CRYSTAL PEPSI

'Crystal Pepsi' was a caffeine-free soft drink that was made by PepsiCo from 1992 to 1993 in the United States, Canada, and for a short time in Australia. In Europe, Crystal Pepsi was sold for a somewhat longer time. It is considered by some to be the company's equivalent of New Coke, as both were massive commercial failures.

Contents

History

Parodies

See also

External links

History

Healthy living had become a popular concept in the early 1990s, with some focus on a vague notion of purity. Accordingly, Crystal Pepsi was marketed as a "clear alternative" to normal colas, equating clearness with purity. This coincided with a trend for "clear" consumer liquids such as shampoos, soaps, and lotions. The marketing tagline for the new cola was "you've never seen a taste like this". The taste did not turn out to be much different from other colas, though; unlike many other colourless soft drinks, which usually have a lemon-lime flavor, Crystal Pepsi tasted much like original Pepsi.
Starting with test markets in April 1992, PepsiCo found that the new soda received a positive response. Pleased with the results, the company began to sell it nationwide in 1993. A large marketing campaign was launched along with it, for which the company invented the world's first photo-realistic, computer-generated bus wrap printing. The best-known part of the campaign was the series of television advertisements that used Van Halen's hit song "Right Now," which premiered on nationwide television during Super Bowl XXVII on January 31, 1993.
Initial sales were good, but they quickly fell, making the product fail to generate a profit adequate to warrant continued marketing, since many consumers did not like the taste of it while others thought it was too similar to regular Pepsi to merit sale as a separate product. Pepsi pulled the drink off the market, but returned several months later with a reformulated citrus drink and retitled "Crystal by Pepsi", but this was short lived as well.
Oddly, Pepsi was offering a promotion ("twist-a-cap") in which customers could receive a free Pepsi product if the cap of their drink had a winning symbol. Due to an oversight, a customer merely had to turn the Crystal Pepsi bottle upside down to see if that bottle's cap had a winning symbol. At any well-stocked and participating store, a customer could purchase one carefully-selected Crystal Pepsi and, using the winning cap to repeat the process, walk away with a dozen of them for free.
Crystal Pepsi still has a small following, particularly on the Internet, where several websites have been created to honor it. Some remaining cans and bottles can occasionally be found for auction on the commercial website eBay. In 2003, 55 gallon drums of the beverage were found in a storm drain in Denver Colorado, and later sold on eBay. In late 2005, some grocery stores in Mexico started carrying "PepsiClear" which was a limited edition of a clear Pepsi.

Parodies

★ The comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' created a parody of Crystal Pepsi's "Right Now" advertisements. The spoof, broadcast in October 1993, featured cast members Kevin Nealon and Julia Sweeney enjoying a clear, viscous "Crystal Gravy", while a voiceover said, "finally you can see your meat" and ended with the superimposed text: "Crystal Gravy. You've never seen a gravy like this".

★ The English dub of the anime ''FLCL'', instead of using Cherio (a failed Japanese soft drink), uses Crystal Pepsi, while describing a store. Gaku says "that store that sells Crystal Pepsi...you know, the one Van Halen did those 'Right Now' commercials for!!", in episode 3 of the series, ''Marquis de Carabas''.

★ The Bloodhound Gang humorously reference Crystal Pepsi in the song "Lift Your Head up High (And Blow Your Brains Out)" on their album ''One Fierce Beer Coaster''.

★ Bottles of Crystal Pepsi can be seen on the convenience store shelves in Kevin Smith's independent film ''Clerks''.

★ A sketch on the MTV show "Human Giant" depicted comedian Paul Scheer using a time machine to retrieve bottles of Crystal Pepsi from the past (instead of using it to visit his now-deceased father).

★ On ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' (May 8, 2007).

★ On the Power Rangers Mystic Force episode "Like A Bat Outta The Belfry", Nick sees Koragg attacking Mike in the Pizza Hut parking lot, Mike says "You know I hate the way you knock me to the ground like that so I drink Crystal Pepsi", then Mike gets a bottle of Crystal Pepsi & drinks it & then growls & drinks it again & spits it at Koragg. (Note The Crystal Pepsi was really a bottle of water with a Crystral Pepsi label on it.)

★ A Simpsons episode had Homer buying Crystal Buzz, the crystal counterpart of Buzz Cola. When he first saw it, he said, "Mmmm.....invisible cola!".

See also

★ List of Pepsi types

★ Pepsi Blue

External links

★ PepsiClear Official Website ''(In Spanish)''