Pepsi and Coca-Cola are grabbing headlines today in a big way after some Coke employee and accomplices offered to sell trade secrets to Pepsi, which promptly called in the feds. As a result, the perennial No. 2 cola maker is enjoying a PR bonanza. “Competition can sometimes be fierce, but it also must be fair and legal.” Pithy bits of wisdom like that, from a Pepsi rep, would be laughed out of newsrooms under almost any other circumstances. Today, however, Pepsi’s high-minded quips are in demand. The media, pardon the pun, are literally drinking it up. (OK, don’t pardon the pun. Either way.) As a dutiful cog in the media machine, I offer up two points to ponder: 1) What information did those bozos peddle that Pepsi couldn’t have figured out on its own? “Sugar’s the secret ingredient. Where’s my 10 grand?” “Pssst, the word on the street is ... lime”? 2) Sure, the folks at Pepsi turned them in. But can we be sure they didn’t take a peek at what they were selling?

—Posted by David Gianatasio