Is Pepsi Trying To Grab Obama's Message?

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- Who would have thought? A major U.S. corporation seems to be doing it's best to lash its soda can to the most famous guy in the world.

Pepsi is running ads on air, on the internet, and on Metrobuses that seem to take advantage of the curious similarities between Pepsi's longtime circle and red, white and blue logo, and the Obama campaign's colorful capital O.

The bus ads resonate with the touch words of the President-elect: "Together," and "Optimism," and "Choose Change," with the Os flashing a kind of reformulated Pepsi logo that looks even more like Obama's.

Play the ads for folks on the street, and nearly everyone thinks "Obama." Plenty of people think Pepsi is trying to squeeze a buck out of Mr. Obama's popularity, particularly with young people.

But Bob Garfield isn't buying it. The editor at large with Advertising Age and anchor on the NPR distributed radio show "On The Media" says Pepsi wants to sell carbonated sugar water the Republicans, Democrats, and even "Nazi skinheads". He says they would be crazy to send half the country fleeing to Coke.

Pepsi spokesperson Nicole Bridler says, "We can't speak to the President-elect's design sensibilities, but we're all over his prevailing sense of optimism. That's as refreshingly bipartisan as it gets."