Pepsi Introduces New Bottle

Pepsi has partnered with the New York City-based packaging design firm 4sight inc. to come up with a new 20 oz. bottle for the US market. The new design incorporates structural elements meant to appeal to the all-important youth demographic.

The new packaging is part of a larger branding program called "Choreography," which Pepsi launched early in 2007 for all 14 US trademarked Pepsi and Diet Pepsi beverages. This is according to an article at
BEVERAGEWORLD.

Personally, I like Pepsi's new design. At first glance, it seems like the colors are brighter than previous Pepsi labels. Additionally, I spoke to my wife about her opinions regarding Pepsi's new 20-oz. bottles. She feels the packaging makes the bottle appear taller than before, but is the only real difference she notices. Overall, she feels they look very much the same as previous 20 oz. bottles. However, she does like Pepsi's new design on its 12 oz. cans. She feels that it has a "retro" appeal comparable to bottles of the old days (i.e. pre-1960's). She does find the Pepsi cans more appealling than Pepsi bottles. Although, this may be due to the fact that we mostly buy 12 and 24-pack 12 oz. canned Pepsi products. Likewise, I do agree that Pepsi's new 12-oz. cans have sort of a "retro" feel. I hope this is an avenue Pepsi goes down in the future. You can find out more about Pepsi's new 12 oz. cans at Throwbackapepsi.com. Coke also launched its new contour "Grip" 20 oz. bottle in September 2007. There is some information available on it at Earthtimes.org.

Neither my wife or I will stop buying Pepsi products simply because one of us questions the packaging. We have had several positive experiences with Pepsi's customer service and see no point in changing brands anytime soon.


I understand that packaging may not be the most interesting subject, but I'm really surprised that hardly no one else is really taking notice or blogging about Pepsi and Coke's newly designed 20 oz. bottles. Both brands really took a hit over the summer of 2007 regarding the environmental and health and safety aspects of plastic bottles. However, both companies are really trying to move in the right direction by reducing the amount of plastic used to make plastic bottles and making them 100% recyclable.

I have seen some discussion from online commentators complaining that beverage companies should stop using plastic altogether since its hurts the environment, but this does not make any sense. Perhaps we should all stop driving vehicles since release toxins into the atmosphere. Also, this begs the question, what next? Should bottle manufacturers revert to glass containers, why? Glass and plastic are both recyclable materials. Therefore, I do not see a huge benefit in switching to back to glass. Also, glass can only be recycled back into glass while plastic can be recycled into many other products according to Passaiccountynj.org. Therefore, I am calling on all the influential environment bloggers out there to do some research and get behind companies and products supporting the environment. It is very hard for mankind to return to its old ways pre-modern society. However, we can do our part by following the 5R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reject products that are overpackaged and React and supporting companies interested in following these 5R's as well.