Category: Cocktail

Pepsi wants you to drink soda mixed with milk this holiday season

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New York
CNN Business
—

‘Tis the season to mix milk into your soda. According to Pepsi, however.

Pepsi launched a Thursday campaign encouraging customers to try the combination and use the hashtag #PilkandCookies (as in Pepsi plus milk) to showcase their Santa-friendly concoctions. Those who participate in the online challenge running through Christmas Day will have the chance to win cash.

“Combining Pepsi and milk has long been a secret hack among Pepsi fans,” said Todd Kaplan, Pepsi’s chief marketing officer, in a statement about the campaign.

Pepsi is now publicizing the mix as its spin on “dirty soda,” a popular TikTok trend that combines soda with syrup and cream. Companies like PepsiCo (PEP) pay attention to what’s happening on TikTok, and often look for ways to get in on trends as a way to stay relevant to young consumers.

“With the rise of the ‘dirty soda’ trend on TikTok and throughout the country, we thought Pilk and Cookies would be a great way to unapologetically celebrate the holidays,” said Kaplan.

Lindsay Lohan thinks you should try Pilk.

To make the campaign even trendier, Pepsi tapped Lindsay Lohan, star of the Netflix (NFLX) Christmas movie “Falling for Christmas,” to promote the combination.

Pepsi is recommending a number of recipes for those who want to go beyond just Pepsi and milk, perhaps hoping to launch their own viral combination.

A handful of those recipes include the Naughty & Ice, which is Pepsi with one cup of whole milk, one tablespoon of heavy cream and one tablespoon of vanilla cream, plus Pepsi; the Cherry on Top combines Pepsi Wild Cherry with half a cup of 2% milk, two tablespoons of heavy cream and two tablespoons of caramel creamer; and the Snow Fl(oat) is Pepsi Zero Sugar and half a cup of oat milk with four tablespoons of caramel creamer.

The soda cocktails are relatively new to TikTok — but they have been popular for years in Utah, which has a high concentration of Mormons, some of whom abstain from alcohol and hot beverages.

TikTok discovered the drink after Gen-Z pop star Olivia Rodrigo posted a photo of herself holding a Swig cup in December last year, sending fans in search of answers about the Utah-based chain. Swig, which calls itself “home of the original dirty soda,” has been around since 2010 and serves a wide array of the carbonated mash-ups.

The trend quickly took off, Eater reported in April, saying “TikTok is now repeated with more than 700,000 mentions of the #dirtysoda hashtag, most of which accompany videos of creators showing viewers how to make their own dirty sodas at home.”

Viral food sensations have inspired companies to capitalize on trends, sometimes even creating new products based on what they see.

In September 2020, for example, Dunkin’ partnered with TikTok star Charli D’Amelio on a limited-time drink called The Charli — cold brew with whole milk and three pumps of caramel swirl — inspired by D’Amelio’s favorite order. On launch day, Dunkin’ hit a record for daily active app users. And last year, Starbucks experimented with selling the TikTok-popular Iced Matcha Latte with Chai on social platforms.

Kraft Heinz (KHC) this year launched Dip & Crunch, a burger dipping sauce packaged with “salty potato crunchers.” The idea is for people to dip a burger or sandwich into the sauce, then into the crunchers, and then take a bite — something that had apparently been trending on TikTok with some loving the trend and others questioning it.

“For us to hear that debate online, then bring it to life, is an example of how we’re listening,” Sanjiv Gajiwala, then Kraft Heinz North America’s chief growth officer, told Fast Company in April. Now, you can find videos of TikTok influencers testing out the product in ads, and others reviewing it for their followers.

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Downtown Outdoor Drinking District Expanding And Reproducing

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The BORO is not only growing, it is having offspring.

The BORO is the “social district” in downtown Greensboro where it is legal for people to walk down the sidewalk with a BORO approved alcoholic beverage. There are a lot of rules including that the alcoholic beverage must be in an approved cup, but basically it allows someone to buy an alcoholic beverage in one establishment and walk down the sidewalk to another business to browse or shop. An alcoholic beverage from one establishment licensed to sell alcohol cannot be taken into another licensed establishment but can be taken into stores and shops or simply consumed while walking around.

The ordinance establishing The BORO was passed by the Greensboro City Council in December 2021 and went into effect in March 2022. The BORO evidently is so popular that on the agenda for the Tuesday, Dec. 6 meetings is the approval of an ordinance that not only expands the boundaries of The BORO in downtown Greensboro but also establishes another social district along State Street in northeast Greensboro.

The proposed downtown social district boundaries appear to make a lot more sense than the current boundaries. Center City Park and the Stephen Tanger Center for the Performing Arts are both excluded from the current social district while LeBauer Park and the Greensboro Cultural Center are included. So, under the current ordinance, if someone buys an approved alcoholic beverage on North Elm Street and walks east on Friendly Avenue to the Cultural Center that is legal, but if they take a few more steps north and walk through Center City Park that is illegal .

The ordinance being presented to the City Council for consideration includes changing the language so that Greensboro can have more than one social district and proposes adding a social district along the business district on State Street.

It seems likely that other areas where there are establishments that serve alcohol within walking distance of each other would also be applying for social district status in the future.

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‘Barmageddon’ Host Tries Viral ‘Pilk’ Drink, Calls It ‘Fundamentally Wrong’

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Carson Daly and his co-hosts on the “TODAY” show tried out a viral drink trend that feels ripped straight from the Wheel of Redemption on “Barmageddon.”

On Monday, Daly introduced the hosts to a new holiday drink sensation introduced as a collaboration between Lindsay Lohan and Pepsi called “Pilk.” The beverage is a combination of Pepsi mixed with milk over ice to create a drink that the “Barmageddon” host bluntly described as “fundamentally wrong.”

After he explained what the drink was, some wondered if it was as gross as it sounded or if it would taste just like a root beer or Coca-Cola float, which uses ice cream instead of milk. Luckily, Daly organized it so their curiosity would be satisfied by handing them all a cold glass of Pilk. Once they took a few sips, the overall consensus was that it did indeed taste like a root beer float… but that wasn’t quite right.

RELATED: All The Wacky And Unique Bar Games You’ll See On ‘Barmageddon’

“It does have the root beer float thing with the dairy,” Carson conceded. “I don’t mind it, but it feels fundamentally wrong, like pineapple on pizza. It’s like I’m doing something wrong.”

In the end, he admitted the drink was “not terrible,” while setting the nearly full glass down never to try another sip as it started to curdle.

The origin of the new holiday drink that’s sweeping the world on social media began when Lohan posted a video to TikTok in which she donned her steamy Santa outfit from “Mean Girls” to pour herself a pint of Pilk. She calls the dirty soda “naughty” and “nice.”

According to TODAY, although Pilk may seem like a new collaboration born of trying to insert another drink into the holiday “milk and cookies” conversation, dirty sodas have been around for a while. They’re a trendy non-alcoholic drink that was popularized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah, which combines dairy with flavored syrups and soda. The outlet notes that, although Pepsi is trying to make “Pilk” happen, it is mentioned in a press release that it is “traditionally” served with creamer instead of milk.

Tune into “Barmageddon” on Mondays at 11/10c on USA Network to see more drink concoctions.

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