7-2-I-Search-Julian

= Coke vs. Pepsi = by Julian

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**Introduction**
As much as I can remember, I think I have drank more Coke than Pepsi, so I'm guessing that I would like Coke better. But for some reason, I have never thought about the difference between the two top cola brands. Then one day, I went to Applebee's and the waiter asked me what I wanted to drink. I said, "Coke," and the waiter said, "I'm sorry. We don't have Coke. Would you want Pepsi?" I nodded and then an idea came up in my head. What was the difference between Coke and Pepsi? What made the waiter say I would want Pepsi instead of Coke. The idea is so obvious and yet so elusive, I still ponder about it today. So the big question is: In the battle of Coke and Pepsi, who will win?

**Search**
Searching for facts that pertain to Coke and Pepsi was hard and very irritating. I used Google, but most of the search results were based on opinions from different kinds of people. They said things like, “Oh, Pepsi is better.” And “No! Coke is better!!”. Sometimes, the arguments got so drastic a lot of inappropriate words were used. So I planned on using a better search engine, MSN. So I typed in Coke vs Pepsi. Lots of results showed up and none of them were very useful. So I then tried using Yahoo!, AOL, and Ask, and none of them worked very well. When I tried using MSN again, I noticed something.

A lot of the different search engines all provided some of the same results and that was called, [|**Coke**] [| **vs**. **Pepsi**: the new cola wars - May. 10, 2002]. So I clicked on that and there was some useful information. Did you know that Pepsi is cheaper that Coke? The stock price for Coke was $56.50 while the stock price on Pepsi was $52.06. Another thing about the two companies was that PepsiCo was more diverse in products. Not only that they sold drinks but also snacks and food. PepsiCo owns Frito-Lay, a company that makes snack foods like Doritos, Fritos, Lays, Ruffles, and Rold Gold. PepsiCo even owns Gatorade and Quaker Foods. The Coca-Cola company depends on drinks only. Another search result from MSN was called, Pepsi vs Coke: Difference in taste is mostly in your head at FraudWasteAbuse. So I checked it out and the article was about a student doing a blind taste test of Pepsi, Coke, and a generic brand of cola (the non-famous brands of cola that you find in the supermarket). It turned out that nobody was able to distinguish between the brands of soda. The article then showed a link to a newspaper website called The Independent. It was called Official: Coke takes over parts of the brain that Pepsi can’t reach. So this was important. There was a line that stood out of the whole article: “When asked to taste blind, they showed no preference. However, when the participants were shown company logos before they drank, the Coke label, the more famous of the two, had a dramatic impact: three quarters of the tasters declared they preferred Coke.” Scientists were also able find out that the Coke label created an increase in brain activity that was based on prior knowledge. The Pepsi label showed no increase in the brain. Scientists could use brain scans to predict which drink was likely to pick as a favorite. Although there was not much of a difference in taste, many people preffered Coke since it was a more famous brand.

The next place I searched was at Answers.com since this website helped me signifcantly for my science project. I looked up The Coca-Cola Company and learned that the company was the world’s number 1 soda company. It owns 4 of the top 5 soda brands which were Sprite, Fanta, Diet Coke, and Coca-Cola. The company also sells carbonated drinks like Fresca and Barq’s, energy drinks like Powerade and Aquarius, juices like Minute Maid, Fruitopia, Hi-C, Five Alive, Qoo, Maaza, and Bibo, teas like Sokenbicha and Marocha, coffees like Georgia, and bottled water like Ciel, Dasani, and Bonaqua. Another thing I learned was that by the end of 2006, the Coca-Cola Company earned 24,088 million dollars in sales. PepsiCo sells carbonated drinks like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Slice. It also sells Tropicana and Dole juices, Aquafina water, Lipton Tea, Pasta Roni (pasta), Rice-a-Roni (pasta), and Near East (side dishes). Now this fact surprised me: By the end of 2006, PepsiCo earned 35, 137 million dollars! That is a higher amount of sales than Coke.

Now let’s compare nutrition facts. There can’t be too much of anything so let’s do the less the better. Coke has less calories than Pepsi from 140 calories to 150 calories. Both brands have no fat. Pepsi has less sodium than Coke from 30mg to 50 mg. Coke has less carbohydrates than Pepsi from 39 grams to 41 grams. The results were the same with sugar. And finally there is no protein in both drinks. So Coke wins in the calorie battle but loses to Pepsi in the sodium battle. Coke wins both the carbohydrates battle and the sugar battle. The two brands tie in the fat and protein battle. Coke wins in the nutrition battle! Now of course, these facts were all from the Internet and research. One important thing is conducting surveys and blind taste tests to different kinds of people. That way I can get opinions in what people think is better and I could find out if people can actually distinguish between the two sodas.

So out of the 24 students in my class, I was able to survey 16 people. Nine people preferred Coca-Cola than Pepsi and and seven people liked Pepsi better. In the group of the Coke-lovers, two people said that Coke is sweeter than Pepsi. One said it's an older brand. Two said that Pepsi was bitter. One said Pepsi was too sweet. And three just said that Coke just tastes better. But ironically, five of the nine weren't able to tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi and got their answers wrong. Out of the seven Pepsi-lovers, two said that Pepsi just tastes better. One said that she just liked it. And four said that Pepsi has a sweeter taste. Out of the seven Pepsi-lovers, three weren't able to tell the difference between the two brands and got their answers wrong. Basically half of the surveyed people got their answers wrong.

= **Conclusion** =  So is Coke better than Pepsi? Well everyone has different opinions. Coke is a healthier brand and the company is more well-known but Pepsi is cheaper and the company sells a greater variety of products. So there isn’t a correct answer, in my opinion. It’s just like what Huo Yuan Jia (played by Jet Li) from the movie Fearless said, “The way I see it, the tea does not judge itself. People judge the tea.” See? It’s your judgment that matters. The soda doesn’t judge itself but it’s the person that judges the soda. Only your opinion counts.

**Works Cited**
Conner, Steve. "Official: Coke Takes Over Parts of the Brain That Pepsi Can't Reach." The Independent 17 Oct. 2004. 28 Mar. 2008 <[|http://www.hnl.bcm.tmc.edu/cache/coke_pepsi_independent_co_uk.htm>.]

La Monica, Paul R. "Coke Vs. Pepsi: the New Cola Wars-May. 10,2002." __CNNMoney__. 10 May 2002. 25 Mar. 2008 <[|http://money.cnn.com/2002/05/10/pf/investing/q_cola/index.htm>.]

__Fearless__. Dir. Ronny Yu. Perf. Jet Li, Nakamura Shido, Collin Chou, Betty Sun. Rogue Pictures, 2006

"The Coca-Cola Company: Information and Much More From Answers.Com." __Answers.Com__. 9 Apr. 2008. 9 Apr. 2008 <[|http://www.answers.com/topic/the-coca-cola-company?cat=biz-fin>.]

"PepsiCo, Incs.: Information and Much More From Answers.Com." __Answers.Com__. 9 Apr. 2008. 9 Apr. 2008 <[|http://www.answers.com/PepsiCo?cat=biz-fin>.]