Cola We Can Believe In

PepsiCo is far from alone in exploiting Barack Obama's ascendancy for commercial gain. Hennessy has named a new brand of cognac "44." And Ben & Jerry's has a new, clumsily named ice cream called "Yes Pecan!" (Get it?)

There are lots of others, but no company is laying it on thicker than Pepsi:

—It has festooned Washington, D.C., with billboards bearing such phrases as "All for One" and "Yes You Can."

—An army of workers will take to the streets of the nation's capital starting this weekend, passing out Pepsi campaign buttons, scarves, and hats.

—National Public Radio on Friday noted the similarity between Pepsi's new logo and that of the Obama campaign. Pepsi says it's a coincidence, and it may be: There's a similarity there, but it's far from a knockoff. (The old logo was pretty similar, too.)

—Pepsi's new "Refresh Everything" campaign includes a Web site where users may leave messages to the president-elect, "the man who is about to refresh America."

There's more, but that's the gist: Pepsi's going whole hog with the Obamamania. However in-your-face the ad messages are, however, executives are backpedaling in interviews.

"Without commenting specifically on the president-elect, it is a cultural moment for everybody," Ralph Santana, vice president at Pepsi-Cola North America, told the New York Times. "And I do think it transcends politics."

And despite the very direct, explicit exploitation of the coming Obama presidency, Anamaria Irazabal, Pepsi's trademark director, told Advertising Age, rather incredibly, that the similarities between the ad campaign and Obama's message are just a "happy coincidence."  

"We have always had a bipartisan message of optimism," she said.

Bipartisan, maybe. But you don't see Pepsi aligning itself with America's hockey moms or cranky plumbers.

It's easy to ride the wave now, with America yearning for change and clinging to hope, and with Obama's approval ratings sitting north of 80 percent. But as NPR pointed out, the campaign "does carry some risk: it could upset the millions of people who voted for other candidates."