Breaking Down the Poppi Vending-Machine Drama

Uh-oh, Poppi is having its Tarte moment. If you understand that sentence, it might be time for a social-media detox. If you don’t, welcome: A healthy-soda brand is currently under fire for loaning out vending machines to a bunch of rich influencers. What is going on? Has Poppi given an underwhelming statement about listening to its community? And did the other healthy soda-brand make this whole thing even messier? I’ve got answers for you.

How did the Poppi controversy start?

As part of its Super Bowl advertising campaign, Poppi — which brands itself as a healthy, prebiotic soda — sent vending machines to dozens of influencers last weekend. In turn, those influencers all made content about how awesome it was to have a Poppi vending machine in their garage.

In one video, influencer Kaeli Mae showed herself stocking her own vending machine, which seems like a lot of labor to put toward something that will be removed from your house in a couple of days (that timeframe will come up again later).

Why are people upset?

The backlash to the campaign was swift with people saying it was gauche to send the machines to a bunch of (presumably) rich influencers. In a video that has been viewed nearly 2 million times, TikTok user Isabella Lanter said that the campaign was “too extravagant, too much” and that it felt “out of touch.”

“It’s going to the rich influencers and it’s like ok cool they get more free stuff while we buy their product,” one commenter wrote under Lanter’s video.

Another added that it’s “not sustainable at all” —  a sticking point for a lot of people who were upset when the influencers revealed that the vending machines would only be in their houses for the weekend. Over on Reddit, one user wrote, “I saw a creator on [TikTok] talking about what a waste these are and how much carbon emissions it would take to transport these from house to house. And how much power it would take to run them!!”

Alyssa Ege, a TikTok creator who focuses on advertising, suggested that the vending machines should have been placed in locations where normal people might have come across them. The top comment on her video, which currently has 2.5 million views, just says, “fire stations, hospitals, teachers lounges.”

Weren’t people upset with Poppi for something else recently?

Good memory. This is not the first time Poppi has found itself in hot water. Last May, the soda brand was on the receiving end of a class-action consumer-fraud lawsuit that claimed the drink is not as gut healthy as it claims to be. One nutritionist quoted in the suit went as far as to say it is “basically sugared water.” Woof.

How did Olipop get involved?

Okay, back to the current controversy. Olipop, the other prebiotic soda that actually does have a decent amount of fiber in it, is part of this mess too. Its social-media manager decided to hop into people’s comments sections and be shady. Olipop’s account seemed to join in on the anti-Poppi criticism — under Lanter’s video, for example, it wrote, “For the record, those machines cost $25K each lol.” Under another user’s video lambasting the campaign, Olipop wrote, “32 machines times $25K per machine yikes.” The brand popped out again under a different video in which a creator was discussing the cost of not only the vending machines but Poppi’s actual Super Bowl commercial: “It’s $8M per 30 seconds, and it was a 60 second ad sooo …”

People really ran with that $25,000 number, and it continued to circulate in comments criticizing the brand throughout the weekend (their only source being Olipop’s comment). The one problem? Adweek later reported that the figure is untrue, and that $25,000 is “more than double” the actual cost for one vending machine.

Has Poppi responded?

Yes, and the company is listening and learning, of course. First, in a statement to Adweek, it noted that it did actually put vending machines out in public. “Both creators across the U.S. and people in New Orleans received these machines — with our first consumer event taking place at the popular Tulane hot spot the Boot, where college students could enjoy complimentary Poppi for the Big Game and beyond,” Poppi communications director Farial Moss told the outlet.

Then, in a video on Poppi’s TikTok account, the brand’s founder, Allison Ellsworth, addressed the situation directly.

“We wanted to share Poppi with creators across the U.S. who were hosting Super Bowl parties for their friends and their family,” Ellsworth explained. “Creator marketing has always been a staple of Poppi’s brand since we launched in 2020. But I know that it’s you, our community, that has been the biggest part of our success.”

Ellsworth said it was always her intention to use the vending machines with more of a community-oriented focus in the future. “These vending machines will be a part of the brand for years to come, and we want to work with you guys to get them out to places you want to see them out in the world,” she said. “So we hear you. Help us nominate your friends, your family, your favorite teacher’s lounge, your sorority, your fraternity, whatever it is, wherever you guys want Poppi to show up.”

Unfortunately for Ellsworth, the comments section isn’t buying it. “But a number of the creators who got them were at the Super Bowl so they didn’t host a party,” wrote one person, bringing up a pretty good point. Another called the campaign “distasteful” and wrote that “consumers are getting sick of extravagant wealth.” The overwhelming sentiment, however, was this: People are taking their business to Olipop.