Pepsi’s Amp app will no longer ‘help’ men seduce women
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PepsiCo Inc.’s ‘AMP UP before you score’ iPhone application is shown in New York. PepsiCo said it is removing the iPhone application that promised to help men ‘score’ with different types of women about a week after it was criticized for stereotyping. Credit: Dan Goodman / Associated Press.
Some people turn to booze for liquid courage with the opposite sex, but Pepsi recently launched a campaign that would make Jack Daniels and Captain Morgan shake in their lascivious boots. The soda company created an iPhone application called ‘AMP UP Before You Score’ -- aimed at helping men ‘score’ with women -- to promote its AMP energy drink.
The application provides pick-up lines and other charming tools to seduce a ‘wide’ variety of female stereotypes -- 24 in total -- including the bookworm, the cougar, the athlete and the women’s studies major. It also has a ‘Brag’ feature which encourages users to ‘include the name, date, and whatever details you remember’ about successful hookups or failed conquests.
PepsiCo, the parent company, announced today that it will remove the application after it received heated criticism for stereotyping women, according to the Associated Press.
The blog Edible Apple decided to conduct some tests. It downloaded the application and selected the ‘foreign exchange student.’ These pick-up lines followed: ‘Let’s try a little cultural exchange’ and ‘I’ll be your host family anytime.’ According to the blog, the ‘Goth’ girl had an entry filled with ‘dreary quotes’ and the ‘Indie’ girl had a built-in ‘Thrift Store Locator.’
The Reflector, a Mississippi State University online newspaper, argued that the application, while stupid, emphasized men’s infirmities.
‘There’s virtually no guy out there who genuinely believes women are objects -- the average guy’s sense of humor just stopped developing after he hit puberty, and that kind of thing is still funny to him,’ the article said. It suggested that ladies give the application a break and focus on more pressing and pertinent issues.
Jezebel, a popular female-focused blog, had a few choice words to say about that.
PepsiCo, however, reportedly said in a statement that discontinuing the application was the ‘most appropriate course of action’ after ‘listening to a variety of audiences.’
[Updated at 11:25 p.m.: An earlier version of this post stated that Jezebel argued that the iPhone application was not sexist. In fact, the blog was quoting an article from a Mississippi State University online newspaper and disagreed with the article’s position.]
-- Melissa Rohlin
