"Is that a great new Pepsi can or what?"

The kids in the new Pepsi commercial might think so, but some say the new Pepsi can leaves them flat.

"It's just a piece of graphic design," said Lanny Sommese, professor of art. "It's not art."

"It's a marketing tool, it's part of the corporate packaging," Sommese added.

The can recently hit shelves with the hope that its new-age look would "create some new excitement," said Anne Ward, Pepsi's public relations manager.

Pepsi updates its products periodically, Ward said. The company last changed its image about 14 years ago, she added.

But the new can's impact fizzles in the area, with few consumers showing real interest in the change.

"People say things like, 'Pepsi must have a lot of money, they've changed their can again,' " said manager trainee Becky Albright, employed at the 134 W. College Ave. Uni-Mart.

"I think (the can) attracts people," Albright said, but added Pepsi sales at her store have neither dipped nor climbed.

A New York City firm had just such an attraction in mind in creating the new can.

Peterson & Blyth Associates Inc. Managing Partner Ronald Peterson said the design team considered several other factors in creating the new look.

"The objective was to create a line look," Peterson said, referring to the changes made to cans, bottles and liter packages.

"We wanted to strengthen the overall brand identity (and) appeal to a broader range of people," he said.

One thing to keep in mind when making such a change, Peterson said, is the difficulty of capturing new consumers without losing established ones.

To accomplish this, the firm kept elements of the old can intrinsic to the Pepsi idea.

"The Pepsi world is very important to me . . . it says that (Pepsi) is not just a local, regional product. It's a worldly product," Peterson said.

The Pepsi "world" refers to the can's two-tone circular logo. The word "Pepsi" no longer appears between the two halves of the world. The word Pepsi now runs down the side of the can in italics.

"We wanted a typeface for Pepsi that is oblique and has some style to it," Peterson said.

The red-white-and-blue color scheme remained an essential part of the can, Peterson said.

Pepsi expressed no plans to change its formula, however.