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Care for a Pepsi, Comrade?
HISTORY OF THE PEPSI FLEET
Coke or Pepsi? This is one of the oldest brand wars in the world, but these days, most of us are willing to settle for whichever soda is available. But if you happened to be in the Soviet Union during the 1980s, Pepsi was the soda of choice. The Soviets loved Pepsi so much that they were willing to make PepsiCo a naval superpower in order to get more of that refreshing, sugary beverage. In 1972, PepsiCo secured a deal to sell Pepsi syrup to the USSR, where it would be bottled locally. Not only did this deal make Pepsi the first Western product to be sold in the USSR, but it also locked The Coca-Cola Company out of the market, giving PepsiCo a monopoly. But before the deal could be finalized, the Soviets needed to figure out how to pay for the cola syrup. Rubles, the Soviet currency, were worthless internationally. To get around this, the Soviets traded Stolichnaya vodka in exchange for the cola. This deal was great for both parties until the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the United States boycotted Soviet products, including vodka. If the USSR wanted to keep its supply of sweet cola, then they would need to give PepsiCo
something else. That’s when the Soviets offered up part of their naval fleet. In exchange for $3 billion worth of Pepsi, the Soviet Union traded 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer. This trade made PepsiCo the sixth most powerful naval military in the world. The deal was reported in a 1989 New York Times article, which included a quote from the CEO of PepsiCo to the United States’ national security advisor: “We’re disarming the Soviet Union faster than you are.” PepsiCo quickly sold the fleet to a Swedish company for scrap recycling, but for a few days, Pepsi had the potential to become the ultimate victor in the cola wars.
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