PepsiCo awarded exclusive Penn State contract – CDT
The official soft drink of Penn State will remain Pepsi for another 10 years if a contract between the university and Pepsi is completed in July as expected. The details are still being worked out, but Pepsi would have continue to have exclusive pouring and vending rights on all Penn State campuses.
When I was a student, there was a lot of grumbling about “Pepsi State” from Coke drinkers. I wonder if that is still the case. As of last year, there was a rouge Coke machine on campus (Onward State). From that link, I was directed to an 1992 article from the Times detailing the original Penn State-Pepsi agreement which is quite interesting. Apparently, Penn State was just trying to secure advertising for what was to be the Bryce Jordan Center, but it grew into more. There were concerns that the university was selling out with the deal. I always wondered if people would have felt the same way if it was Coca-Cola instead of PepsiCo and I suspect they would not.
Unless there the contract goes completely off the rails, seven or eight generations of Penn State students will have only been able to buy Pepsi products.
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