At New York’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, new trends were not the only debut, as Pepsi launched its new “skinny can” campaign. The tall, slim can will hold the company’s diet product.
This also comes a week before National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, a disease that affects millions of men and women.
According to their press release, Pepsi said, “Our slim, attractive new can is the perfect complement to today’s most stylish looks.”
The new “sassier” version of the can will be 6 inches tall and still hold 12 ounces of the product, which could be the same measurements as any super model, 6 feet tall and weighing less than 120 pounds.
New print ads will debut later this month and the product will hit store shelves starting in March, but for those not so sassy people, the old, stumpy version of the can will still be available.
Now there is nothing wrong with wanting something new and different for a product that has been around for decades, but the way the billion dollar corporation has gone about pitching their product is wrong.
Claiming that the new can was made in “celebration of beautiful confident women” makes it seem as though the company is saying that skinny is better and that if you are happy with yourself on the inside it is more likely that you are skinny on the outside.
It is a bit ironic that these claims come from a company that owns half of the junk food you find at any of your local super markets.
The new print ads will feature the very curvy actress Sofia Vergara. By hiring a curvy celebrity to endorse the product the company is trying to change the direction of their marketing strategy and making it appealing to women of all shapes and sizes, but the problem with their ad is that they do not show any of her curves or any part of her body beside a profile view of her face.
The way Pepsi has launched its campaign is wrong; it makes women who are not a size zero feel inferior. And by revealing the product just days before National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, it leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.
