The Brief History of Crystal Pepsi

Anyone who grew up in the 1990s is likely to recall the pure-looking Crystal Pepsi

Part of the clear cola craze, clear Pepsi was supposed to be the next big thing

But what happened? Today, we're going to take a look at why Crystal Pepsi was the choice of a new generation, but not for long

Okay, right now, catch a magic moment. Do it. Right here and now

It means everything. Crystal Pepsi was first released in 1992, making its debut in a limited number of regional guinea pig markets

including Denver, Colorado, Sacramento, California, Dallas, Texas, and Providence, Rhode Island. After establishing that there was a cry, nay, a demand for a smooth, clear, cola-esque soda

the company opted to release the product to stores nationwide. By 1993, supermarkets across the nation had received an influx of Crystal Pepsi

But by then, it wasn't the only brand of clear soda on the shelves

The success that Pepsi had seen in their trial run of the product had leaked out to competitors

particularly their chief competitor, Coca-Cola. Sniffing an opportunity, Coke decided to jump into the new market with its own brand of clear

cola, Tab Clear. Before interested consumers could even decide which one they preferred

they found themselves in the middle of a full-blown clear cola battle royale

Shoppers were quickly inundated with more clear soda options than they knew what to do with

and the intense competition didn't turn out to be good for anyone involved

On December 14, 1992, Coca-Cola decided it was time to roll up their corn syrup-stained sleeves

and released their very own clear soda in an effort to compete with Pepsi's Crystal Pepsi

released only one week earlier. Sold under the moniker Tab Clear, Coke claimed they wanted to avoid creating too direct a

comparison with its own Coke-specific label. They then added insult to injury by stating that Clear Coke is an oxymoron, and that to

create a Clear Coke modeled directly off of Pepsi's would simply be aiming too low

Still, many critics said that Coca-Cola's decision to align their clear marketing push

with Tab, a sub-brand marketed almost exclusively to older women, would place limits on consumer

interest and essentially hand the market over to Pepsi In truth though there was a much more devious reasoning at work behind the strategy Years later Coke executives would admit that they chose Tab to be the competitor in an effort to deliberately confuse consumers into thinking Crystal Pepsi was a diet soda diet sodas being significantly less popular than regular brands

Tab Clear was specifically designed to fail as a product and take Crystal Pepsi down with it

And after just a few months, the plan worked like a charm. As it has become the trend for many companies year after year

Pepsi decided to promote their big new product at the Super Bowl. With the help of a commercial that aligned almost perfectly with early 90s consumer ideals

Crystal Pepsi was strewn across television sets nationwide, accompanied by the sounds of Van Halen's hit single, Right Now

The commercial featured images of the clear soda alongside inspiring video clips

The clips also bizarrely included puzzling images of an animated baby who appeared to be crawling around in what might be a desert or the bottom of the ocean

That was followed promptly by a chaotically spinning watch, a reminder that right now computers still can't laugh

shots of animals running in the wild, and other such allegedly thought-provoking imagery

What was the point of all the weird imagery? Apparently, the message was intended to be that there's no time like the present to enjoy a pure, crisp, clear Crystal Pepsi

So drink it right now. Apparently, the marketing execs thought a cartoon baby and musings about robots would convey that message

Oh, in the 90s, so mysterious. Though many Crystal Pepsi supporters originally believed the innovative soda was akin to when the chocolate industry began to sell white chocolate

it quickly became apparent such evaluations were wishful thinking. Due at least in part to an oversaturated market, the clear cola craze didn't last long in the U.S. or abroad

Within a year of Crystal Pepsi's initial release, the market became so inundated with copycat sodas and a host of other clear products that they were all essentially burned out

Pepsi had no choice but to pull back the product and rethink the brand

After the unanticipated downfall of the Crystal Pepsi launch in 1993, PepsiCo pulled the product from shelves and tried to reinterpret its clear cola goals from a new perspective

The result was two eerily similar products, both sporting the same visual appeal as Crystal Pepsi

but each with a slight twist of their own. The first variation on the original released soon after the removal of Crystal Pepsi was called Crystal Despite appearing incredibly similar to the original product and having virtually the same name

Crystal was actually a citrus-flavored beverage rather than another clear cola. The second and final variation came about a year later in 1995 under PepsiCo's sub-brand 7-Up

and was called 7-Up Ice Cola. As if taking a page from Coca-Cola's book

PepsiCo executives decided to use the smaller brand for this experiment. Not yet being privy to the reason Coke had selected Tab to compete with Crystal Pepsi

they likely just assumed that it was safer than risking their flagship product's name once again

And it turned out to be a good decision, as neither soda made any impact on the market

In 2013, a now-defunct satire website known as the Wall Street Sentinel made an announcement

that put the presumably tiny community of clear soda lovers on high alert. The rumors being spread

suggested Crystal Pepsi would make a valiant return to supermarket shelves in early 2014

Whether people didn't quite realize the site was satire or simply wanted to live in a state of

suspended disbelief is hard to say. Whatever the case, the examiner quickly got to the bottom of

the rumors and by February 2014 determined that there was just no truth to them. So to the

disappointment of those who got excited at the prospect, Crystal Pepsi was not actually coming

back. Yet. Just as the memory of Crystal Pepsi once again began to fade from public consciousness

a trained competitive eater named Kevin Strahl literally heaved the beverage back into relevancy

Thanks to a 2013 viral YouTube video in which Strahl quickly quaffed and then 45 seconds later

vomited every drop of a two-decade-old bottle of the stuff, a new passion for the soda was ignited

In the video, Strahl expresses misgivings about drinking the soda, which he says he paid too much money for

Deciding to drink it anyway, he says he hopes it will be like getting an Italian machine with Doc Brown

back to 1993, so he can feel like a kid again. Things take a turn for the worse after his first few sips, though

He feels an inexplicable compulsion to chug the rest, at which point his body decided it did not want to be part of this plan

And let's just say, if you're planning to seek out the video, we advise you to beware the 3 minute and 50 second mark and beyond

You're welcome. Despite the fact that the drink made him purge his Pepsi

the video viral success for some weird reason led to the beginning of an internet petition to bring back Crystal Pepsi

Nearly two decades after the failed experiment that was Crystal Pepsi, Strahl's viral video led to a resurgence in popular demand for the beverage that caught

the attention of the PepsiCo marketing team. This set the stage for the development of a

consumer study to determine whether bringing back the soda full-time would be worthwhile

And so the Crystal Pepsi Sweepstakes was born. In a 24-hour submission crunch, people were invited to use 1,000 of the Pepsi pass points

that they had apparently already earned to enter the sweepstakes through either the Pepsi

mobile app or the company's website. The prize? A six-pack of highly sought-after Crystal Pepsi

And for those who hadn't gathered enough Pepsi stubs to reach the 1,000-point threshold

Pepsi generously provided promo codes for the value on their social media accounts

The company then selected 13,000 lucky winners to receive the soda packs

On August 8, 2016, Crystal Pepsi made a surprising, if brief, return to supermarket shelves

thanks to an apparent resurrection of consumer demand. Due in part to a Change.org petition, Pepsi decided it was time to give marketing efforts

for the defunct soda another go. Using a scarcity tactic to entice consumers to buy

Pepsi announced the limited release of Crystal Pepsi in both the US and Canada

with a 20-ounce can priced at $179 in US dollars. While no one knows exactly why PepsiCo brought back the product just then

some believe the sudden resurfacing of the drink could have had something to do with the fact that soda sales in the US had been plummeting

In an interview with Fast Company, the person credited with the creation of Crystal Pepsi, David Novak, provided his own insights on

the subtle rise and sudden fall of the product. Asked about what he took away from that debacle

Novak called the whole thing a tremendous learning experience. He went on to explain that he still

thought it was the best idea he ever had, though he admitted the execution left a lot to be desired

In Novak's own words, people were saying we should stop and address some issues along the way

And they were right. It would have been nice if we made sure the product tasted good

The sobriety with which Novak is able to reflect on the failure of a product so close to his heart

shows the dedication with which PepsiCo's attempts to market the beverage were made

However, whether he was right that an improved flavor or reconfigured marketing strategy

would have saved the beverage will likely forever remain a mystery