In My Footsteps: A Gen-X Nostalgia Podcast

Episode 171: A Crystal Pepsi Employee Training Video, Tupperware, More Weird Old Thanksgiving Recipes, Moby Dick(11-20-2024)

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A training video on how to sell Crystal Pepsi. The rise and fall of Tupperware. Some more weird old Thanksgiving recipes.
Episode 171 will stuff you full of nostalgia and even provide some leftovers.
It begins with the story of the rise and fall of the iconic brand Tupperware. For decades it has been synonymous with food storage. However today Tupperware is at a crossroads. Whether they survive or fade into the past we'll look at the impact of the brand this week.
One product that came in with an explosion and quickly faded away was Crystal Pepsi. Once hailed as the soda of the future it ended up becoming a punchline for failure. We go back to the beginning though as we review an employee training video about selling and marketing Crystal Pepsi. This video will make you think of what might have been in between loud laughter.
Hopefully, you will not see these foods on your table this year. A new Top 5 will showcase more weird old Thanksgiving recipes. These range from odd to unique to just plain gross. The first weird recipe countdown is in Episode 94.
There will also be a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule centered around the wreck of the Essex which inspired the classic novel Moby Dick.
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Speaker 01:

Hello, world, and welcome to the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund, coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and this is episode 171. Thanksgiving is coming up quick. I'll try to fill you up with as much nostalgia as I can, but if you need to take some home for leftovers, we'll start the show off talking about the history of Tupperware. We're going to go way, way back in the day and look at a hilariously dated employee training video about Crystal Pepsi. There'll be a brand new top five. This is part two of weird old Thanksgiving dishes. Hopefully none of you are eating these this year. And there'll be a brand new This Week in History and Time capsule centered around the wreck of the Essex that inspired the all-time classic book Moby Dick. All of that is coming up right now on episode 171 of the In My Footsteps podcast. Oh boy, are you ready to get stuffed with food? Thanksgiving is a week away from when this podcast goes live. Just a heads up, there won't be a new episode next week. Because of the fact that it's Thanksgiving week, I feel like even if I put out the greatest episode ever, it's going to be kind of lost in the void of everyone traveling. So that means you can use next week to catch up on the other 170 episodes of the podcast. or the webcam weekly wrap-up video podcast that I'll be recording right after I do this, so I'll be punch drunk by the end of it. Before we get into the actual podcast, I wanted to thank my Patreon subscribers, Laurie, Mary Lou, Ashley, Kevin, Marguerite, Leo, Neglectoid, Crystal. Thank you all so much for being my biggest supporters. And I hope you're enjoying all of the bonus content that's just for subscribers. $5 a month gets you access to bonus podcast episodes, early access to YouTube videos. I've got some more ideas for subscriber-only bonus content going into 2025, likely centered around my old live streams I did for the podcast probably like three years ago. And also, I don't know when this will go up, but I've been saving outtakes from the webcam weekly wrap-up. Just stupid stuff of me that I didn't want to put on the actual video. So at some point, probably the beginning of next year, just for Patreon subscribers, I'll put up an outtakes video. Just embarrassment for me. Wherever you are, I hope that you're having a great day, a great week. I hope Thanksgiving will be the best it can be for you. I've got more housekeeping stuff to get into, but that'll be at the end of the podcast, including a new Cape Cod centric podcast that I have recently become acquainted with. So for those of you that really loved my Cape Cod centric content that I did for the first few years of this show, I've got something for you at the end. So stick around for that. But before we get to the end, we've got to actually start. Even though millions of us will be eating to excess next week, there's always room for leftovers. And many of us will be taking those leftovers home in Tupperware containers. But will Tupperware survive another year? Let's kick off episode 171 with the story of Tupperware. The rise, the falls, the parties, all that great stuff, starting now. There are some brand names that are more synonymous with the product than the product itself. Names like Band-Aid, Kleenex. You know what they are, what they sell. Back in episode 84 of the podcast, I did a segment about brand names more famous than the product. And one of those brand names that can't be denied that's more famous than the product itself is Tupperware. In September 2024, the Tupperware company filed for bankruptcy after years of financial troubles, lower sales. And only a few days ago from when I'm recording this podcast, Tupperware was closing its headquarters, laying off more than 100 employees as their bankruptcy case winds down. Maybe they survive, maybe they don't. For those my age and older, we remember how big of a deal Tupperware was. That name was everywhere. It was and to an extent still is synonymous with food storage in American homes, but it's more than just a brand. Like I said, it's an enduring icon. Tupperware is more famous than the food storage products it sells. And with its looming troubles with the bankruptcy and possible closure, as well as Thanksgiving coming up, it was only appropriate to talk about the history of Tupperware. It all started with a man named Earl Tupper, so Tupperware is named for its inventor. He was an innovative chemist who wanted to revolutionize food storage. He was born in 1907 in New Hampshire, so he's connected to New England. Tupper worked various jobs before joining the DuPont company during World War II. That's where he began experimenting with plastics. Using polyethylene slag, which was a byproduct of oil refining, Tupper discovered a way to create a flexible, durable, and odorless plastic. We'll stop for a second there. Those of you that are familiar with Tupperware or grew up with it whenever you did 70s, 80s, 90s, was it really odorless plastic? I always remember Tupperware having this distinctive scent inside. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I have a crazy nose. But I could swear that Tupperware had a scent. Anyway, back into the history of it. Tupper's experiments led to the creation of the first Tupperware bowl in 1946. It was a translucent, sealable container that kept food fresh longer than anything on the market. One of the most ingenious innovations of the Tupperware was the airtight burp seal lid, which was inspired by the lid of a paint can, creating an airtight, watertight seal when pressed down. And again, those of us that grew up with Tupperware, that burp noise or the little pop when you knew you sealed stuff in. Did any of you ever seal things in a Tupperware container and be so happy with yourself that you would flip it upside down and do the test to see if the top was actually all the way on? I might have done that a few times. I can't say whether or not I spilled anything. I think my burp lid closing technique was pretty good. So unlike glass or ceramic, Tupperware was unbreakable and far lighter than This appealed to homemakers who needed practical, efficient kitchen solutions. Only a few years later, in 1951, Tupperware became a household name. It was here with the rise of television and commercials that Tupperware became a cultural phenomenon in post-World War II America. What was probably what it was most well-known for was the Tupperware Parties. This was where someone would host a party at their house, and it was a direct sales approach. Old school social networking. These would be regular people. I don't know how much of a commission people would get on the Tupperware products they sold at these parties, but it obviously was worthwhile because they were a big deal in the 50s, 60s, 70s. Those of you that are younger, hearing me say that, that people would go to a quote-unquote party to study and learn about food storage containers, it sounds like it's just the most boring thing ever, and it probably was in retrospect, but back then it was a huge deal. The only thing I can compare Tupperware parties to, it's kind of like the Avon sales lady that used to show up Going door to door, selling Avon beauty products. Did they used to have Avon parties? Would you go? And I have no idea. I just remember even in the 1980s, the Avon lady coming to my house. And Tupperware was similar, but the parties going to the actual Tupperware parties, like I said, it was a cultural phenomenon, helping to empower women with a unique business opportunity. As the 1950s and 60s wore on, Tupperware firmly established itself as an American household staple. Colorful, stackable containers with airtight seals. It embodied post-war America's desire for convenience and modern practicality. And Tupperware allowed for homemakers to preserve food longer and eliminate waste. This is the rise of leftovers. So it was good and bad. If you were a kid growing up then, the dinner you had yesterday, two days ago, three days ago might come back to life like a horror movie villain. So you'd be looking in the fridge and you'd see the Tupperware containers still in there, hoping that they'd be thrown out so if you didn't like whatever it was saved in there, you knew you wouldn't have to have it again. Tupperware's appeal extended into being a style statement with vibrant colors, sleek design, and a huge catalog of product lines catered to the burgeoning consumer culture of America. You could express yourself through your food storage products. Why get a new hairstyle or new clothes or hit the gym when you can get different colored Tupperware products and say, this is who I am. I'm assuming to become a Tupperware lady going door to door trying to sell the products that you just had to reach out or through your social network in the 60s, 70s, 80s. Were any of you out there Tupperware ladies, Tupperware salespeople? Did any of you have one of these people come to your house? Throughout its history, Tupperware released a series of popular and recognizable products. I'll go over a few, naming names. Some of you might recognize them by name. I'll have to describe them for those of you like me that didn't know what they looked like. The Tupperware Wunderlier Bowl was introduced in the late 40s. It was round, stackable, had the burping seal. This is the flagship product of the company. This would probably be the product that most of you are familiar with and probably the product that got most imitated. There was the Servalier collection launched in the 1960s that introduced a new seal mechanism with a push-button design. These have the cool little ripply lid with the dot in the middle. It's definitely a test of my descriptive abilities to try to describe Tupperware containers for you to picture in your head. There were FridgeSmart containers that were designed to extend the life of produce. These had vents and sometimes had little pictures of fruits and veggies on the side in case you couldn't see through the clear container what was in there. The one that I remember most growing up were the modular mates. These were launched in the 80s. They were stackable storage containers for pantry organization. I remember these because this was what all of our cereals were put into at home when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. You'd get home with the box of Cocoa Puffs or Corn Pops or whatever, open the box, dump it into the modular mate, burp the seal shut, and put it in the cabinet. There were tons of different sizes. You could put salt, sugar, anything like that. Obviously, you know, anything in the kitchen you could put into Tupperware containers. But the modular mates were the ones I remember. I can see in my head and I can hear it popping the little round top to pour cereal out. Obviously, based on how I started this segment, you know there's a decline coming. Recent decades shifting consumer habits, competition, and changing demographics, it's led to a sharp decrease in sales. Not to get too numbery on you, but I found a chart from Statista.com of Tupperware's overall sales numbers. In 2013, Tupperware, the corporation, made $2.67 billion. In 2022, that number dropped to $1.3 billion. That's the most recent data that I could find. But that's half the profits. I mentioned the imitators of Tupperware. That's the thing, the rise of other food storage brands, the influx of cheaper disposable alternatives, that created competition. Companies like Rubbermaid, Snapmate, Pyrex, these have all jumped in to take a bite out of the market. And as I started this off, I said that Tupperware is just about ending its bankruptcy case. It's getting set to lay off more than 100 employees. So I don't know if they're going to make it through next year. But despite the recent struggles, the legacy of Tupperware is strong. It's a slice of Americana back to the 50s, 60s, even when I grew up in the 80s. The Tupperware parties are still talked about. Some good, some bad. Tupperware ladies, Avon, Mary Kay. It was one of those direct sales businesses. For me, it's one of those small bits of nostalgia from my childhood that only when I think about it do memories start flooding back. Like the Modular Mates and the cereals just throws me back to the 80s. But what are your thoughts about Tupperware? Do you think they survive? Do you use Tupperware or do you use one of the imitator brands? As far as it goes for the future with Tupperware, we'll have to wait and see. This week in history, we are going back 204 years to November 20th, 1820, and the wreck of the ship known as the Essex, which led to the all-time classic book Moby Dick. The book Moby Dick was a staple of schools required reading in the 80s and 90s. But did you know it was inspired by a true story? The ship known as the Essex was a sturdy ship out of Nantucket, Massachusetts. So not far from where I'm sitting right now. The ship had a reputation as an experienced and capable vessel in the whaling industry. It was in August 1819 that Captain George Pollard Jr., first mate Owen Chase, and a crew of 20 set out from Nantucket on a two-year whaling expedition. The first year of the expedition was fairly routine, but on November 20, 1820, the Essex encountered a large pod of sperm whales about 1,200 nautical miles west of the coast of South America. During the pursuit of the sperm whales, an enormous bull sperm whale, estimated to be 85 feet long and weighing around 80 tons, surfaced near the ship. And in an extraordinary and terrifying turn of events, the whale charged the Essex twice, ramming its head into the hull and causing catastrophic damage. Within hours, the vessel sank. leaving the crew stranded in the vast Pacific Ocean with three small whale boats, limited provisions, and an uncertain fate. The crew of the Essex was forced to make life-or-death decisions in the days and weeks that followed. Choosing to avoid the nearest islands for fear of cannibalistic tribes, they opted to make for South America more than a thousand miles away, navigating by the stars and battling the elements. After their meager provisions dwindled, the men faced the horrors of dehydration, starvation, and eventually cannibalism. After months at sea, only eight survivors were rescued, including Captain Pollard and first mate Chase. The story of the sinking of the Essex and the subsequent struggle for survival shocked and horrified the public. It was Owen Chase, whose 1821 memoir, Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale Ship Essex, which is a really long title, but that book gained attention, describing in stark detail the sinking of the ship and the crew's struggle for survival. Eventually, this book fell into the hands of young aspiring writer and former sailor Herman Melville in 1841 and When he heard the story directly from Chase's son during a conversation, the book fascinated Melville and sparked ideas that would later take shape in his most famous novel, Moby Dick. Now, as I said, Moby Dick is based on a true story. It doesn't recount the Essex incident in exact detail, but uses it as a springboard to explore broader themes. Published in 1851, the novel tells the story of Captain Ahab and his obsessive, destructive pursuit of the white whale Moby Dick, who had previously injured him. What's crazy is at the time that it was released, Moby Dick barely sold over 4,000 copies. It would take decades for the book to be recognized as one of the most important works of literature. I know that I use the term white whale for something that I'm pursuing. I don't know if any of you others do that. I've heard it so many times. Certain things I want to see or do or places to go, that's my white whale. And that comes from Moby Dick. The true story of the Essex remains one of the most captivating and haunting in maritime history. It's a cautionary tale about the dangers of human hubris in the face of the natural world's unpredictable forces. And that sinking of the Essex that inspired the all-time classic book Moby Dick occurred 204 years ago this week in history. Whoa, here we go. We've got a whale of a time capsule. We're going back 59 years ago this week to November 20th, 1965. Let's see what was going on in the world of pop culture back then. The number one song was I Hear a Symphony by The Supremes. This song was from the album I Hear a Symphony, and it spent two weeks at number one, and it was the sixth number one song at the time for The Supremes. All in all, The Supremes would have 12 number one songs on the Billboard Hot 100, and their albums have sold over 100 million copies. The number one movie was King Rat. and you could get into the theater with a ticket costing $1.01. King Rat is a war film based during World War II about prisoners of war in a camp in Singapore. It starred George Segal and James Fox. I couldn't find box office numbers for King Rat. Obviously, it went to number one, and it has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so that must stand for something. The number one TV show was Bonanza, the Western show that I've talked about many times when the time capsules fall in the 60s. The show was on for 14 seasons and 432 total episodes between 1959 and 1973. The show was about the wealthy Cartwright family that lived near Virginia City, Nevada. It was the second longest running Western TV show ever behind only Gunsmoke. which had 635 episodes. And if you were around back then, November 20th, 1965, maybe you're looking for some music to play for your guests for the holidays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas coming up. Well, oh boy, do I have a deal for you. Thanks to the Jordan Marsh Company, you get your choice of 10 full-length vinyl albums in one of three different sets of 10. There's one called Treasure Chest of Music for the Entire Family. These are all classical albums. John Philip Sousa, Johann Sebastian Bach. Although they do have an album of Ray Charles in there. There's a grouping called Concert Favorites, Best Known Light Classics. More classical music. Tchaikovsky, Nutcracker Suite, George Gershwin. The third collection is called Romance of the Sound of Significance. These have albums like Symphony for Lovers, Favorites of Yesteryear, Wide Open Spaces. Choose your 10-album collection for $7.98. Or if you feel you don't have enough classical symphony music, you can get all three sets. 30 albums in total for $19.95. But you've got to order them through the mail, through Jordan Marsh. Send your check or money order in, and there'll be free delivery anywhere in New England. And that'll wrap up another Time Capsule, another This Week in History. Thanksgiving is coming up. A lot of classic foods, comfort foods, staples of the holiday. And then there are more of these weird old Thanksgiving dishes coming up right now. Two years ago in episode 94 of the podcast, I talked about some weird old Thanksgiving recipes that I had found in different vintage magazines or doing research in online newspaper archives. There were a lot of just head-scratching things that were made for Thanksgiving in the 40s, 50s, 60s. So after this segment, go check that one out because there's more on there. I wanted to make sure I didn't accidentally cross-pollinate and just talk about all the same ones again. So this research took a little bit longer, but I was able to find more weird old Thanksgiving dishes, and we're going to go through a top five here. The top five's in no particular order, and there are a couple of honorable mentions as well. Now I can say up front I've never had any of these foods, so I can't say for sure if they're not good, but I will say based on the descriptions I wouldn't try any of them. So let's get into the actual honorable mentions. The first honorable mention is something called suet pudding. This is still made now. It's a boiled, steamed, or baked pudding, and the more modern versions, the sweet versions, seem really good. For me, it was the more savory ones, so meat in it that just seemed like it would be kind of nasty, at least texture-wise. Another honorable mention is Cranberry Surprise. These were like cranberry gelatins in little molds, but the surprise was the mixture of mayonnaise in it, just mayonnaise and cranberry sauce, gelatin. The third honorable mention is is one you could probably get today still, and that is the Jones Company's Turkey Soda. Jones Soda does some weird ones, and they've done weird ones around Thanksgiving, including turkey, turkey and gravy, Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes and butter, dinner roll. These are all flavors of soda. I'd say try at your own risk. So those were the honorable mentions. Now let's get into the actual top five. So the sequel, more weird old Thanksgiving dishes top five. Let's start with number one, ham and banana casserole. This could be with ham and bananas diced and heated up. I'm sure you could make it good. The pictures I saw, the vintage ones from the 60s, it's whole bananas wrapped in slices of ham and drizzled with what I think is hollandaise sauce. which is just thick and egg and butter. Or I guess you could use mustard to make the same effect. But what you would do is wrap these bananas in the ham and put whatever sauce over it and then bake it. To me, bananas and ham and cheese sauce or hollandaise sauce or mustard being baked, I just don't see that ever being appealing. You can still find the recipe for this on the internet today. Typically on a list, much like I'm doing now, of the weirdest Thanksgiving recipes. So try it at your own risk. And no, I don't want any of the leftovers in a Tupperware container. But we go from ham and bananas to something just as delicious, and that's number two, bologna cake. This cake is layers of sliced bologna, And in between the slices, there's a mixture with cream cheese, onions. It could be ranch flavoring. Legend has it that this dish in the mid-20th century was created as kind of a joke, and then people liked it. It was popular in the southern United States. And in the pictures, if you see it when it's sliced, it looks like a regular cake. So just imagine thinking you're getting a nice piece of sweet cake and it's bologna and ranch. I know there's loads of people that love bologna. I think being forced to have it as a kid sometimes for lunch made me not want to have it as an adult. Number three is something known as water pie. Water pie became popular during the Great Depression because you could use simple cheap items to make something that could be used as a dessert. Typically water, flour, sugar, butter. And this would make kind of a translucent custard that you could put in a pie crust. During COVID, this actually made a comeback with even some people on TikTok using Sprite instead of water to make this water pie. That sounds like one that maybe some of you out there have tried, mostly because of the recent comeback it made during COVID. Number four is Spam Birds. This dates back to World War II and spam, you know what spam is, right? It's a very salty meat product. So I think this recipe comes down to if you like spam. I don't hate it. I also haven't had it in a long time. But if you don't like spam, you won't like these. But there's old vintage recipes from the Hormel company. What you do is take thin slices of spam, cook it, and then kind of roll it up and fill it with stuffing. Shove a couple toothpicks through it so it won't just flop open. In the specific advertisement I found for Spam Birds, it says you need to serve it with peas and candied sweet potatoes. This ad's from 1944, so it's also at the bottom a disclaimer that if your grocery store is out of spam, don't be upset because the U.S. government buys a ton of it to send to the boys overseas. So if you like spam, you'll probably like Spam Birds. If you don't, you won't. So there you go with that one. And last but not least on the top five weird old Thanksgiving dishes part two is aspic. This is something that's still around. This is something I became familiar with when I worked in retirement homes as a cook a few years ago. We'd make something called tomato aspic. Think of it as kind of like vegetable jello. So that comes back to, again, the suet pudding in the honorable mentions. If you like the more savory, then you might enjoy this. Me with Jell-O, it's got to be sweet. I don't want chunks of vegetables in it and tomato juice as part of the flavoring. I know in the retirement home where I worked that when we made this tomato aspic, you would dice up vegetables, cook them off at least most of the way, put them in kind of a two-inch hotel pan. Cover that with the heated gelatin mixture with whatever vegetable stock or flavor was in it. Put it all together. Wrap it, but leave a corner of the film off. And then put it in the walk-in fridge and let it cool down and then slice and serve. This was big in the 40s, 50s, 60s. And that's the irony is now those that were young then that were in the retirement home, they grew up with it. So they loved tomato aspic. I would say if you're into odd recipes or vegetable-flavored Jell-O, or you just want to ruin Thanksgiving for people, make this and bring it and tell everyone, I made Jell-O, and then they look, it's chunks of veggies in it. Get out. So those are the top five weird old Thanksgiving dishes, part two. Have you tried any of these? Have you even heard of any of these? If any of you try to make these for Thanksgiving, let me know how they go over with your family. Sorry, we don't have turkey this year. We've got ham and banana casserole and tomato aspic and bologna cake. Oh boy, this is going to combine so many things that I enjoy. Reviewing a funny employee training video from the 90s, but also a giant slice of nostalgia and failure as it's going to be an employee training video about Crystal Pepsi. This is very much a snapshot in time, especially when you consider Crystal Pepsi only lasted a couple of years in the early 1990s. And what we're going to do now is we are going to watch and review this Crystal Pepsi employee training video, complete with lots of clips, of course. Oh man, this is going to be so much fun. The video's about 16 and a half minutes long. You can easily find it on YouTube. This particular video is from 1992 because of course it was because Crystal Pepsi wasn't out that long. And boy, does it start with some super hyped classic 90s music.

Speaker 04:

It would be nice to look into the future with a crystal ball.

Speaker 01:

And after that cheeseball music, it starts with the Pepsi narrator talking about seeing into the future because he thought Crystal Pepsi was the wave of the future. The narrator gives all the reasons why they invented Crystal Pepsi to kind of be ahead of the changing soft drink market. I will tell you within a few minutes of this video, I had already had my fill of early 90s Casio keyboard music. It was like all the different types of song beats that came with your Casio keyboard you'd get in the early 90s. The Crystal Pepsi people just used that. The narrator here says Crystal Pepsi is sweeping the nation. It made good money in its first year of existence, so it came out in the winter of 1992. In the first year, Crystal Pepsi made $474 million, but that was only 1% of the soft drink market. I had to laugh when the narrator said that Crystal Pepsi builds on the reputation and the brand of Pepsi. And then you flash forward to the articles that would come out years later about this being the biggest flop in the history of soda. They say it took 18 months and more than 3,000 varieties to get the Crystal Pepsi recipe right. It's meant to be even more refreshing and light, and they brag about the packaging, which was unique because it's a clear soda. And remember, this is for employees, so naturally Pepsi is hyping up how great they are. But the Crystal Pepsi launch, it was right now by Van Halen, was the song. And it really was hyped as this biggest thing ever in soda. So the Pepsi narrator is just saying to employees what was said to all of us consumers 30 years ago. And after the narrator repeatedly talks about how it's new and refreshing and different, they have different people that I'm sure they must be Pepsi employees. The first one's got a Pepsi hat on. talking about why they like Crystal Pepsi, probably reading it off cue cards with a guy shaking his fist like you better or else you'll get fired. Crystal Pepsi tastes to me like a more subtle cola. I think that's the best way to say it. It doesn't taste

Speaker 05:

like any other clear drinks

Speaker 06:

that I've tasted. It's got a different taste.

Speaker 00:

I think the idea that it's not caramel colored and it's clear makes it seem like it's a lighter drink.

Speaker 01:

The narrator then moves on to the packaging of Crystal Pepsi, saying it's as pleasing as the drink itself. It was cool. The cans were cool-looking, red, white, and blue, and silver. And while I was watching this, I do remember that Crystal Pepsi used to come in glass bottles, too. I think that's how I used to get it. They had regular and diet, and they were caffeine-free, which I think was a reason why I didn't drink it much. Every time I do these employee training videos, I have to laugh at some of the lingo here. Just so cheesy. Like saying the goal of Crystal Pepsi is crystal clear. To change the beverage industry. The 2020 hindsight of how Crystal Pepsi turned out really makes this video fun to watch. One of the highlights is showing, they show customers grabbing it in the stores. And there's one guy that comes to grab a two liter bottle and he's got this yellow headband, a mustache and this neon colored windbreaker that's red, blue and kind of a blue green. It's like they said, let's find the most quintessential 90s looking person and just shove them in this video. They go on to say that Crystal Pepsi has exceeded expectations on the rollout here. So this goes back to, I don't know how long after the launch of Crystal Pepsi this video came out, because all the talking heads are raving about how they can't keep it on shelves, but within a couple years it's gone. So it's like, did they make this video two weeks after it was released? Because it didn't take long for it to flame out.

Speaker 04:

Crystal has generated the kind of following that guarantees that it will be around for a long time. We've captured new opportunities. We're doing it without cutting into our sales of the core four. In our test markets, we've seen Crystal build overall market sales.

Speaker 01:

They're literally bragging about how it's going to be around for a long time. And this is spliced over a Pepsi delivery guy that's got the tightest shirt with short sleeves and short tight shorts because he's built pretty well, but he's got suspenders on, another very 90s look. Then they get into convincing the distributors to buy Crystal Pepsi, what you would have to say to them. explaining how much money they'll make and how it'll be around forever until 1994. They talk about showing the consumers the features and benefits of Crystal Pepsi. It's like, features? Are you buying a bottle of soda or a new car? The feature is its liquid. There you go. The narrator really hammers home the innovation of Crystal Pepsi. But I guess if they've got employees watching this and getting ready to go try to sell it or deliver it, I guess you want them as hyped up as they could be. But it's definitely over the top in this video. They've even got a Crystal Pepsi song in this where the people sing Crystal with the different displays, logo, and of course more of that sweet Casio keyboard music.

Speaker 07:

Crystal is perfectly clear Then

Speaker 01:

we get into almost what must be considered a part two of this video, and it's the consumer asking questions of Pepsi representatives about Crystal Pepsi. And this is set with people standing in front of what must have been a green screen, and there's just this colored pencil drawing of what would be soda fridges. They introduce each of these segments, these questions, and they have whoever is the potential buyer ask the question. Then it flashes up. It says stop tape. So I don't know if this would have been where they pause it and ask employees that are watching it what they think what the answer should be. I just can't stop laughing at the pencil drawings behind these people. There's one where it's just rows and rows that just say Pepsi with a drawing of a can, but it looks like something a 12-year-old would have done. And the questions are simple. Who's drinking Crystal Pepsi? How do you merchandise it, market it? Another thing they harp on on this video is the repeat business for Crystal Pepsi. They have one actor slash employee saying that their test results showed that 50% of the people that tried Crystal Pepsi came back to try it again. How

Speaker 05:

will Crystal Pepsi help increase sales in my store?

Speaker 03:

One of the nice things about Crystal Pepsi is that it has a unique flavor. What we found in our test markets was that 50% of the people who tried Crystal Pepsi came back to those same stores to buy it again. This repeat traffic means increased volume. But the

Speaker 01:

thing is, it's already half the people don't drink it again. And maybe those other half, they were like, well, let me just make sure it's not good. When you watch this video and you see all the talking heads about repeat business and changing the market and changing the world of soda, it's amazing to think of how quickly this must have gone downhill. Because I can only remember maybe two years that Crystal Pepsi was in stores I went to. And then it was just gone. And in my memories of it, I think I had it a few times. Not enough for me to not drink my Mountain Dew instead. They go through six different questions where the employees will answer why these distributors, stores should buy Crystal Pepsi. Then we get into the next section, tackling objections, how to deal with the ones that don't want it. You get one store manager that's mad, saying if he puts Crystal Pepsi's display out, he won't have a display for another soft drink. And they make it seem like Crystal Pepsi is drawing in hundreds of extra people into these stores, saying the foot traffic will lead to extra profits. Granted, it was everywhere on TV and in commercials when it came out. But did you know many people that made specific trips to a store just to get Crystal Pepsi? Maybe once. And then after that, it was like, okay, this is not changing the world like it says, like Van Halen promised. Another store manager says, okay, I'll put in the Crystal Pepsi, but I'm going to do it in place of the regular Pepsi display. And naturally, the employee's response is, whoa, whoa. Do both. Have Crystal Pepsi and regular Pepsi. So in other words, to make room, get rid of probably the Coke display. There's a question about a cold barrel, which was the extra, you know, loose cans or bottles of Crystal Pepsi and a little cold display by the cash registers.

Speaker 02:

I'll go along with your entire proposal. Except that thing about the cold barrel. I really don't have any room for it.

Speaker 03:

I might have brief memories of

Speaker 01:

this, where the barrel was the shape of the Crystal Pepsi can, you know, with the logo on it and such. That's where if you get people stuck in line at the supermarket, there's that barrel or whatever other sweets and chips that's like right there or tabloid magazines. When a guy talks about not wanting to put this cold barrel in his deli, the employee that answers, I don't know if he's on something, he's very wiggly kind of as he responds. Like he must have been nervous reading it off the cue cards and he's got a very 90s part in the middle haircut. And as we get to the end, the final tackling objections question is very prophetic. As the man says, times are tough and he doesn't think Crystal Pepsi will sell in his store. The times are tough thing that could change, but the I don't think it'll sell in my store. Boy, that sounds good. 30 years later, looking back at what a fail this was. As the video wraps up, they talk about Crystal Pepsi having a 2% market share for soft drinks. And if you remember a few minutes ago, I said during their first year, they had a 1% market share. So that means right there from the time they did this video to the end of their first calendar year, they were in business. Crystal Pepsi's profits dropped 50%. After the last objection, the video just ends. It fades to black. At the halfway point of the video, when it switches from the super Casio keyboard love fest of Crystal Pepsi, it's to the questions and objections. It says that this was created by IdeaWorks, which is from Boston. And this was obviously produced for the Pepsi Corporation. Applied Training and Communication was the department, I guess, that was supposed to be watching this. But that's the 1992 Crystal Pepsi sales and marketing video. It is amazing to watch this having grown up back then and knowing how the story turns out for Crystal Pepsi. Just to see how over-the-top optimistic they were about this brand. It was quickly parodied when Saturday Night Live did the Crystal Gravy commercial. As a kind of side note to the demise of Crystal Pepsi, around this same time, Coca-Cola had their revenge with Tab Clear. Same exact idea, clear version of a soda that people knew. I don't remember seeing Tab Clear, but it came out in December 1992, much like Crystal Pepsi. I'm not sure who was first, but clear drinks, these clear sodas really weren't popular. And I don't know if Tab Clear was created to kind of torpedo Crystal Pepsi, because both of these drinks were basically discontinued around the same time, roughly by the end of 1994. But it does have a cult following. In the early 2010s, there was a grassroots campaign to bring back Crystal Pepsi. And this led to the brief relaunch in 2016. And yes, I did buy it and have it. I have a photo. It's a bottle of Crystal Pepsi and the vinyl copy of Nirvana's Nevermind album to complete my 90s playset. There was also a game, the Crystal Pepsi Trail, that's an offshoot of the Oregon Trail game. I'm looking around trying to find a way to play this game. I've seen... Gameplay from others. I've seen screenshots of the game where you drive along a road and you've got to collect 90s items. So it's like the Oregon Trail. If I find it, I'll let you know and link to it in the podcast. But otherwise, I'm linking to the Crystal Pepsi employee training video so you can watch it in all its glory. And maybe you can go buy a bottle of Crystal Pepsi off of eBay and drink it and puke. I've seen videos of that. Don't do that. Just watch the video. But until next time, that's going to wrap up episode 171 of the In My Footsteps podcast. Again, reminder, there'll be no new episode next week. It's the week of Thanksgiving. So I'm serving you up leftover episodes. Get caught up on the other 170 episodes. In two weeks time, I'll be back. It'll be December holiday season. And just in time for the holiday shopping, we'll talk about the rise of home shopping in the 1980s. We'll also talk about some of the most hated video games ever made. So that's in two weeks, but there's so much content I put together. Besides these podcasts, I've got the webcam weekly wrap up on YouTube. I have tons of YouTube videos, usually three a week go up, which now that I look at it, I'm like, wow, that's a lot of work. Granted, one is the video version of this podcast, which is just me talking and a place card, digital art of the episode. But I've also got blogs. I'm starting to go back and share some old poetry I wrote in the late 90s, early 2000s, when I was having a quarter-life crisis instead of a middle-age crisis story. I've also got the Initial Impressions 2.0 blog, which is the text version of the webcam weekly wrap-up. So if you'd rather imagine my voice reading you the article or see me and pictures and videos, it's your choice. In my transition of the podcast over to Gen X nostalgia, complete with a new tagline and logo this month... I left behind my Cape Cod-centric, New England-centric history, and I know there are some of you that really enjoyed that content. As I teased at the beginning of the episode, there is a great successor to my Cape Cod history, segments, podcasts. It's called Cape Cod 1929, and it's all about the history of the Cape. Sharon and Dorothy talk about the Roaring Twenties, speakeasies, flappers. Bathtub Gin, The New Jazz, Rum Runners, Ford Flivers, Prohibition, Bootleggers, and more. There's so much rich history of the Cape, and this segment is only a part of that story. Times were changing rapidly. Cape Cod was emerging as the place to be. The Cape was coming alive and living it up. So join them as they travel back in time to that notorious era in our history. The idea for the podcast came from Sharon Anderson's book, The History of Hyannis Airport, 1928 to 1948. You can get that on Amazon.com. And I am linking to Cape Cod 1929 in the description of the podcast. Those of you that loved my Cape Cod history segments on this show will love Cape Cod 1929. So go and check that out. I want to take a minute to wish a happy birthday to my sister, Kate. Some years her birthday falls on Thanksgiving. This is not one of those years. I hope your birthday is amazing. And then, of course, coming up next week is Thanksgiving. I hope all of you out there get to spend it with family, loved ones, friends, and obviously loads of food. It's hard to predict what you're going to get for weather on Thanksgiving. I can remember one year having snow on Cape Cod. having to help my uncle push my Nina and grandpa's car as they were trying to get in the driveway. I was probably 11 years old then. But even though situations change, the guest list changes, the location changes, I am always so grateful for the family and friends that I do have, whether we're all together on Thanksgiving or only some of us, The day itself brings back so many positive memories of my life. Those loud, raucous holidays when I was a kid. Years later, meeting up as adults. Or even having times that it was Friendsgiving, going out to a restaurant. Because some restaurants are open on Thanksgiving. The older I get, the more I am thankful for what I do have now. Because you start to realize that nothing lasts forever. And as you do start to lose people and things and situations, the more you want to grab hold tightly of what you still have. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Like I said, I'll be back in two weeks with a new show, ramping up for the Christmas season. But until then, remember, in this life, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. Create your own path and enjoy every moment you can on this journey we call life because you never know what tomorrow brings. This has been the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund. You already knew that. And I'll talk to you all again soon.

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Christopher Setterlund

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