1st, on a funny note: Ludacris is on Eminem's "Anger Management Tour". Last night, he came on stage drinking out of a 3-liter bottle of Coke.. talkin' bout, "Ahhhh, THIS TASTE SOOOOO GUUUUUUD !"
Secondly, there's a double standard present in this "pepsi/Ludacris" image issue.
There are actors/actresses who play: whores (Julia Roberts), pimps, gangsters (Al Pacino), murderers, serial killers ( the Hannibal Lecter dude), drug addicts, etc who never lose commercial deals due to the charicters they portray.
Ludacris (for example) to my knowledge isn't a pimp. He said he has ho's in every area code in a song, but that's not reality. In the same fashion that Samuel Jackson willingly portrayed a crack addict in "Jungle Fever", which is a terrible "image" to portray. But in real life, he's NOT A CRACK ADDICT (even though he had some dependency problem earlier in his life).
Arnold Schwartzeneger kills 200 people in a "commando" movie. Easy E kills 200 people on a "NWA" album. Neither kills "1" person in real life.... What's the difference? There is no difference (except for the forum of the media - film vs audio).