Authenticity

A quick visit to the grocery store today led to an encounter with "Mountain Dew Throwback." Having been pulled in by its nifty Old School packaging and charming cartoon hillbilly, I first presumed it was just a special edition bottle, but then, reading on:

MADE WITH REAL SUGAR

At first, it struck me as odd that the Pepsi people would think that advertising the use of a proper ingredient in this particular bottle of Mountain Dew was a good idea, as that leads to the invariable conclusion that regular old MD is sweetened with something other than sugar! Holy hell! What have I been washing my All Nighter Cheeseburger Doritos down with?!?

But no, the average Mountain Dew drinker is not the target market here. I've never met one who knew what high fructose corn syrup was or, if he did, cared. This product is attempting to cash in our societal desire for authenticity, an impulse driven by the redoubtable Hipster and his fetishization of the authentic. The Executive VP at Pepsi that spearheaded the Throwback line (there's Throwback Pepsi, too) was obviously dreaming of taking Williamsburg by storm with this. It's got something for the foodies (real sugar!), something retro (a cartoon moonshiner!) and something ironic (viz, anyone cool drinking carbonated beverages less than 5.5% ABV, pop least of all). While I doubt that the Hipsters picked up on it, societally we're certainly all reaching for what this humble can of pop represents: a world where we can trust what we see with our eyes, hold in our hands and put in our bodies.

We live in a consumer economy, we all create our personalities to some extent through what we consume. This reality has always been good for the corporate world, which is always more than happy to sell us new distinguishing characteristics. Here is a process that has been going on for so long that we've come full circle: we want something real and we're getting it again, but only for a limited time!

Thanks Pepsi!