Topline
Pepsi tapped into a TikTok trend with a new campaign featuring actor Lindsay Lohan promoting “pilk,” or “dirty milk” an uncommon combination of soda and milk that’s been baffling consumers on TikTok in recent months — though its roots go back decades.
Pepsi launched a campaign featuring Lindsay Lohan for “pilk,” the combination of soda and milk.
Key Facts
Pepsi launched the Christmas-themed campaign on Thursday with the hashtag #PilkandCookies.
The ad features Lohan, who is working on a Hollywood comeback with her Netflix rom-com Falling for Christmas, in which the former child actor is making her first lead performance in nearly 10 years following legal trouble around multiple DUIs.
In a statement Thursday morning, Pepsi Chief Marketing Officer Todd Kaplan said the idea behind the ad campaign comes as a response to the “dirty soda” TikTok trend—a mix of milk and Pepsi repopularized last year by GenZ singer Olivia Rodrigo, who posted herself drinking the concoction.
The drink, however, is far from new—with Laverne on Laverne & Shirley drinking milk Coke as a comfort drink during the show’s run in the 1980s, and some restaurants and ice cream stands referring to the mix of Coke and vanilla ice cream as a “brown cow.”
Kaplan called the combination a longtime “secret hack among Pepsi fans,” saying the campaign is “a great way to unapologetically celebrate the holidays with a new and delicious way to enjoy Pepsi.”
Surprising Fact
In addition to “pilk and cookies,” Pepsi also introduced the “naughty & ice”—a mix of milk, heavy cream, vanilla creamer and Pepsi, as well as several other variations, including the “chocolate extreme,” the “cherry on top,” the “snow fl(oat)” and the “nutty cracker.”
KeyBackground
Pepsi is not the first major brand to capitalize on a social media trend. Last Year, Starbucks introduced the iced matcha latte with chai and the “pink drink remixed” (Starbucks’ strawberry-acai pink drink with vanilla cold foam)—two off-menu drinks popularized on social media—allowing customers to order the drink through a links on Facebook and Instagram. In September, Dunkin Donuts unveiled the “Charli,” a cold brew with three pumps of caramel swirl named after Gen Z TikTok star Charli D’Amelio.
Tangent
TikTok users have grown accustomed to finding trendy recipes and strange food challenges on the platform, although some of those challenges have been called out as dangerous, including the “NyQuil chicken” trend this summer, which prompted the Food and Drug Administration to issue a statement , warning it can harm people who eat it and “even cause death.” The viral Tide Pod challenge that dared people to consume laundry detergent also became viral, and led to a warning from the American Association of Poison Control Centers over concerns it could cause seizures and death.
Further Reading
Pepsi wants you to drink soda mixed with milk this holiday season (CNN)
Pepsi® Invites Fans to Join the Naughty List This Holiday Season With “Pilk” And Cookies – A New “Dirty Soda” Holiday Tradition (Yahoo Finance)