The whole point of doing an influencer campaign is to “influence” people into liking your brand and buying your product – not piss them off. One soda company’s PR campaign had people poppin’ off across social media, backfiring so badly that even their carbonated rivals got in on the controversy.
Poppi, a drink brand using low-sugar ingredients and prebiotics to make “healthy” soda, set out to create a viral influencer campaign leading up to its Super Bowl 2025 commercial. It involved sending a handful of social media influencers, like @kaelimaee, their own personal vending machines, filled with Poppi cans.
Her first video, detailing the delivery of the hot pink vending machine with a high-tech touch screen, has over 17.9M views, 2.3M likes, 89.7K saves, and 9,563 comments.
In a second video, @kaelimaee explained that the vending machine was on loan for Super Bowl weekend. She then loaded dozens of cases of cans into the machine.
Instead of causing a frenzy of Poppi sales however, many on social media popped off at the brand for what seemed like an overly extravagant stunt aimed at wealthy consumers.
“Lots of people can’t even afford to drink Poppi at all and they have to watch wealthy influencers flaunting this online,” said TikTok user @sailawaymedia in a video she posted on Feb. 9., 2025. The video struck a chord with others, with over 2.5M views, 136.8K likes, 4,161 likes, and 1,790 comments.
@kaelimaee an actual DREAM OMG💞🍓🍋🍒 can’t wait for the super bowl 👏🏼🏈🤍 @Drink Poppi #poppi #poppivendingmachine #vendingmachine #superbowl #viral #hosting ♬ som original – gui
Why are people upset with Poppi?
For many, the Poppi vending machine PR stunt felt a bit tone-deaf; with inflation hitting grocery stores hard and many people struggling to make ends meet, many felt that shipping off cases of free soda to wealthy influencers sent the wrong message in general.
“People on TikTok are PISSED at Poppi for sending these vending machines to influencers,” wrote X user @RosenZone, in a post from Feb. 9., 2025. “One of the arguments is that if they can spend tens of thousands per vending machine they can lower their price.”
One can of Poppi soda can cost as much as $2.00, which is expensive compared to an 8-pack of LaCroix sparkling soda for less than $4.00.
“I never understood gifting influencers product that a consumer cant themselves attain for the sake of views,” posted X user @chelbb_. “What about seeing an influencer who we already know gets free stuff makes the average consumer want to buy your product?”
“if people are pissed about gifting $25K vending machines (that will likely be repurposed after the stunt), then wait until they find out how much a brand typically pays to work with the influencers they were gifted to…” added X user @milkkarten. “There is a bigger conversation to be had about the optics of gifting, brand trips, etc but to be clear brands are paying $50K-$100K for one sponsored post from a large influencer these days…” they added, in a follow-up comment.
“This is how they could have done it better!” wrote TikTok user @isabellalanter in the caption of a video she made slamming the activation. “Let’s stop with the out of touch bs please! We can absolutely have iconic marketing if we put in EFFORT. Friendly reminder that as a consumer and content creator I have a right to discuss this as do others on the internet. I can say I don’t like this idea and they could do it better.”
“I get. PR packages are really fun,” she stated in the video. “I’m not gonna dog on sending PR packages to influencers. What I am gonna dog on is when it gets too extravagant, too much, and now it’s like, it just feels very out of touch now.”
She goes on to explain how people aren’t “wow’d” by over-the-top stunts like these anymore, saying that “we have shifted as a society, and that a more successful campaign would have involved placing the vending machines across different cities, where the public could access the product and create user-generated content instead.
“Everyone needs to step it up and make their marketing fun,” @isabellalanter concluded.
Olipop, a rival soda brand, reacts
Olipop, Poppi’s main competitor, wasted no time throwing shade on the campaign, engaging in social media discourse throughout TikTok, Instagram, X and more.
On several TikTok videos, the low-sugar, prebiotic soda company alluded to the price tag of the vending machines Poppi sent – at $25k a pop.
The soda brand has since removed many of its comments, but screenshots can be seen in TikTok discourse videos.
The rival brand posted more ambiguous responses to the Poppi vending machine debacle, oftentimes simply using the side-eye emoji while resharing thoughts from social media users.
“We don’t have vending machines but who wants a jersey !!” the brand posted on their X account @drinkolipop, with images of their soda and a green Olipop football jersey.
Poppi responds to the backlash
On Feb. 10., 2025, Poppi founder Allison Ellseworth made a TikTok video about the vending machine drama.
“I’ve always been on here sharing my authentic thoughts with you,” Ellseworth states. “I hear you, and there’s a lot of misinformation being spread out there by one of our competitors, from our plans to the price tag of $25K, which is not what it costs, and that is not true.”
She goes on to explain how the vending machine campaign was “put in place to bring awareness” during the “biggest moment of the year,” and that the intention was for creators to have Poppi on hand for their Super Bowl parties.
Ellsworth further elaborated that “Creator marketing has always been a staple of Poppy’s brand” and that these kinds of activations have been a “big passion” of hers since the brand launched in 2020.
The female founder also acknowledged that listening to customers is what made her brand such a success in the first place, and that she was open to new ideas on how to expand the Poppi product.
“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 the places you’d like to see them out in the world,” she added, encouraging listeners to nominate friends, family members, or places like sorority houses, teacher’s lounges, etc., where her team could send vending machines in the future.
“At the end of the day, we are a brand just trying to revolutionize soda for the next generation, and bring joy to you guys through Poppi,” the video concludes. “So I appreciate you, and we hear you.”
Poppi also provided an official statement to the Daily Dot from their press team:
We strategically launched these vending machines around Super Bowl – the biggest soda moment of the year – to kick off our 2025 “Soda Thoughts” campaign. These were never intended for one-time use. Both creators across the US 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. This marks the first of many phases in this campaign. As our beloved community has always been at the forefront of the poppi brand, these machines will be rolling out to them via events, social giveaways & nominations in the weeks to come.
The falsely reported cost was not only fabricated, but inflated by 60%.
Despite false comments from our competitors, we are focused on revolutionizing soda for the next generation and can’t wait for you all to see what’s next.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Olipop via email for comment.
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