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KFC switches U.S. restaurant beverage supplier from PepsiCo to Coca-Cola

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 4 outlets. No left-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered it yet.

4 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

KFC restaurant exterior with large red-and-white Colonel Sanders logo above entrance
Image via CNBCHow images are chosenReport this image

KFC is switching its beverage supplier for U.S. restaurants from PepsiCo to Coca-Cola, according to CNBC, MarketWatch, Reuters and The Washington Times. Reports describe it as the first change of this kind in decades, and The Washington Times puts it at 40 years. Customers will order a different drink with their fried chicken. Reuters reports that PepsiCo is struggling to improve sales in the country, and MarketWatch reports that some analysts are growing more worried about PepsiCo’s position. The supplied text does not give a contract value or length.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. KFC is switching its beverage supplier for U.S. restaurants from PepsiCo to Coca-Cola.

    Across the spectrumReported byCenter2Right2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Center
    CNBC, MarketWatch
    Right
    New York Post, The Washington Times

  2. The switch is the first of its kind in decades; The Washington Times puts it at 40 years.

    Reported byCenter1Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Center
    CNBC
    Right
    The Washington Times

  3. Reuters reports that PepsiCo is struggling to improve sales in the country.

    One outletNew York Post· Right

  4. MarketWatch reports that some analysts are growing more worried about PepsiCo.

    One outletMarketWatch· Center

How each side tells it

Compare views

Every side reports that KFC is switching its U.S. beverage supplier from PepsiCo to Coca-Cola, the first such change in decades. The center presents the switch as a supplier change and a shift in the rivalry, while the right leans into cola-war imagery and PepsiCo’s weakness.

  • the left

    No coverage yet

    No left-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

  • the center

    2 outlets

    Center headlines state the supplier change plainly, as CNBC does, while MarketWatch frames it as Pepsi losing ground in the soda wars.

    KFC to switch to Coca-Cola beverages in U.S. restaurants for the first time in decades
    CNBCCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    2 outlets

    Right headlines use cola-war imagery and verbs of defection: The Washington Times has the colonel change sides, while the New York Post headline says KFC is ditching PepsiCo.

    Colonel changes sides in cola wars as KFC switches from Pepsi to Coke
    The Washington TimesRightAll right-leaning headlines

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

Mantle found no loaded language in this coverage. Every headline and opening was checked against Mantle’s published word list, and Mantle’s AI read all 4 articles in context. Straight reporting often has none.

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

0 outlets

No left-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

From the center

2 outlets

Leads with

  • the supplier switch itself
  • Pepsi losing ground to Coke
  • analyst worry about Pepsi
See the 2 headlines from the centerHide the headlines
  • MarketWatchCenter

    Pepsi loses more ground in the soda wars, as KFC switches to Coke

    As more people switch to Coke, some analysts are getting more worried about the state of archrival Pepsi.

    Read at MarketWatch (opens in a new tab)
  • CNBCCenter

    KFC to switch to Coca-Cola beverages in U.S. restaurants for the first time in decades

    KFC is switching from PepsiCo to Coca-Cola as its beverage supplier for U.S. restaurants.

    Read at CNBC (opens in a new tab)

From the right

2 outlets

Leads with

  • cola-war rivalry imagery
  • Pepsi losing the account
  • change in what KFC customers drink
See the 2 headlines from the rightHide the headlines

Articles you open from here build My Mix, a private picture of how your reading spreads across the spectrum, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    No report yet

    From the outlets Mantle follows

  • Center

    First to report

    CNBC, Oct 15, 3:53 PM EDT

  • Right

    36 min later

    Its first report, Oct 15, 4:29 PM EDT

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. CNBCCenterOct 15, 3:53 PM EDT
  2. New York PostRightOct 15, 4:29 PM EDT
  3. MarketWatchCenterOct 15, 7:29 PM EDT
  4. The Washington TimesRightOct 16, 2:13 PM EDT

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out.

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