Every generation has its highs and lows, and the '90s were no exception. You had the rise of anime in the West, the dawn of grunge music, the Super Nintendo and the PS1 to name a few.
But sometimes things go haywire. Sometimes things that are meant to be simple and good take a left turn and become downright strange. That is where Pepsiman comes in.
PepsiCo Japan created Pepsiman as an official mascot for the brand. He appeared in around 12 advertisements and even his own game on the PlayStation. He apparently came into being when the scientist and Pepsi employee Shujinko Satoru accepted the power of the "Holy Pepsi" into his heart. At that moment, his body transformed to resemble a Pepsi can morph-suit and Shunjinko became Pepsiman. He has no face and possibly no will of his own, just the pounding compulsion to bring Pepsi to those in dire need of it. And, with a wave of his hand and an unsettling hole in his face, Pepsiman always delivers. Except when he doesn't, because it's not actually him. The yellow balaclava-wearing Lemon Pepsiman and Pepsiwoman are often mistaken for Pepsiman.
Pepsiman is strange. He's faceless and largely expressionless, save for the gaping maw that opens up when he delivers Pepsi. He's upsettingly shiny, muscle-bound and almost entirely silent. And if that doesn't get you, seeing a six-foot-tall Pepsiman sprinting down your street at full tilt certainly will. And if that doesn't get you, then knowing that there's possibly a Pepsiman for each flavor of Pepsi definitely will.
Simply put, Pepsiman is from a different time in every sense of the word. Corporations in the '90s seemed desperate to get the attention of kids in any way that they could. In an ideal world, that would mean putting out quality, exciting products at reasonable prices. But in the '90s, for some wild reason, this meant engaging in an all-out mascot war. From video games to TV dinners to cereal, it seemed like every brand tried to one-up its competitors with increasingly off-putting mascots. Young, impressionable, easily-scarred children had to weather the likes of Honeycomb Cereal's Crazy Cravings, Eggo Waffles' Eggomen, Accolade's Bubsy the Cat and, Pepsiman.
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Brands have since calmed down with their mascots. Bubsy is a joke, Crazy Cravings has vanished and Eggo now has the entirety of Stranger Things as a commercial. Weird and wacky just does not sell anymore. Kids these days are too smart, forged in the fires of YouTube comment sections and environmental uncertainty. That, or it's harder for brands to reach them without cable TV. Either way, in this day and age, building a relationship with consumption-happy children is a more viable way to net their parents' money than a mascot.
The legend of Pepsiman, however, continues. The soft drink avenger recently found new life online through ad compilation videos and comedic reviews of his Japan-exclusive game, as well as his appearance in the Sega Saturn classic, Fighting Vipers. Pepsiman is now "cursed content," something so unnerving that you can't help but look at it despite your better judgment. Some would say that borderline memedom is no way to rocket back to relevance. And that may be true. But consider this: Pepsiman was always a meme, and the only way to appreciate something that blatantly 90s truly is to laugh at it.