What do you think this picture is? Sorta shocking if true.

3dogsrunning

It's an actual person on facebook that had a friend come accross the can.

So a friend of a friend?

What appears to be the original post on facebook as an fyi:

Thanks.
I am prett skeptical with these things. I have seen too many "Amber alert" and other type phoney FB messages. Not too often you actually see the source, which is legit in this case.

Edited to remove the FB page

AshDHart

It's an actual person on facebook that had a friend come accross the can.

So a friend of a friend?

What appears to be the original post on facebook as an fyi: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2829326772327&set=p.2829326772327&type=1&ref=nf

Thanks.
I am prett skeptical with these things. I have seen too many "Amber alert" and other type phoney FB messages. Not too often you actually see the source, which is legit in this case.

I agree! It's like the old game of telephone. The message just gets messed up with each passing. In this case, whatever the meaning of the can is, the original source seems legit.

UsedToBeHusky

I don't think it looks like NYC (pre-9/11), but I am shocked that no Pepsi bigwig figured out that many Americans would see that beloved skyline when looking at those buildings imaged that way.

I don't see this offensively, but I look at it and IMMEDIATELY can see that, duh, many people will see it. So while I don't think Pepsi was intentionally depicting anything, I do think they were short-sighted.

For real? The airplane is flying away from the city!!

...You were in NY when that happened? I lived in NY and I witnessed the attack...I was 10 years old...Attended a funeral because someone from my family died in that crash...She left a little girl behind. I really hate reading the comments saying to stop being so sensitive about it. We are not the same people. We handle things differently. Some people are more emotional than others. We are all different...we weren't raised the same way. It's being ignorant saying to people to stop being sensitive just because you feel that way. That's just MY opinion about this.

While I am truly sorry for your loss, it is stuff like this that keeps international relations with other countries so stressed and strained. It is not our place to tell countries how they can market to their customers. While the number of soldiers in Iraq are far more than any of us prefer, the marketers for Pepsi Arabia (a subsidiary of Pepsi, meaning that they pretty much run themselves) are not marketing to the handful of Americans that MIGHT buy their product. We can't dictate to them how they can market to their customers on the off chance that an American MIGHT be offended. This is just business. The similarities are obviously not intentional since the plane is flying away from the city, and the buildings only resemble WTC because they are buildings. The cityscape is Dubai and not New York, and any effort to ban this can will just come off as Americans bullying Arabic nations, and being hypocritical about personal freedoms in democracy.

LorinaLynn

One thing I can say is that it's interesting that it was a base in Iraq and that we've not seen the cans here in the US or at least I've not. If it's no big deal why didn't they put the design out here in America?

Because Pepsi is currently running an X-Factor promotion on their US cans. :laugh: Mountain Dew has Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

I have a special edition Mountain Dew bottle with an octopus on it. I'm sure the use of tentacles means that Pepsico supports Cthulhu.

MariaAlexandra

I don't think it looks like NYC (pre-9/11), but I am shocked that no Pepsi bigwig figured out that many Americans would see that beloved skyline when looking at those buildings imaged that way.

I don't see this offensively, but I look at it and IMMEDIATELY can see that, duh, many people will see it. So while I don't think Pepsi was intentionally depicting anything, I do think they were short-sighted.

For real? The airplane is flying away from the city!!

I agree!! I can see where people can interpret it this way. The two tall buildings are faarrrr apart from each other and you can clearly see that that the airplane is flying upward and away from the buildings. It's understandable how people can look at it as 9/11 though. Some people feel more effected than others and that's understandable too.

SarabellPlus3

I don't think it looks like NYC (pre-9/11), but I am shocked that no Pepsi bigwig figured out that many Americans would see that beloved skyline when looking at those buildings imaged that way.

I don't see this offensively, but I look at it and IMMEDIATELY can see that, duh, many people will see it. So while I don't think Pepsi was intentionally depicting anything, I do think they were short-sighted.

For real? The airplane is flying away from the city!!

You ARE shocked that this bothers a number of people?
Well, I'm not. So yes, of course "for real."

vingogly

You know, more than one person has posted a link to the Snopes site's coverage of this image ... everyone might want to check out that link and read what's posted there before posting an opinion. You'll find a lot of interesting things on Snopes, like the accusation raised against Procter and Gamble that it was run by satanists. Human beings are programmed to look for patterns, especially when there are issues of threat or survival involved (pareidolia). Here's another 9/11 rumor covered on Snopes that touches on the pareidolia issue:

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/coincidence.asp

kunibob

I think when it comes down to it he's upset because it was found on a base in Iraq which is where the attack stemmed from.

No, it didn't.

donbet69

I am from NYC.

I don't find this offensive.... However:

Why put a city on a can of soda?
Why tall buildings and a plane?

Someone made a pretty serious mistake in letting something that controversial go to publication.

ElizabethRoad

I am from NYC.

I don't find this offensive.... However:

Why put a city on a can of soda?
Why tall buildings and a plane?

Someone made a pretty serious mistake in letting something that controversial go to publication.

Maybe that's why this design wasn't released in the US. It isn't controversial all over the world.

Fit_Canuck

I am from NYC.

I don't find this offensive.... However:

Why put a city on a can of soda?
Why tall buildings and a plane?

Someone made a pretty serious mistake in letting something that controversial go to publication.

It wasn't sold in the US....It was manufactured in Dubai where's the inspiration for the cityscape came from...Can you imagine if a company had to analyse every single country in the world to determine what offends each of them and then design images to avoid each countries sensitivities?

UsedToBeHusky

I don't think it looks like NYC (pre-9/11), but I am shocked that no Pepsi bigwig figured out that many Americans would see that beloved skyline when looking at those buildings imaged that way.

I don't see this offensively, but I look at it and IMMEDIATELY can see that, duh, many people will see it. So while I don't think Pepsi was intentionally depicting anything, I do think they were short-sighted.

For real? The airplane is flying away from the city!!

You ARE shocked that this bothers a number of people?
Well, I'm not. So yes, of course "for real."

If you read where I edited the post, Pepsi "bigwigs" in Dubai weren't thinking of American customers. Pepsi Arabia is a subsidiary of Pepsi, and subsidiaries generally operate under their own supervision.

AshDHart

It wasn't sold in the US....It was manufactured in Dubai where's the inspiration for the cityscape came from...Can you imagine if a company had to analyse every single country in the world to determine what offends each of them and then design images to avoid each countries sensitivities?

We would have to sell everything in plain white packaging with black lettering. Oh wait, that might offend someone too.

It's all relative. To the soldiers who found the can it was offensive. But to others it's just a nice cityscape. It's going to be hard not to offend someone at some point with marketing.

datguy2011

maybe the marketing behind it was to make people talk?

them= 1

sarglava

I went straight to the picture before I read the post. I saw a city on can. Then I read the post and knew exactly what the problem was. It could be any city anywhere.. we are not the only country with skyscrapers.

MercenaryNoetic26

Okay, people, if you don't already drink Coca Cola, now is the time to switch. LOL

No not saying it because of this Pepsi can... I just think Coka Cola is better PERIOD. Plus if this scene is offensive, why not buy a can with a polar bear on it and see how you can save them from extinction... awww, poor polar bears.

It is a friggin' coincidence that Dubai/Arabia chose this graphic. I am into conspiracy theories and this is a subliminal insult in my opinion.

kapeluza

The first thing I thought when I saw that can was, "yuck who in the hell drinks pepsi?"
My second thought was, "1 calorie?" this can of poison must have something that will eventually kill you.
My third thought was, "they need to fire their graphic designer, that design sucks monkey balls".

Lleldiranne

One thing I can say is that it's interesting that it was a base in Iraq and that we've not seen the cans here in the US or at least I've not. If it's no big deal why didn't they put the design out here in America?

Ah, but according to the snopes page quoted a few times already, it WAS available to the US soldiers. That would be really stupid if they weren't selling it in the US but were selling to our soldiers in their own back yard, if that was the intention.

Also, it's design is marketed toward middle east (note the Arabic - I think - script on the can. Many many international companies have different packaging for different global regions.

ajbeans

I have a special edition Mountain Dew bottle with an octopus on it. I'm sure the use of tentacles means that Pepsico supports Cthulhu.

Ok, I wasn't going to respond to this thread because I didn't want it to forever appear in "My Topics," but...

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

SarabellPlus3

It's going to be hard not to offend someone at some point with marketing.

I guess that's what it comes down to, I guess I don't think that's true. There are how many millions of products offered and marketed every single day, all over the world? A scant few get serious press time for controversy. Most don't. Coke's biggest issue this year seems to have been that the Classic Coke cans looked too much like the Diet Coke cans and bothered people. LOL They manage to have out roughly as many products as Pepsi, none of them are "plain white with simple black lettering", so I guess I don't buy another poster's suggestion that the ONLY options for marketers is that, or this Pepsi can. Millions of products manage to not offend anyone, actually.

Granted, I'm not offended by this, I just think it was short-sighted of Pepsi to not realize that a number of their fan-base would be, AND, as much as we might say that Pepsi can't worry how every country on Earth is going to respond to any given marketing scheme, let's be serious here, I'm betting the US makes up a large, large portion of their customers, and that in this so interconnected world, it'd end up on a viral internet thing.

That's all.