Pepsi Blue

PepsiCo brought out a berry-flavored soft drink by the name Pepsi Blue in mid 2002. It was discontinued in the US and Canada in 2004 but some countries still continue selling it. They created the berry flavor after testing tastes of over a hundred other flavors over a nine month long span to compete with rival Coca Cola's Vanilla Coke. A lot of drinkers said that the flavor o the Pepsi Blue was identical to cotton candy with an aftertaste of berries. Some said it tasted like raspberry and some said it was blueberries but Pepsi preferred to call it just "berry" and it tasted much sweeter and more syrupy than ordinary cola. The color of the drink came from Blue 1, a very controversial coloring that had been banned in many countries.

Pepsi Blue was widely endorsed by Britney Spears, Sev and Papa Roach and also featured in the remake of the original hit movie The Italian Job. But in spite of such publicity sales remained low and it was perceived as a commercial failure for the brand Pepsi.

The New York Mets also promoted the drink in summer 2002 because the color blue was their symbolic color too. Also included in promotional activities was the handing out of free Pepsi Blue bottles as samples from a Pepsi Blue themed VW New Beetle at shopping malls around the US.

Pepsi Blue contains Carbonated water, High fructose corn syrup and/or Sugar, Citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, Phosphoric acid, Potassium citrate, Potassium benzoate and Potassium sorbate (to preserve freshness), Caffeine, Gum arabic, Ascorbic acid and Calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor), blue 1, red 40. It also contains 25 mg of caffeine.

Wiki

History

Blue was launched in mid-2002 and discontinued in Canada and the United States in 2004, although it remains available in some other countries. Its berry flavor was the result of taste-testing over 100 flavors over a 9-month period. Designed to compete with Coca-Cola'sVanilla Coke, it is sometimes compared to New Coke, a second failure along with the much-maligned Crystal Pepsi. The flavor of Pepsi Blue was described by Pepsi only as "berry" and described by drinkers as like blueberries or raspberries, or similar to cotton candy with a berry-like aftertaste and much more sugary and syrupy than regular cola. It was tinted using Blue 1, a highly controversial coloring agent banned in numerous countries at the time. The move to make a brightly-colored version of the flagship Pepsi brand was spurred by 2001's introduction of Mountain Dew Code Red, which had bumped PepsiCo's Mountain Dew division sales up 6%.

Promotion

Although heavily promoted by PepsiCo (including advertisements by the pop singer Britney Spears and the bands Sev and Papa Roach, as well as in the movies The Italian Job and Garfield: The Movie), it is widely seen as a commercial flop as sales remained low. Even with the failure of Pepsi Blue, PepsiCo still managed to post double-digit growth. Also, multiple groups claim to be "bringing back" Pepsi Blue, but are so far unsuccessful. Pepsi has since denied any plans to bring back Pepsi Blue.

In Manila, Philippines, Pepsi Blue was sold for a limited time in late 2002 to commemorate the championship of the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the UAAP.

Pepsi Blue was promoted after New York Mets games during the summer of 2002, where the color blue was one of the symbolic colors of the ball club. Other promotions included handing out free bottles from a Pepsi Blue themed VW New Beetle at popular shopping centers around the country. Jolt makes a similar beverage called Jolt Blue CX2; a blue raspberry soda in a battery shaped metal can with a flavor often described as like that of cotton candy.

It was introduced in India during the 2003 Cricket World Cup, where the Indian team had a blue colored kit.

Pepsi Blue is still available in Kuala Lumpur and other parts