Coke vs Pepsi at Thai boxer's home

by Heiky | August 15, 2008 at 02:47 pm

2375 views | 10 Recommendations | 22 comments

Talk about decking it out head to head.

Coke and Pepsi are competing for promotion opportunities outside the home of Worapoj Phetkum, the Thai Olympic boxing hopeful. Both companies have been allowed to stay if they behave themselves and do not cause any problems.

PepsiCo's local distributor made the first move, erecting promotional tents at the police sergeant's home in the southern province of Surat Thani, where hundreds of people are expected to gather for his bout against Italy's Vittorio Parrinello.

Coca-Cola's Thai agents quickly countered, offering the boxer's father, Thaweep, a deal -- on condition the Pepsi tents were removed.

Well, this is just stupid.

You might be thinking that it's worth it, since Worapoj, having won a silver medal in Athens, is one of Thailand's strongest Olympic medal hopes for Beijing 2008.

However, battling it out like that in front of an athlete's home? Well, that's just bad company image, but I guess that it'll give them tons of press coverage. I guess.

In the end, this might be a successful campaign after all. Negative media attention is better than no attention.

Another thing I'm wondering is why Coca-cola and Pepsi seems to be amongst the first demanded imports to enter a country that has opened up for trade. That's just messed up.
Why would anyone need corrosive carbonic acid down their throats before anything else?

33 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | Digg | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

JeffHuang

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 22:02 on August 15th, 2008

Heiky, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Mark Klukowski

at 23:44 on August 15th, 2008

So I was walking home one day from the fiancee's place and went to a store where they had Pepsi and Coca Cola side by side. And I thought, which one is better again?

Mark Klukowski has contributed a photo to this story.

pkosmas

at 00:36 on August 16th, 2008

My sister and i went to a cool old candy shop by our house we've known for years. Outside lied the decision of coke or pepsi?

panteliskosmas has contributed a photo to this story.

The_Soulman

at 03:37 on August 16th, 2008

This image was taken for a photography assigment that I had. The Theme was transformation. I was at home and saw my nieces one drinking coke the other pepsi, so an idea popped into my head, why not transform coke into pepsi. So I took serveral shots using motion and then combined coke/pepsi to show transformation. Which do you enjoy coke or pepsi?

The_Soulman has contributed a photo to this story.

jordan

at 05:46 on August 16th, 2008

Are the two soft drink companies this aggressive in courting Muay Thai stars? The Olympics come but once every four years, and, in Thailand, Muay Thai is forever! If I were a resident (especially in somewhere slightly more rural, like Surat Thani), I'd be somewhat annoyed by the big western companies only perking up their antennae over a western sport.

i_is_locus

at 06:21 on August 16th, 2008

Richmond Train Station, Melbourne.

All the train stations have pepsi machines, and they sell coke in them, the very bottom button, and about 25% dearer than the pepsi of the same size

i_is_locus has contributed a photo to this story.

HRS Grafix

at 09:10 on August 16th, 2008

Airbrush painted on illustration board

HRS Grafix has contributed a photo to this story.

harold of cardboard

at 09:19 on August 16th, 2008

i had been way up in the mountains of colorado, days and days of deprovation, arrived back down into the so called real world, hit a rest stop off of some interstate, saw the caged cola machines, they appeared surreal to me, something caged after all that FREEDOM. what did it say about culture, what did it say about the folks who felt it necc to 'protect' these cans? what did it say about consumerism and competing wars? like a fierce guarded battle!

and, it was kinda funny....

Duygu and Bolo

at 09:37 on August 16th, 2008

Coke & Pepsi - two of the best-known brands in the world. Even if the names on the cans are written in the unfamiliar Thai script, one has no problems with recognizing them.

Duygu and Bolo has contributed a photo to this story.

koukrâpock

at 10:23 on August 16th, 2008

i found this can in a fabric

i clean it and picture it!

koukrâpock has contributed a photo to this story.

smacss

at 11:16 on August 16th, 2008

Coke and Pepsi were ubiquitous in Egypt and Jordan. The cases like this one were usually standing right beside each other.

smacss has contributed a photo to this story.

pictureshana

at 12:55 on August 16th, 2008

Pepsi Rocks! Of course. This is the answer to the age old question.

pictureshana has contributed a photo to this story.

EricT1

at 16:43 on August 16th, 2008

Coke always wins over pepsi. :-)

actionhamster has contributed a photo to this story.

Barbara Franco

at 17:50 on August 16th, 2008

I just think it's stupid to fight because of which cola drink you may like... They are ALMOST the shame. In fact i always ask 4 coca-cola, but if they don't have it, i don't have any problem to drink a pepsi. It's just as fine. At least for me.

Anyway, pepsi looks cool in my t-shirt . LOL

Barbara Franco has contributed a photo to this story.

˜Doris˜

at 00:27 on August 17th, 2008

I took this picture because I couldn't decide which machine design I like best - I am still not sure which I like better since both have their appeal but if it came down to it I'd probably pick coke.

˜Doris˜ has contributed a photo to this story.