By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
It took tomes of online and on-air protests for Pepsi to remove its ridiculous iPhone "AMP" application, which is nothing more than a low-brow commercial for its highly caffeinated drink. The Los Angeles Times reports:
The soda company created an iPhone application called "AMP UP Before You Score"—aimed at helping men "score" with women—to promote its AMP energy drink.
The application provides pick-up lines and other charming tools to seduce a "wide" variety of female stereotypes—24 in total—including the bookworm, the cougar, the athlete and the women's studies major. It also has a "Brag" feature which encourages users to "include the name, date, and whatever details you remember" about successful hookups or failed conquests.
This sort of mobile trash is simply unacceptable—I don't care how desperate PepsiCo, or any other company for that matter, is for business. The "Brag" feature, particularly, presents a real and present danger for women who are, shall we say, "dumb" enough to fall for any of the clichéd pickup lines the AMP application provides. The Jezebel blog provides a bit more detail on how it works:
The application works by breaking women down in to 24 set types. Once a man identifies the "type" of woman he's after, it provides him with tips on getting her to sleep with him, giving helpful hints like directions to hotel rooms and links to facts that might impress a certain "type," as well as a means for the man to brag about his conquests on Facebook or Twitter. High class, sassafrass! Don't you wish your date was gross like me? Don't you wish your date was a creep like me? Don't cha?!
The true impact of this application, had Pepsi not withdrawn it, would have been to increase rates of stalking (of the women about whom these men "bragged" on Twitter) and AIDS—because it promotes random sex among uneducated people who are more likely to have sex without protection.
Pepsi, I've witnessed some corporate lows in my day, but this takes all the fizz out of your products for me, forever.
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Reader Comments Read all comments (3)
yoda of AZ 8:14PM October 28, 2009
R.L. Schaefer of CA 5:32PM October 27, 2009
Tim of MO 5:37PM October 26, 2009