Witty and informative piece by James Ledbetter at Slate on why it's (mostly) historically appropriate that Obama's convention will be held in the Pepsi Center. Among other things, Pepsi always reached a younger demographic because:
In order to build market share against the incumbent Coca-Cola and smaller rivals, Pepsi offered 12 ounces of cola for a nickel—6-ounce bottles were the standard at the time—and held fast to the 5-cent price for several years even as rising sugar prices during and after World War II compelled others to go to 6 cents and more. (This was the origin of Pepsi's renowned jingle: "Pepsi-Cola hits the spot/ Twelve full ounces, that's a lot.") As a result, Pepsi's customer base skewed very young.
Then there's the considerably less amusing bit about an old Pepsi CEO fretting that his brand was too known as "a n------ drink," but you're going to have to click through to read about that, pallie.
