Two American adversaries have been competing for over a century, in a battle to achieve global domination. Their rivalry, Coca Cola vs Pepsi, is a tale that has a lot to teach about the impact of competition.
It is often said that what matters about competition is not the winning, but the taking part. But I don’t think this tells the full story. To have a competitive spirit is to be driven not just to participate, but to aspire to the top, even when it is out of reach. Pepsi went bankrupt twice during the Prohibition and offered to sell itself to Coke. When they were turned down, they didn’t give in, but rather changed strategy, starting to sell Pepsi for half the price of Coca Cola. During the Second World War, Coke managed to get a deal to supply cola to the US soldiers, as it was considered an essential morale booster. In response, Pepsi got the Vice President of the USA to arrange a controversial trade deal between the Soviet Union and Pepsi, which resulted in Pepsi commandeering unused Soviet submarines and owning a naval fleet only slightly smaller than that of the UK. Without the motivator of competition, neither company would have needed to make such bold moves, and it goes to show how influential a competitive mindset can be.
But, it’s not all Michael Jackson ad cameos and the race to get the first carbonated beverage to space, because the soda wars also warn how easy it is for people to get so embroiled in the competition that they lose their compassion. Coke and Pepsi have been investigated multiples times for industrial espionage, planting bugs to record each other’s meetings, and employing double agents to sell each other false information, all just to get the upper hand. Coke has even been accused of hiring hitmen to kidnap and torture unionising factory workers.
So, it’s important to step back, and consider why we compete, and how addictive it can be. The aim of competition is never to rejoice in the failure of your opponent, but rather to reach a personal triumph, using an opponent, or yourself, as your motivator. And, whilst both companies might ostensibly be trying to one-up each other, the truth is that as long as they compete with integrity their rivalry aids both of them tremendously. And Pepsi knows it, because when a secretary at Coke attempted to sell Pepsi the Coca Cola formula, instead of delivering a decisive blow to Coke, Pepsi chose to immediately notify the FBI.
Whilst the days of Coca Cola giving millions of dollars to high schools that banned Pepsi might be coming to a close, the 21st century still offers us plenty of room for healthy smaller-scale competition. Whether it’s keeping up your Duolingo streak, entering a Timothee Chalamet lookalike contest, or just trying to better yourself from one day to the next, you can always find an opportunity to develop yourself by harnessing your competitive spirit. Thank you.
Yuvan Raja
Senior Prefect