Pepsi named its blind taste-test advertising campaign the “Pepsi Challenge,” launching it nationally in the United States in 1975.
In the promotion, people were typically offered unlabelled samples of Pepsi and Coca-Cola and asked which drink they preferred. Pepsi used the results to claim that many consumers chose Pepsi when brand identity was hidden. The campaign turned a comparative taste test into a highly recognizable part of the cola rivalry.
The Pepsi Challenge built on earlier local promotions and became a major element of Pepsi’s marketing strategy during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity helped intensify the broader “Cola Wars,” in which Pepsi and Coca-Cola competed through advertising, packaging, celebrity endorsements, and retail placement.
The campaign has also prompted discussion about how sampling conditions affect taste-test results. Small samples can emphasize sweetness, and the test does not necessarily represent how people choose a full drink in everyday life. Even so, the campaign’s name became shorthand for a direct brand comparison.