PepsiCo apologized today for the AMP UP Before You Score iPhone app after Twitter exploded with #PepsiFail hashtagged tweets.

Our app tried 2 show the humorous lengths guys go 2 pick up women. We apologize if it’s in bad taste & appreciate your feedback. #pepsifail From Twitter.com/AMPwhatsnext

AMP is a brand of energy drink manufactured by Pepsi and targeted towards young men. Designed by a digital advertising agency working on the brand, the controversial app allows users to sort women by "type" and find information that will help the user "score" with the type of woman he is targeting. For example, for sorority girls there is a listing of the Greek alphabet so that he can read her sweatshirt. The app also allows users to make a list of hook ups and to share details with friends. Yeah, I think I just threw up while writing that. If you're curious about learning more about how the app works, here is a helpful video:

AMP UP Before You Score iPhone app Hortense at Jezebel finds the app a disturbing example of "bro culture:"

Ah, yes. Can't leave out the twins or the women's studies major who really just wants to be swept away by your iPhone seduction skills, bro. It's going to be so easy to score with AMP energy drink on your breath and a list of incredibly generic "types" in your pocket. All you need is a fresh Ed Hardy shirt and a spritz of Axe body spray and you are good to go! Jon Gosselin will even pick you up so you can spend the night spending his children's education fund on cubic zirconia earrings together, bro! Everything's comin' up douchebag! There's a reason why I go after bro culture as often as I do: things like this, which are completely unacceptable and ridiculously offensive. This is a program sponsored by a major corporation that encourages men to look at women as objects to be won, used, and tossed away after a "victory" is obtained, and the more normalized things like this becomes, the worse off we're all going to be.

Adam Ostrow at Mashable points out that:

guy-centric marketing is nothing new for AMP, who often promotes itself through male dominated extreme sports (formerly, it was known as Mountain Dew AMP). The ads are also somewhat reminiscent of AXE, who insinuates in much of their advertising that its products will help you with members of the opposite sex.

The Huffington Post highlights a tweet from Raven Zachary calling Pepsi out:

Dear Pepsico, your iPhone app, AMP UP Before You Score, is offensive and is a great new case study for branded apps gone wrong.

And Twitter user Jim Parsons ponders the conundrum posed by the app coming from a brand owned by a company led by a woman:

Until app removed I'm guessing PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi advising her daughter to avoid boys with iPhones AMP UP Before You Score: Pepsi App Helps Guys Score Chicks, Brag About It (VIDEO)#pepsifail

From a marketing and branding perspective, brands often target narrow segments of consumers and that marketing can be at odds with the campaigns and efforts of other brands in a company's portfolio. There are a huge range of energy drinks on the market and several are targeted towards women. Pepsi has a multitude of brands under their umbrella and all their marketing is not going to hold to a single point of view. This promotion for the AMP energy drink has certainly succeeded in gaining a great deal of attention for the brand and quite possibly the app appeals to their target audience. However it is also possible that the backlash generated by this promotion will lead Pepsi to heed demands to pull the app. What do you think? Is it a fun and harmless promotion that will appeal to those who buy AMP energy drinks? Is it so offensive it should be pulled from the iTunes app store? Do companies have a broader obligation to have a company-wide marketing standard regardless of which audiences individual brands market to?

Related Reading: Jessica at Techno-ly Legal: Too far? AMP Before You Score Pepsi App

The wisest of men would know and realize that no woman is so easily categorized. In fact, men who actually are the "cool guys" don't use applications like these to decode the female gender. They know that common interests mean more than reiterating random facts on Picasso's life found on Wikipedia page.

Chloe Albanesius at App Scout: Sexism? There's an app for that. Simone Grant at Sex Lies & Dating in the City: Too Silly to Get Worked Up Over

But come on, this is an iphone app. There's an app for everything. It was really just a matter of time before someone came out with this. And this happens to be pretty goddamn silly, when you look at it. The only truly remarkable thing here is that this is being sponsered by Pepsi. WTF?

Barbara Nixon at Public Relations Matters: Branding Gone Bad:: #pepsifail

In theory, having an app (not this one) for your brand could be smart, maybe even cool. But when you see what the app does, you may change your mind.... Make up your own mind about the app. But for me, I am disappointed in PepsiCo. I expected better from a company like this.

What do you think?

BlogHer CE Maria Niles blogs about marketing to consumers at Fizz from ConsumerPop.