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Why Coke is better than Pepsi


Guest Dabeagle

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Beautiful spot. I love soft drink commercials that sell philosophies and lifestyles rather than the drink itself. This goes all the way back to this memorable Coke commercial from 1971, which won many awards...

It may seem corny today, but remember that this came on the heels of the death of a lot of 1960s hippie idealism, where we teenagers briefly thought we could change the world. The early 1970s was a tough period -- the Vietnam War was still raging, Nixon was in the White House, the economy started to tank -- and it was nice to see some solid optimism, if only in a TV commercial for sugar water.

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I would've been five when that commercial (nearest above) first aired. It aired for years, as I remember. Older parents, conservative, but my mom was an artist. So like most of my generation, I grew up with some parts of the 60's and 70's culture soaking in by osmosis. Even my conservative parents embraced some of that. I did. I didn't really notice how much until after college. So I may look mostly preppie and yuppie, but there's some hippie flower power in there somewhere, and I find myself liking that more as I go along. That, and life has radicalized me, especially the last few years.

That commercial is so, so worth it. It would have a huge nostalgia draw now, and the message is just as good now as it was then.

Far out, man! Peace!

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It doesn't seem corny to me Pecman, I was there living the hippie hopes and dreams.

I found this psychedelic surfer coke add (1970) when I was actually looking for its better brother, the ski version, but this will give you an idea of the wild visuals we lived with.

And yes, my favourite is the Teach the World to Sing.

Fasten your seat belts:

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That sounds a *little* like Three Dog Night, but not quite. The sound quality's not the best. Fun solarizing on the surfing footage. I would bet I saw it growing up, but don't recall it.

Hmm... my brain just connected "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" with "P.H.R.O.G. / Big Blue Frog." How very odd! Fun times!

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Solarizing, edge keying, and video feedback -- they pointed a film camera at a video monitor to do a lot of that psychedelic crap. Oh, the 1970s had some ugly crap in it, stuff that looks really dated and lame today.

But the 1969 commercial I posted is so simple, it's beautiful: attractive young people standing on a hilltop, with a great jingle, a simple message, and good photography. It's damn near perfect -- and won a slew of awards, even redefining a whole new ad category.

The commercials for Pepsi were usually not as good, but I really, really love the late 1960s/early 1970s Pepsi jingle "You've Got a Lot to Live... and Pepsi's Got a Lot to Give." The orchestrated version with the brass section (which is not on YouTube) was phenomenal.

For the record, I'll drink either Coke or Pepsi, but hate pretty much all diet drinks. But I try to use moderation as much as possible. I generally drink more Vitamin Water than anything else these days, since it's pretty low-cal and doesn't have too much sugar.

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I have no argument over the beauty of the 1969 commercial you posted Pec. I agree with you 100%.

The surfer version of the coke commercial I posted lacks the drama of the 'Ski' version which I could not find on the Net. Basically it transformed real life image suddenly becoming psychedelic as the camera joined the skiers skiing down a steep incline...very Cinerama immersion cinematography added immensely to the experience causing the audience in the theatre to cheer.

The psychedelic images were however, very exciting for us young people back in 1968-70. Some of it we recognised as awful, sometimes it was brilliant and artistic, as in Dave's 'travel' sequence towards the end of Kubrick's 'Space Odyssey. Then there was The Beatles' Yellow Submarine, and the 1968 Monkey's film HEAD. And then of course there was the stage version of HAIR which created the psychedelic imagery, 'live', or so we thought.

More recently Julie Taymor's movie Across the Universe pays homage to the psychedelic era with a wonderful version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. She really captures the feel and the love that we flower children thought would teach the world to sing.

But maybe that is only a memory that is now as outdated as my reminiscences. I can only report what we felt back then, and we were living in a time of much more daring optimism than is present today. Just don't get me started on the fluoro-body painting under the 'black' lights we had in our bedrooms.

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More recently Julie Taymor's movie Across the Universe pays homage to the psychedelic era with a wonderful version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. She really captures the feel and the love that we flower children thought would teach the world to sing.

The only problem is, that's one of the worst movies ever made. God almighty, that is a bad, bad, bad film -- one of the biggest bombs of the last 5 or 6 years. And you won't find a bigger Beatles fan than me.

Get the DVD of Across the Universe and watch the "making of" documentaries. It's clear that all the people around Julie Taymor were convinced that the film was going to be a massive success (mirroring her Broadway triumph with Lion King). Instead, it was less successful than her disastrous Spiderman musical.

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We disagree, I loved it because it was the love story of HAIR to Beatles' music. It also appeals to the stage dramatist in me.

In light of what has been passing as 'good' movies recently, I think I am pleased it is regarded as a flop.

And I have the documentary and just loved the optimism.

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  • 1 month later...

Barq's Diet Root Beer, I prefer the diet version because is does not have any artificial sweetener after taste. But the full-calorie is okay in a pinch. However, I don't drink it very often, maybe one can every two or three weeks. I mostly drink water.

Colin :icon_geek:

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Actually, I bought one of those Sodastream soda pop makers a few months ago. I make my own soda now. It's cheaper than buying it at the market (and that's important when you have two foster boys who just inhale the stuff), and you can vary the amount of flavoring to suit your taste. I find it better than store bought, but the cream soda flavoring sucks.

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I agree with Colin, water should be everyone's favorite. But alas, the taste across the land varies and some water is nigh on to undrinkable. Now that I am in Florida I miss my North Carolina well water...sigh. But if I am out and someone offers me a soda I like to have 7-Up or ginger ale. Anyone ever have Tiger Ale? Now there is an eye- opening experience.

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My three favourite drinks are coffee, coffee and coffee, but only brewed from fresh beans.

As an aside, the hubby used to drink a litre of coca cola every day. When he stopped drinking it, his weight went down to his old trim self.

He's so thrilled that he can fit into his hippy jeans again.

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