18. Pepsi Was The First Widely-Available American Product To Be Sold In The USSR
During the height of the Cold War, Pepsi managed to break into the Soviet market - despite no other American consumer product having done so before this fizzy drink. In 1972, the PepsiCo struck an agreement with the government of the USSR allowing them to sell their product in the Soviet Union - as long as they would market and distribute the Moscow-distilled vodka Stolichnaya in the West.
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As a result, Pepsi became the first American consumer product to crack the Soviet market - and, until the break-up of the USSR in the 1990s, it was the largest fizzy-drink brand in the world.