Pepsi's Navy

Pepsi briefly had one of the largest navies in the world.

Soviets got a taste for Pepsi in the 50s.

The Soviet Union was short on money that other countries would accept, and resorted to bartering. Historically, it traded vodka for Pepsi to resell, but as US demand for Vodka waned, Pepsi renegotiated, and the soviets offered a fleet of obsolete naval vessels. Pepsi accepted, becoming the sixth-largest navy in the world (even if the ships were old and not-combat ready).

The ships were immediately sold for scrap, netting Pepsi a neat profit. This was more about disarming the USSR via a series of go-betweens than anything else, though I don't believe the US government has officially commented on involvement in the deal.

A more clickbait title would be about how Pepsi demilitarized the USSR, but that's less accurate and more political.