Holy war! Coke, Pepsi lay siege to Kumbh

Pepsi knows it too no wonder, then, that it has reduced the price of the drink per glass from Rs 7 to Rs 5 at its fountains. “Soft drinks are more easily available than water in Hardwar. Because of the heat, people will come again and again. There, the price will make a difference,” says a Pepsico official.

The result is a on-the-spot colawar. They are everywhere. Coke and Pepsi are fighting each other for every inch of advertising space. They welcome you to Hardwar, they sponsor signboards of dhabas, guest houses and restaurants and kiosks on the route to Hardwar.

At Har Ki Pauri, the main ghat where the pilgrims take the holy dip, Coca Cola has even sponsored the luminous sign board of a major pickle store. Why an achaar store? “People pick a soft drink on an impulse,” says Dhawan.The soft drink giants have utilised every inch of space available and have even painted the trees with their colours. “There is more of Pepsi and Coke than river Ganga here,” says Mahant Vishnupad Shastri, a pilgrim.

Both the companies have obviously spent crores of rupees on local advertisements, though they are refusing to divulge the figures. “Believe me, no company will tell you this (the ad budget and the volume of sales,” says Dhawan.

In the fight for visibility, both Coke and Pepsi have ensured that there’s no spot at Hardwar where you don’t findtheir products. Even on the hilly road near Neeldhara camp, where potable water is not easily available, each and every dhaba offers chilled Pepsi and Coca Cola.