Type Diet Pepsi Country of origin United States | Manufacturer PepsiCo | |
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Introduced 2007 (as Diet Pepsi MAX); 2009 (as Pepsi MAX); 2016 (as Pepsi Zero Sugar) Related products | ||
Pepsi Zero Sugar (known as Diet Pepsi Max until early 2009 and Pepsi Max until August 2016), is a zero-calorie, sugar-free, carbohydrate-free, ginseng-infused cola sweetened with aspartame, marketed by PepsiCo. It has nearly twice the caffeine of Pepsi's other cola beverages. Pepsi used airtime during Super Bowl XLII to advertise the beverage; the commercial featured the song "What Is Love" by Haddaway, and showed people sleeping in inappropriate places and at inappropriate times, while bobbing their heads to the rhythm of the song. Pepsi Max's current slogan in the US is "Maximum taste. Zero calories." In July 2010, Pepsi Max had a commercial remake from the 1995 diner commercial. The commercial includes the song "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by War. In 2011, Snoop Dogg was featured in an ad campaign around the time of Super Bowl XLV.
Contents
In Fall 2016, PepsiCo renamed the drink Pepsi Zero Sugar from Pepsi Max.
Product information
Pepsi Zero Sugar contains 69 milligrams of caffeine per 355ml (12 fl oz). Diet Pepsi contains 36 milligrams of caffeine per 355ml (12 fl oz).
History
Diet Pepsi Max was introduced in the United States on June 1, 2007 and in Canada in March, 2008. "Diet" was dropped from the name in early 2009.
On June 29, 2016, PepsiCo announced several product changes which, among other changes, announced that Pepsi Max would be renamed in North America as Pepsi Zero Sugar. It is not known if it will come into trademark conflict with Coca-Cola, which uses the "zero" moniker for Pepsi Max's primary competitor Coca-Cola Zero, as well as Sprite Zero. The unrelated international drink will retain the Pepsi Max name.
Marketing
Pepsi Zero Sugar (formally Pepsi Max) competes in the energy drink market. Compared with other common energy drinks, Pepsi Zero Sugar gives the consumer a relatively low dose of caffeine. Pepsi Zero Sugar provides 5.75 mg caffeine per 30ml, while Red Bull provides 9.64 mg/30ml, AMP Energy provides 8.93 mg/30ml, Monster Energy provides 10 mg/30ml and Cocaine provides 33.14 mg/30ml.
The product is marketed as an 'Invigorating Cola' implying it is meant to compete in the energy drink market. The official marketing website for previously-named Pepsi Max, contains an 'odd cast' featuring a spoofed telethon urging viewers to donate yawns and uses the slogan 'WAKE UP PEOPLE'. Also, there was a featured commercial of a spoof on the Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator yawning, when calling a play, thus, causing Tony Romo to be sacked, he was then replaced by Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones who gives him a Diet Pepsi Max. The scene then cuts away to the words "WAKE UP PEOPLE" while a voiceover shouts the slogan.
Although technically a competitor in the energy drink market, Pepsi Zero Sugar commercials present the beverage as an alternative to Diet Pepsi.
After the 2009 Super Bowl commercial aired, another, more recent campaign (including television and radio advertisements) has emphasized that the product is intended to be a men's diet cola. In one commercial, entitled "I'm Good," men are shown in various dangerous and painful situations, and after each brief sequence, the "injured" actor states, "I'm good!" The take-away message is that men can handle anything, except for the taste of the average diet cola. Pepsi Max is intended to be the diet cola that men will enjoy. Another commercial entitled "Ingredients" shows men in various situations listing fictitious ingredients that essentially make Pepsi Max seem "tough." The fictitious ingredients include pepper spray (as a sweetener), scorpion venom, crushed Viking bones, and the saliva of a rabid wolverine. The actors also state that the can is made from the hull of a nuclear submarine, and subsequently crush the cans in their bare hands, stating, "I just crushed the hull of a nuclear submarine." This commercial ends with "Maximum Taste, No Sugar, and Maybe Scorpion Venom. Pepsi Max, the First Diet Cola for Men," signaling a definitively different message than the one used in the "WAKE UP PEOPLE" advertisements. These more recent commercials have portrayed Pepsi Zero Sugar consumers as unremarkable, average, and heavy men, explicitly identifying the target market.
In early 2010, Pepsi released a limited edition called "Pepsi Max Cease Fire." It is Diet Pepsi Lime in the Pepsi Max formula, and is being cross-promoted with Doritos Burn flavors. In July 2010, Pepsi Zero Sugar, then under the Pepsi Max name, was once again redesigned, this time to match its global branding. In the process, Pepsi Max began using the medium-sized "smile." The "Max" typeface was changed to appear similar to what is used worldwide, and a distorted blue background borders the Pepsi globe.
Pepsi MAX was also advertised by "Uncle Drew" with the slogan "Get Buckets."
Richard Speight, Jr. is the "Pepsi Max" delivery guy for all commercials the last two years, with ads featuring major baseball and football stars, and also with Snoop Dogg and 4-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, who worked with Pepsi Max in 2013 to create Pepsi MAX & Jeff Gordon Present: Test Drive, along with Road Trip to the Race Track two years prior. Pepsi Max also sponsored Gordon's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne during the 2013 Cup Series season.
Coca-Cola produces Pepsi Zero Sugar's primary competing product, Coke Zero, another zero calorie soda.
Ingredient list
Carbonated Water, Caramel Color, Phosphoric acid, Aspartame, Potassium Benzoate, Caffeine, Natural flavor, Acesulfame potassium, Citric acid, Calcium disodium EDTA, Panax ginseng extract.