Pepsi’s AMP iPhone app – ‘Before You Score’ = A storm in an energy drink
Pepsi recently launched an iPhone app to promote its AMP energy drink. It’s called Before You Score and it is directly targeted at men looking to (in the nicest possible terms) have a fun night with a lady. This past week has seen Pepsi come in for heavy criticism for the app due to its politically incorrect nature. But come on, aren’t we all being a little over-sensitive here? It’s an iPhone app for God’s sake.
I consider energy drinks, which are basically full of sugar, caffeine, and usually taurine, to be unisex. In fact, I know more women than men who drink them on a regular basis. However, they tend to be marketed mainly to men, with the energy used for sports and such like. I’ve no idea why, that’s just how it is.
AMP, Pepsi’s entry in the market alongside Red Bull, Monster, and Full Throttle, is no exception. It’s already been marketed through the male-dominated area of extreme sports, but there’s now an iPhone app for it as well. As there is pretty much everything these days. Which is why Apple is laughing all the way to the bank.
Here is how Pepsi’s Before You Score AMP iPhone app works:
So, women are essentially broken up into 24 different types, from the ‘Bookworm’ to the ‘Sorority Girl’ and everything in between. If you as a man, or a lesbian girl I guess, happen to meet a woman who fits one of these types, you refer to the app for pick-up lines and tips on how to impress them and get them into bed.
It’s not big and it’s not clever. But is it really as offensive as everyone is making out? Political correctness can be a force for good when used correctly, with no one wanting people to be offended when they don’t need to be. But this is an iPhone app and intended to be a bit of fun which also helps promote a drink in a very competitive market.
If Pepsi were to release another app aimed at women, with men broken up into 24 types, I wouldn’t be offended in the slightest. Unless, of course, I couldn’t actually find one that accurately described me (overweight, balding, wholly uninteresting).
Pepsi then got itself into more trouble by attaching #pepsifail to its apology on Twitter. Why? What’s so bad about using the parlance of the day in an official apology? The company is not only admitting it’s failed with this app but also tried to stick with the accepted form on Twitter. And its ripped a new hole over this for some reason.
The strange thing is that the Before You Score iPhone app is anything but a fail. I’d never heard of AMP before this and I suspect I’m not alone. What would have been an app downloaded a few thousand times has scored big due to the huge fuss that has been made about it. Maybe less girls will now drink AMP but I’m guessing overall sales will now increase dramatically purely from the amount of publicity it has gained from this episode. #pepsiscore
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October 18th, 2009
It is a little offensive in the sense that it is portraying stereotypes of women. At one point in time, sambos were considered funny because they portrayed the type of person people thought black people were all about. Now we think of it as appalling. To break a woman down to her wardrobe IS offensive. I’m just sorry more men don’t see it that way.
January 4th, 2010
I’m just sorry that some women don’t have a sense of humor.