Pepsi ad in Ebony magazine, "Refreshes without filling... Have a Pepsi": Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A Pepsi-Cola color advertisement in Ebony magazine with a young, middle-class couple: “Refreshes without filling… Have a Pepsi.”

A full-page, color advertisement for Pepsi-Cola from an issue of Ebony magazine. The advertisement features a photograph of a young couple, a man and a woman, each holding a bottle of Pepsi and examining prepared food on a serving trolley. The man wears a tie and striped grey sports coat and grey trousers. He is looking down as the woman lifts the lid off a small chafing dish. He holds the Pepsi in his proper right hand and his left is around the woman's waist. She stands on the other side of the trolley, wearing a white eyelet blouse, red pants, and sandals. A Pepsi is held at her side in her proper left hand and her proper right hand holds the dish lid. The bottom tier of the trolley holds a prepared lettuce salad with tomatoes, a stack of bowls, and set of a salt and pepper mills. To the left, large text reads [Refresh / without / filling / Have a Pepsi] followed by a short paragraph of text about the trend for "lighter, less-filling food and drink." An illustration of a bottle cap with the Pepsi logo is set into a small yellow square beneath the text.

The back of the page is a full-page, color advertisement for a 1957 Chevy Bel Air that features a tourist family with their Chevrolet parked next to a totem pole.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: March 1957
• Published by: Johnson Publishing Company, American, 1942 - 2019
• Subject of: PepsiCo Inc., American, founded 1898
• Type: advertisements
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W: 13 1/4 x 10 1/8 in. (33.7 x 25.7 cm)
• Place printed: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Advertising
• Topic: Black Press
• Topic: Business
• Topic: Cooking and dining
• Topic: Health
• Topic: Mass media
• Object number: 2011.35.2.72
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Stephanie Capparell, author of The Real Pepsi Challenge
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown – Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.