Pepsi tripped up in 'bad taste' iPhone snafu
Pepsi fail.
In an attempt to gin up support for the AMP line of energy drinks, Pepsi recently rolled out the "AMP UP Before You Score" application for the iPhone – a game described by Pepsi as a "road map to success for your favorite kinds of women – 24 in all." The app featured a rotating cast of stereotypes, including "the artist" and "aspiring actress."
The central conceit of "AMP UP Before you Score" was a "cheat sheet on the stuff she's into, with lists, links, and some surefire opening lines." Users could then share notes on their various conquests. "Get lucky? Add her to your brag list. You can include a name, date, and whatever details you remember," read promo copy posted to iTunes.
Obviously this is pretty low-grade, low-class stuff, and it didn't take long for the blogosphere to chime in. By today, Pepsi had yanked the application, and issued an apology on its AMP Twitter feed. "Our app tried 2 show the humorous lengths guys go 2 pick up women. We apologize if it’s in bad taste & appreciate your feedback," a Pepsi representative tweeted.
Earlier this year, Apple axed "Baby Shaker," a game created by a company called Sikalosoft. The idea of that game was pretty simple: quiet down an on-screen baby by shaking your iPhone. The harder you shake, the quicker the baby quiets down; eventually, a pair of red X’s appears over the baby’s eyes.
The same fate greeted "Me So Holy," an application which let users snap a photo of themselves, and afix it to the body of a coterie of religious figures, including Jesus.
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