Last week we were aghast at how the New York Times and Big Soda combined to heap outrage on the Health Department's photoshopped ad campaign against diabetes. You'd have thought Mayor Bloomberg personally fed this actor into the woodchipper! Now, the Times has spoken with the man who posed for the picture, Cleo Berry, who was apparently "stunned" when he saw his image in the ad for the first time on Friday. "I was beyond shocked. I cried at my computer screen for, like, a minute." More than the crocodile tears he shed for this sandwich ad in which he gets viciously beaten? That is what happened, isn't it? more ›

Forget Big Tobacco (they own too many other companies as it is), Big Food is pumping millions of dollars into scientists so they can obfuscate clear cut research on obesity. The result is an industry that claims that the jury is still out on what exactly causes obesity, so in the meantime have another bag of Funyons. ABC reports the case of Dr. David Allison, a scientist who runs an obesity research center in Alabama and former president of the Obesity Society, who has taken $2.5 million in grants from the food industry, not including "consulting or speaking fees." Allison was one of the scientists who claimed that New York City's law mandating that the calorie count of foods be displayed would cause people to eat more (not true). "Big tobacco, big sugar," one researcher says, "identical in the way they treat scientists." more ›

Poor Pepsi. The giant New York-based soda company may be increasingly looking out for our best interests, or saying it is, but its flagship product has been surpassed by Diet Coke and apparently the "super-rich" don't like it. At least that is what Johnson and Johnson heir and professional Richy Rich Jamie Johnson writes in Vanity Fair. more ›

After a few years of teasing the public with brief promotional runs of Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback—in which the sodas feature sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup and come in cans with retro designs like the one Cindy Crawford used to drink from on TV—New York's own PepsiCo is committing to them full time. The news isn't that shocking though considering the last round of promotional runs earned the company an extra $220 million in sales. more ›

Do you like Diet Pepsi but sometimes think, "this can is just so fat and unattractive!" Well, Pepsi is unveiling their "taller, sassier new Skinny Can" which they say is a "celebration of beautiful, confident women." Consider it a PILF. Or don't, because that might get you injured. more ›

In case you haven't heard, everyone's beating up on Pepsi for releasing an iPhone application called "Amp Up Before You Score," which promotes their Amp energy drink while offering advice on how to "score" with 24 types of women. That's a lot of types, bro! Are you douchey enough to "score" with each one? This video shows you how: more ›

When you've got free Yankees tickets and you're handing them out in Times Square, it's only fair to expect a mess, right? The Daily News and Post report that Pepsi's giveaway of Yankees tickets was short-lived: The News lists mistakes like not having the "promised" opening day tickets (most were for June), not letting people meet Goose Gossage (he only waved) and changing locations, "forcing fans who had staked out spots to make a mad dash across Times Square." According to the Post, those gathered started yelling "Pepsi sucks! Pepsi sucks!" and "cracked open cans of the soft drink and poured it onto the pile of swag, sending cops racing to the scene." Pepsi said, "All we wanted to do was make fans part of the celebration, giving away free Yankee tickets and Pepsi-Cola products, but we blew it. The wrong information got out about the tickets being offered and we didn't have the right permits to distribute them. Although we eventually gave away more than 200 free tickets, some particularly passionate fans got angry with us, and we don't blame them. We're very sorry for upsetting or inconveniencing anyone." more ›

Even Coke fans probably appreciate the old Pepsi Cola sign that's been part of the LIC skyline since 1936. It may have moved from its old spot, but (for quite some time) it's been getting rebuilt not too far away, letter by letter. Just a couple of days ago it only had the P E I and C letters in place, and now the NY Times checks in to find "the 120-foot-long scrawl, a creation of the Artkraft Strauss Sign Corporation," has just one more letter to go. One source told them the original plan was to have it back to its original splendor by March 1st, “But they’ve run into difficulties and now say they don’t have a schedule." Perhaps Madoff's old papers got in the way. more ›