to them in the 80s. New Order was outside of my mainstream and never held my attention very long back then.
Off we go to the concert, where PSB in fact opens up, with New Order following. Both put on terrific shows (in my opinion), and it was a fun trip down memory lane, resurrecting some tunes in my memory that I had completely forgotten about.
The next day came the PSB Challenge, unbeknownst even to myself. With all these tunes bouncing around in my head, I pulled up Spotify and started cuing up everything I could remember from their set lists … as well as the songs that I was reminded of that didn’t even make their set lists.
As I played through each song, I occasionally added it to one of my playlists. When the play session was over, I went back and looked at how many songs from each band I had added to my playlists: PSB: 1; New Order: 8.
Verdict: PSB is a good sipping drink; New Order is the better long pour!
Perhaps it’s fitting that in the 80s, I drank only Pepsi. And now, well, the drink is called Jack and Coke for a reason!