For today—the last day of “cola wars week”—we bring you 6 American flags made (mostly) from Coke and Pepsi cans.
Similar to the massively parallel art ideas we’ve noted in the past. Some of these flags were created as artworks, some were created as recycling displays and some are anonymous so we’re not really sure of the context…
1. The one above is like that. From Erin Delaney ’s Flickr Photostream: a “Soda can flag in antique store in New Buffalo, MI.”
As in the real world, Coke and Pepsi predominate, but some other brands are also included here. (e.g.: Orange Crush, Dad’s Root Beer, RC Cola, etc.)
(Five more “cola war flags” are unfurled after the fold…)
2. Gabriel Uggla: AmeriCan
Probably the purest example of a cola war flag illustrating the Coke/Pepsi dichotomy. Because the Pepsi cans are confined to the blue section, this flag looks a little like an info-graphic about market share. Interesting that, although Coke and Pepsi are now multinationals, everyone one still considers these brands symbols of America. (Uggla attends the The Umeå Institute of Design in Sweden.)
3. Stewart Wagner: All American Flag
Made from flattened out parts of aluminum cans, Wagner’s flag uses alternating rows of Coke and Budweiser beer cans to create his stripes, but like Gabriel Uggla above, he confines Pepsi to the blue section.
4. Hassan Hajjaj: S.U.S.A. – Salam USA
Moroccan-born artist Hassan Hajjaj now lives in London. His cola wars flag is a C-Print framed with Arabic Pepsi and Coke cans forming an American Flag.
5. Rolando Politi: Coke, Pepsi and some Clorox
As with Stewart Wagner’s flag (#3), Politi felt the need to add a third brand to the duality of Coke and Pepsi in order to have white stripes—strips from a Clorox container, in this case.
6. City of Phoenix Public Works Department: Ameri-CAN Flag
“What better way to spend America’s Independence Day than by making your own Ameri-CAN flag?”
This example is the only one of our 6 cola war flags in which Pepsi predominates, since it occupies both the blue section and (nearly) half of the stripes.
(See also: Campbell’s Soup Flag)
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