Intertextuality, Parody, and Polyphony in Pepsi’s® 2009 Presidential Inauguration Campaign

Abstract

This paper explores Pepsi’s 2009 advertising campaign as intertextual reference to Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Mikhail Bakhtin’s conceptualizations of heteroglossia and the utterance are combined with Julia Kristeva’s discussion of intertextuality to create a theoretical framework for understanding how the ideological viewpoints inherent in the two ad campaigns reflect on one another. Voters and consumers are invited by Pepsi’s logo, slogan, and online video campaign to read the advertisements in relationship to the celebrity status of new President Barack Obama. The interactive nature of the intertextual reference is critical to the overall persuasiveness of the Pepsi campaign.