During the 'Cola Wars' in the 80's, Coke and Pepsi were embroiled in a war for soda supremacy. Coincidentally, Space Invaders was immensely popular at the time due to its recent release on the even more popular Atari 2600. Just before a 1983 sales convention, the advertising executives at Coke saw an opportunity to get one up on their rival. Coke decided to commission their own Space Invaders game called 'Pepsi Invaders'. The basic game mechanics were identical to Space Invaders, except that the alien invaders were replaced entirely by letters spelling out 'Pepsi'. When the game is won, a giant 'Coke Wins' slogan was plastered all over the screen. Can't imagine what Coke is trying to say to Pepsi here. Only 125 copies were produced and none were actually sold, presumably to prevent Pepsi from suing Coke to oblivion. Instead, Coke bundled the game with a free Atari 2600 and handed them all out to sales executives at the 1983 convention in an attempt to sway the war. Coke really killed two birds with one stone here. Not only did they receive some considerable exposure, but they also got to give their main rivals the finger whilst doing it. As for the game cartridges? They've all since become collector's items due to their rarity and their unique place in video game advertising history.
My life story is nothing special. I haven't cured ebola, I'm nowhere near stopping terrorism, and I'm still working on that climate change problem.
Instead, all I've done so far is put a few hundred words together in an attempt to make people laugh.
You can follow me at @Fry_ying_pan but don't be offended if I don't tweet back. It's usually because I've spent too long trying to think up a witty response that the reply window has closed.
