--- description: When Fox signed up Simon Cowell to produce The X-Factor singing competition after leaving American Idol, it was perhaps not the ideal situation—how Idol will... title: X-Factor to Bring the Pepsi (Literally) to Idol's Coke image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # X-Factor to Bring the Pepsi (Literally) to Idol's Coke by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Jan 4, 2011 3:23 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Jan 4, 2011 3:23 PM CUT When Fox signed up Simon Cowell to produce **The X-Factor** singing competition after leaving American Idol, it was perhaps not the ideal situation—how Idol will survive Cowell’s loss remains to be seen—but it made sense. Better not to risk someone else grabbing Cowell’s project and set up a competitor across the street: Fox would have both Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Literally, it turns out. Just as the red-and-white of Coca-Cola has been a fixture for years on Idol, Pepsi announced today that it was signing on as sponsor of The X-Factor. So if you’ve been wondering how you will tell the two projects apart, now you know: X-Factor will air in the fall, and they will be drinking a very slightly different beverage! Meanwhile, Mark Burnett is [preparing a singing competition show for NBC](http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/15/mark-burnett-brings-the-voice-of-america-to-nbc/ "undefined"). Maybe RC Cola is interested? The placement-tastic press release after the jump: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7126837/x-factor-to-bring-the-pepsi-literally-to-idols-coke/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7126837/x-factor-to-bring-the-pepsi-literally-to-idols-coke/"},"headline":"X-Factor to Bring the Pepsi (Literally) to Idol's Coke","datePublished":"2011-01-04T15:23:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T07:19:05.667Z","description":"When Fox signed up Simon Cowell to produce The X-Factor singing competition after leaving American Idol, it was perhaps not the ideal situation—how Idol will...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7126837/x-factor-to-bring-the-pepsi-literally-to-idols-coke/","keywords":["Advertising","coca-cola","Pepsi"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7126837/x-factor-to-bring-the-pepsi-literally-to-idols-coke/","name":"X-Factor to Bring the Pepsi (Literally) to Idol's Coke"}}]}] ```