Pepsi Can Learn From Taco Bell On How To Stay Relevant [The Katchup Podcast]

To stay relevant in modern times, companies often take different routes. Pepsi got Kendall Jenner to star in a commercial about protests that totally flopped. Taco Bell, on the other hand, launched a series of innovative new items, including a hype breakfast taco made with a fried egg and a Mexican crispy chicken pizza.

For those of you that haven’t seen the tone deaf Pepsi commercial, it featured Kendall Jenner handing a Pepsi to a white cop watching over a protest and the entire crowd cheering. The ad triggered some major backlash due to the insensitivity of the campaign and how it inaccurately portrayed protests, police, and race relations. Pepsi’s attempt at social relevance revealed how uneducated it was in this field.

Taco Bell didn’t jump into that area, but it did stay relevant through its continuing ability to innovate and change the fast food game. Its new Naked Breakfast Taco, which puts breakfast items like sausage and potatoes into a a whole fried egg “taco shell,” is set to revolutionize the way we think about the quintessential morning meal.

It’s safe to say that Taco Bell did a much superior job to Pepsi in terms of being relevant this week, and that’s what we dove into on this week’s episode of our podcast, The Katchup. Foodbeast Editor-In-Chief Elie Ayrouth sat down with Managing Editor Reach Guinto and self-proclaimed Fatboy-in-Chief Rudy Chaney to go in on Pepsi for their horrible commercial and hype on Taco Bell’s new food offerings. I also crashed the podcast for a little bit because I had to give my take on where Pepsi went wrong and how they could’ve saved themselves.

We don’t hold anything back in this podcast, so make sure to listen to hear some of the most brutal commentary on the Pepsi commercial to date. And then feel better hearing about all the cool stuff Taco Bell is doing.