Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook528 pages8 hours
The Real Pepsi Challenge: The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barr
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
In America's long march toward racial equality, small acts of courage by men and women whose names we don't recall have contributed mightily to our nation's struggle to achieve its own ideals. This moving book details the story of one such little-noted chapter.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, as Jackie Robinson changed the face of baseball, a group of African-American businessmen -- twelve at its peak -- changed the face of American business by being among the first black Americans to work at professional jobs in Corporate America and to target black consumers as a distinct market.
The corporation was Pepsi-Cola, led by the charismatic and socially progressive Walter Mack, a visionary business leader. Though Mack was a guarded idealist, his consent for a campaign aimed at black consumers was primarily motivated by the pursuit of profits -- and the campaign succeeded, boosting Pepsi's earnings and market share. But America succeeded as well, as longstanding stereotypes were chipped away and African- Americans were recognized as both talented employees and valued customers. It was a significant step in our becoming a more inclusive society.
On one level, The Real Pepsi Challenge, whose author is an editor and writer for The Wall Street Journal, is a straightforward business book about the birth of niche marketing. But, as we quickly learn, it is a truly inspirational story, recalling a time when we as a nation first learned to see the strength of our diversity. It is far more than a history of marketing in America; it is a key chapter in the social history of our nation.
Until these men came along, typical advertisements depicted African-Americans as one-dimensional characters: Aunt Jemimas and Uncle Bens. But thereafter, Pepsi-Cola took a different approach, portraying American blacks for what they were increasingly becoming -- accomplished middle-class citizens. While such portrayals seem commonplace to us today, they were revolutionary in their time, and the men who brought them into existence risked day-to-day professional indignities parallel to those that Jackie Robinson suffered for breaking baseball's color line. As they crossed the country in the course of their jobs, they faced the cruelty of American racial attitudes. Jim Crow laws often limited where they could eat and sleep while on the road, and they faced resistance even within their own company. Yet these men succeeded as businessmen, and all went on to success in other professions as well, including medicine, journalism, education, and international diplomacy.
Happily, six of these pioneers lived to tell their stories to the author. Their voices, full of pride, good humor, and sharp recollection, enrich these pages and give voice to the continuing American saga.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, as Jackie Robinson changed the face of baseball, a group of African-American businessmen -- twelve at its peak -- changed the face of American business by being among the first black Americans to work at professional jobs in Corporate America and to target black consumers as a distinct market.
The corporation was Pepsi-Cola, led by the charismatic and socially progressive Walter Mack, a visionary business leader. Though Mack was a guarded idealist, his consent for a campaign aimed at black consumers was primarily motivated by the pursuit of profits -- and the campaign succeeded, boosting Pepsi's earnings and market share. But America succeeded as well, as longstanding stereotypes were chipped away and African- Americans were recognized as both talented employees and valued customers. It was a significant step in our becoming a more inclusive society.
On one level, The Real Pepsi Challenge, whose author is an editor and writer for The Wall Street Journal, is a straightforward business book about the birth of niche marketing. But, as we quickly learn, it is a truly inspirational story, recalling a time when we as a nation first learned to see the strength of our diversity. It is far more than a history of marketing in America; it is a key chapter in the social history of our nation.
Until these men came along, typical advertisements depicted African-Americans as one-dimensional characters: Aunt Jemimas and Uncle Bens. But thereafter, Pepsi-Cola took a different approach, portraying American blacks for what they were increasingly becoming -- accomplished middle-class citizens. While such portrayals seem commonplace to us today, they were revolutionary in their time, and the men who brought them into existence risked day-to-day professional indignities parallel to those that Jackie Robinson suffered for breaking baseball's color line. As they crossed the country in the course of their jobs, they faced the cruelty of American racial attitudes. Jim Crow laws often limited where they could eat and sleep while on the road, and they faced resistance even within their own company. Yet these men succeeded as businessmen, and all went on to success in other professions as well, including medicine, journalism, education, and international diplomacy.
Happily, six of these pioneers lived to tell their stories to the author. Their voices, full of pride, good humor, and sharp recollection, enrich these pages and give voice to the continuing American saga.
Unavailable
Author
Stephanie Capparell
Stephanie Capparell is the author of Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer. She has worked at The Wall Street Journal since 1990 and is currently an editor for that paper's Marketplace page. She holds degrees from Boston University and Columbia University. She lives in New York City.
Related to The Real Pepsi Challenge
Related ebooks
CEO of Earth: A Ground-Breaking Guide to Building the Ultimate Brand Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Marcia Chatelain's Franchise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMadison Avenue and the Color Line: African Americans in the Advertising Industry Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brazil's Revolution in Commerce: Creating Consumer Capitalism in the American Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack Achievements in Business: Celebrating Oprah Winfrey, Moziah Bridges, and More Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBranding Trust: Advertising and Trademarks in Nineteenth-Century America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiversity & Inclusion: The Big Six Formula for Success Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Business of Persuasion: Harold Burson on Public Relations Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us, and Why it Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ADELA: The Noble Birth and Costly Death of Early Venture Capitalism in Latin America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBusiness Quiz Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mind Your X's and Y's: Satisfying the 10 Cravings of a New Generation of Consumers Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5American Dragon: Winning the Global Manufacturing War Using the Universal Principles of Fewer, Faster, and Finer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harb: Front-Line Dispatches from the Advertising War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Twenties: Fords, Flappers & Fanatics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Industrialists: How the National Association of Manufacturers Shaped American Capitalism Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Speculation Economy: How Finance Triumphed Over Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Joe Coulombe & Patty Civalleri's Becoming Trader Joe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNaked Marketing: A journey to the future of marketing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsN'Digo Legacy Black Luxe 110: Business and Legal Eagles Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFifty-Four Years in Advertising: from the Mailroom to the Boardroom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSystematically Impoverished: How Wall St. and Washington Hurt the Middle Class Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMinority Business Success: Refocusing on the American Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Daily Dose of the American Dream: Stories of Success, Triumph, and Inspiration Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsService and Style: How the American Department Store Fashioned the Middle Class Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Uncle Sam Can't Count: A History of Failed Government Investments, from Beaver Pelts to Green Energy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrafting Persuasion: The Leader's Handbook to Change Minds and Influence Behavior Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsState of Resistance: What California’s Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Mean for America’s Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Hint of Homosexuality?: ‘Gay' and Homoerotic Imagery in American Print Advertising Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Innovation Mentality: Six Strategies to Disrupt the Status Quo and Reinvent the Way We Work Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Ethnic Studies For You
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Self-Care for Black Women: 150 Ways to Radically Accept & Prioritize Your Mind, Body, & Soul Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Black Rednecks & White Liberals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life Sentence: The Brief and Tragic Career of Baltimore’s Deadliest Gang Leader Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Like Me: The Definitive Griffin Estate Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wretched of the Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Salvation: Black People and Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Amazing Facts About the Negro with Complete Proof Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heavy: An American Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Blood of Emmett Till Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of White World Supremacy: Four Speeches Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conspiracy to Destroy Black Women Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red, White, and Black: Rescuing American History from Revisionists and Race Hustlers Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Things That Make White People Uncomfortable Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Real Pepsi Challenge
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
4 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Interesting review of Pepsi's pioneering use of black managers and salesmen. The book fails to point out that even at Pepsi, with its significant progress and ongoing efforts, real diversity still has not been attained.