The Drink Americans Can’t Quit

A young woman is at a diner with friends, being stared down by a waitress with frosted lipstick and no time to waste. What she wants is a soda—but for whatever reason, she can’t bring herself to have one. Same with the girl at the pool party, and the one at the drive-through, and the one sitting in what looks like a sorority house, and the guy at the convenience store. Their brows are furrowed, their mouths are pouty, their faces are twisted into ever-more over-the-top expressions of longing and ambivalence. Their friends are getting so annoyed with them. Eventually, the solution to a problem invented within the space of 40 seconds: “Stop spiraling! Get a Poppi!”

I’ve now watched this ad, which ran during this year’s Super Bowl, six times, and I still cannot say I fully understand it. Its premise is that people are somehow tortured, or embarrassed, by the idea of drinking soda—something that the president, Dua Lipa, and millions of Americans do regularly, seemingly without great turmoil. The solution, the ad argues, is Poppi, which is largely indistinguishable from soda, the very thing that was supposedly shameful in the first place: It’s a carbonated, sweetened, canned beverage, available in flavors including root beer, cherry cola, and grape—the type of drink that, despite years of anti-soda rhetoric and Poppi’s vision of collective psychosis, Americans simply cannot quit. In an interview, Neal Baer, a pediatrician who has taught a class called “Soda Politics” at Yale’s School of Public Health, was frank: “It’s old soda in new cans.”

This article discusses the Poppi soda commercial, particularly its airing during this year's Super Bowl. The ad is set up with a group of young people who show exaggerated struggles and conflicts when faced with regular soda. For example, at a diner, a pool party, or a convenience store, they seem to want soda but cannot bring themselves to decide, even causing their friends to become frustrated. Eventually, the ad offers the solution: "Stop spiraling! Drink Poppi!"

After watching the ad multiple times, the author still feels confused, because the message conveyed by the ad is that drinking soda somehow causes pain or shame, while in reality, figures like the President, singer Dua Lipa, and millions of Americans regularly drink soda without showing such psychological struggles. Poppi itself is also a carbonated drink, with flavors like root beer, cherry cola, and grape, which is essentially no different from regular soda. The article quotes Neal Baer, a pediatrician from Yale’s School of Public Health, who has taught a course called "Soda Politics." He candidly says, “It’s old soda in new cans.”

The article sarcastically points out the contradiction in the Poppi ad—it creates a non-existent anxiety and then offers its own product as the solution, which in reality doesn’t differ from the original product at all.

The Poppi ad, with its bizarre portrayal of people struggling to drink soda and its eventual “solution” being a product nearly identical to soda itself, is a fascinating commentary on modern consumer culture. At its core, the ad reflects a broader trend where consumer products are marketed not just as solutions to problems, but as fixes for emotional or psychological states that were either exaggerated or fabricated to begin with. In this case, the ad suggests that drinking soda, a ubiquitous and beloved beverage, is somehow a source of shame or anxiety, but only for a fleeting, whimsical moment before Poppi, a virtually identical product, is offered as the “right” choice.

One of the most interesting aspects of this ad is the irony embedded in the premise. Soda, in its many forms, has been a staple in American culture for over a century. It's part of the American identity—whether it's at a backyard barbecue, in a fast food restaurant, or at a movie theater, soda has been the go-to drink for generations. So, the idea that people are embarrassed or conflicted about drinking soda in the first place seems like an artificial narrative, created simply for the sake of selling a product. It’s as if the ad is tapping into the growing awareness around health and wellness, where people are more concerned about their choices than they once were, but it does so by exaggerating the very anxiety it purports to address.

The concept of “reframing” the same product—by adding a new name, a different can, and a health-oriented label—has been done countless times in marketing. In many ways, Poppi is just the latest example in a long line of products that present themselves as healthier or more refined versions of existing goods. The way the ad positions Poppi as a moral or psychological remedy to the “issue” of soda consumption speaks to a larger trend in modern marketing where brands not only sell a product, but also sell a lifestyle, a sense of belonging, or in this case, a mental and emotional reset.

The ad also taps into an emotional paradox. It makes viewers feel as though there is something wrong with their desire for soda, a beverage that most people love and consume frequently. But rather than presenting a genuine critique of soda's health effects, which are well-documented and often discussed, it creates a sense of vague, irrational guilt that only Poppi can solve. This approach manipulates the viewer’s emotions by introducing an exaggerated sense of discomfort, and then offering a quick, easy solution. In a sense, it’s a clever way to frame an old product in a way that taps into contemporary anxieties about health, wellness, and consumerism, without truly addressing the deeper issues at hand.

Furthermore, this ad subtly underscores how modern advertising often relies on creating and amplifying emotions in order to sell products. Instead of promoting a straightforward benefit of the product, like flavor or refreshment, the ad appeals to viewers’ sense of self-image and guilt. In a world where advertising saturates every aspect of our lives, this kind of manipulation is both unsettling and highly effective. The ad works by presenting an illusion of a problem, which then invites the audience to feel that they need a solution. And that solution is Poppi, which is, at its core, no different from the product it is supposedly solving the problem of.

In conclusion, the Poppi Super Bowl ad exemplifies how modern marketing often relies on creating psychological and emotional tension around products that, in their essence, are unremarkable. Instead of simply selling a soda, Poppi capitalizes on cultural anxieties and social trends, offering not just a drink, but an emotional escape. In this way, Poppi, like many consumer goods, becomes a symbol of something more than its actual function—it’s about identity, self-image, and finding an easy fix for complicated emotional states.