Kent Fite serves both Coke and Pepsi in his rural North Carolina restaurant, so he didn’t understand the hubbub.
Neither did he care.
Fite and his school teacher wife, Laura, drove to Atlanta for an all-expense paid trip to the Super Bowl – courtesy of Pepsi.
“Pepsi was founded in North Carolina,” reminded Fite, who lives in Four Oaks. “We greatly appreciate this opportunity from Pepsi for a bucket list item to be checked off. This experience was awesome. Atlanta has been great, and we hope to visit again soon.”
Fite had no otherwise intention to come to Atlanta for the Super Bowl but got caught up in Pepsi’s invasion of Coca-Cola’s turf.
While Coke is omnipresent in Atlanta and is the official pourer for Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the New York-based PepsiCo was an official Super Bowl sponsor.
In the weeks leading to the Super Bowl Pepsi unleashed a massive advertising blitz on Atlanta. Including one stunt where Pepsi briefly placed a statue of its founder Caleb Bradham beside a life-size bronze statue of Coca-Cola founder John Pemberton, located outside the World of Coca-Cola in downtown Atlanta.
Late last year, Fite, who owns Roosters Dine In or Take Out in Coats, N.C., entered a contest for Super Bowl tickets and won.
He simply texted a code he saw on the back of a Pepsi box one time on a whim and won the same day.
“It was just tickets, $500 in travel expenses, $250 in food and entertainment, plus accommodations,” Fite said. “Atlanta has been an awesome host! Everyone has been so friendly and helpful. We were skeptical about our seats, but we honestly don’t think the stadium’s design has a bad seat. Ours were awesome and we were up high.
Before the game, the Fites also partied downtown almost every night, while visiting the NFL Experience, the Taste of the NFL and the Georgia Aquarium.
Oh, and they did one more thing.
They visited the Center for Civil and Human Rights.
This month, all visitors will be allowed to attend the CCHR for free thanks to a gift from a major corporate sponsor – Coca-Cola.
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