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The Real Pepsi Challenge: The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business
Describes the achievements of one dozen pioneering African-American Pepsi Cola businessmen who successfully increased the company's post-World War II profits by effectively tapping African-American markets, an endeavor that was fiercely challenged by Jim Crow laws and corporate bigotry. 50,000 first printing.
- GenresNonfictionBusiness
349 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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232 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 9, 2017
Pepsi approached diversity and inclusion in the 1940's when it wasn't a focus for other corporations. They were trailblazers and the stories that are shared in this book are great guideposts for other companies to consider.
December 24, 2023
The Real Pepsi Challenge: The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business by Stephanie Capperell is an amazing story. Few people today might remember the cola wars. As Pepsi sought to compete with the big one. Just as important is the story about a time when major corporations thought little about the Negro market as consumer and even less about member of this population participating in businesses. Capperell captures that era and we learn much about the behind the scene operation of businesses. Coca-Cola dominated the market, which included government support to help with sugar rationing during World War II. I remember many competitors, not just Royal Crown Cola, but White Rock sodas, since I was never heavy into colas. Yet, many cola drinkers were either Coke or Pepsi people.
Pepsi with Walter Mack as President in 1938 took the challenge, as he had turned other companies around. A Republican northerner, from a time when many had liberal leanings, he took on the challenge of bringing Black people into the corporation. Now just as workers in the bottling plants and truck drivers, but sales and marketing people. The sales and marketing people were essential to integrating the other ranks.
Reading about his era in the 1940s and 1950s, many Black people secured higher education, but found the doors to corporate employment closed. Consequently, they worked in non-profit organizations and in public sector positions. Mack opened doors with internships at Pepsi as well as building a marketing team of educated Negroes.
Before the television era, it was radio as well as direct sales that secured customers. Mack pushed radio “jingles” to catch audiences. He pitched “fun” that was linked with the product. The team he developed, hiring and training young college graduates, who typically had no options in the private sector. They took Pepsi into historical Black colleges, churches, and many other institutions to build the Negro market. They also pushed advertising in Negro publications, like Ebony, that often include features about Negro celebrities and professionals. As the vending machine developed, placement in recreational facilities as well as educational institutions and workplaces was essential to sales.
The book talks about the family backgrounds, upbring and education of this Negro marketing team. Names few people might know today, like Edward Boyd and Charles Wilson, but their positions at Pepsi gave them the leverage to support the NAACP and Urban League. It is interesting who was ready for such pioneering work in the 1940s and 1950s.
Mack created Job Awards to American Youth for college graduates, who wrote essays in a competition. He included Black youth in the pool, giving them a livable salary that could become a path to a job at Pepsi or another place, since they had experience. Hiring was not a craft, but this path meant Black men and a few women were in professional positions. Some stayed with Pepsi, but it did provide the marketing training for people whose careers took them other places where they could have an impact.
There stories are important, since we are learning about people raised around the nation, but much of the initially work was in the South, so people had to face segregation in order to work. Pepsi had people fly rather than deal with Jim Crow cars on the railroad, but there was much about southern living it could not change. Most hotels still segregated until the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Also, many Southerners were not accustomed to interactions with Negro as peers. Marketing to the Negro Market was important in competing with Coke Cola, headquartered in Atlanta rather than New York. Coke executives had to be careful about it how they reached out to the Black community. Publicity about Coke’s hiring practices was a weapon in the war. Over times, they did compete in this market. Both companies also looked at the international market, the Caribbean and Africa.
The book might be too much for general readers. It is related to my own investigations of de facto segregation and how people negotiated this terrain. However, there is a forthcoming documentary “The Color of Cola,” that tells the story of the Black people who were important in changing the color of corporate professionals.
Pepsi with Walter Mack as President in 1938 took the challenge, as he had turned other companies around. A Republican northerner, from a time when many had liberal leanings, he took on the challenge of bringing Black people into the corporation. Now just as workers in the bottling plants and truck drivers, but sales and marketing people. The sales and marketing people were essential to integrating the other ranks.
Reading about his era in the 1940s and 1950s, many Black people secured higher education, but found the doors to corporate employment closed. Consequently, they worked in non-profit organizations and in public sector positions. Mack opened doors with internships at Pepsi as well as building a marketing team of educated Negroes.
Before the television era, it was radio as well as direct sales that secured customers. Mack pushed radio “jingles” to catch audiences. He pitched “fun” that was linked with the product. The team he developed, hiring and training young college graduates, who typically had no options in the private sector. They took Pepsi into historical Black colleges, churches, and many other institutions to build the Negro market. They also pushed advertising in Negro publications, like Ebony, that often include features about Negro celebrities and professionals. As the vending machine developed, placement in recreational facilities as well as educational institutions and workplaces was essential to sales.
The book talks about the family backgrounds, upbring and education of this Negro marketing team. Names few people might know today, like Edward Boyd and Charles Wilson, but their positions at Pepsi gave them the leverage to support the NAACP and Urban League. It is interesting who was ready for such pioneering work in the 1940s and 1950s.
Mack created Job Awards to American Youth for college graduates, who wrote essays in a competition. He included Black youth in the pool, giving them a livable salary that could become a path to a job at Pepsi or another place, since they had experience. Hiring was not a craft, but this path meant Black men and a few women were in professional positions. Some stayed with Pepsi, but it did provide the marketing training for people whose careers took them other places where they could have an impact.
There stories are important, since we are learning about people raised around the nation, but much of the initially work was in the South, so people had to face segregation in order to work. Pepsi had people fly rather than deal with Jim Crow cars on the railroad, but there was much about southern living it could not change. Most hotels still segregated until the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Also, many Southerners were not accustomed to interactions with Negro as peers. Marketing to the Negro Market was important in competing with Coke Cola, headquartered in Atlanta rather than New York. Coke executives had to be careful about it how they reached out to the Black community. Publicity about Coke’s hiring practices was a weapon in the war. Over times, they did compete in this market. Both companies also looked at the international market, the Caribbean and Africa.
The book might be too much for general readers. It is related to my own investigations of de facto segregation and how people negotiated this terrain. However, there is a forthcoming documentary “The Color of Cola,” that tells the story of the Black people who were important in changing the color of corporate professionals.
August 21, 2021
Interesting that Pepsi had a progressive leader that allowed for an innovative and non-bias approach until he was replaced. Then they lost the advantage and the loss was hidden by the overall success of the company.
I wonder what might have happened. At the very worst more people would know about these events.
After all we are talking about the 1940s.
I wonder what might have happened. At the very worst more people would know about these events.
After all we are talking about the 1940s.
May 18, 2022
Pros:
-Had some fascinating anecdotal stories and backgrounds of the people involved with this marketing team.
-Very well researched without losing human touch.
-Actually quite uplifting to see a macro of social growth.
Cons:
-Does get a bit bogged down in contextual information.
-Not as informative of the business part of things as you might expect for a marketing novel.
-Had some fascinating anecdotal stories and backgrounds of the people involved with this marketing team.
-Very well researched without losing human touch.
-Actually quite uplifting to see a macro of social growth.
Cons:
-Does get a bit bogged down in contextual information.
-Not as informative of the business part of things as you might expect for a marketing novel.
November 29, 2023
i really liked this book. i was told about it during my georgetown program and i had no idea how much pepsi had done for the black community well before coke even thought about helping us, hell they didnt even give two shits about us back then but pepsi gave us an opportunity. i hate how i like coke much better than pepsi
January 23, 2021
An arresting, detailed look at a little-known chapter of American corporate history.
May 14, 2022
The book is just too long 😪.
December 5, 2007
One of my coworkers wants a time machine. She firmly believes that then was better than now, and that she's wasting her time stuck here in the present. "The Real Pepsi Challenge" would be the book that finally prevents her from testing the time-space continuum.
The RPC, in fact, takes the reader back in time to 1940's and 50's corporate America. And it's a complete culture shock. Before the civil rights movement, the office landscape looked quite different. Specifically, it looked a lot whiter. Like, all white. TRPC follows 12 of Pepsi's first colored salesmen tasked with reaching the Negro market-- a revolutionary idea. Seriously, never before done at such a large white company. Think about it.
What I found most interesting was the everyday challenges they faced while selling. Hotels wouldn't take them in. Buses and trains relegated them to the back. Restaurants wouldn't serve them. College graduates were often stuck mopping floors since they couldn't get any other jobs. It's simply shocking to contemplate, but it happened, and it happened only 60 years ago. That's not a long time at all.
Stylistically, the prose left something to be desired. Oh, it was readable, just very journalistic-- which I suppose would be expected from a Wall Street Journal publication. It's not too long and it'll really give you a new perspective on race in the workplace. Give it a shot.
The RPC, in fact, takes the reader back in time to 1940's and 50's corporate America. And it's a complete culture shock. Before the civil rights movement, the office landscape looked quite different. Specifically, it looked a lot whiter. Like, all white. TRPC follows 12 of Pepsi's first colored salesmen tasked with reaching the Negro market-- a revolutionary idea. Seriously, never before done at such a large white company. Think about it.
What I found most interesting was the everyday challenges they faced while selling. Hotels wouldn't take them in. Buses and trains relegated them to the back. Restaurants wouldn't serve them. College graduates were often stuck mopping floors since they couldn't get any other jobs. It's simply shocking to contemplate, but it happened, and it happened only 60 years ago. That's not a long time at all.
Stylistically, the prose left something to be desired. Oh, it was readable, just very journalistic-- which I suppose would be expected from a Wall Street Journal publication. It's not too long and it'll really give you a new perspective on race in the workplace. Give it a shot.
September 6, 2009
The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business. Excellent book – good look at the problems blacks faced in early corporate America.
March 15, 2013
Good story of multicultural marketing, explains the Pepsi at my grand uncle's store, grandparents and family.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews