Crystal Pepsi was PepsiCo's famously transparent cola, born from 1,000 product concepts and 3,000 formulations chasing the healthy-eating trend of the early '90s. It swapped caramel color for modified food starch, carried 20 fewer calories than standard Pepsi, and reportedly tasted less acidic. Launched in 1992 with a massive marketing campaign, it was an instant sensation — clear soda felt like the future in a bottle, and it captured a 1% share of the US soft drink market in its first year.
The future turned out to be short. Consumer enthusiasm tailed off quickly, and Coca-Cola launched Tab Clear as a deliberate copy designed to sabotage it. Production ceased in late 1993, barely a year after launch, and something genuinely original was taken off the shelves before it had a fair chance. What was lost wasn't just a cola — it was a small, strange, confident idea that actually made it out of the lab.
We're asking PepsiCo to bring Crystal Pepsi back — even a limited run, even a respectful revival. The love never died: a grassroots campaign via telephone and the Internet brought it back in sporadic limited releases starting in 2016, and demand clearly remains. The signatures below aren't nostalgia on autopilot; they're proof that a clear cola with 1,000 concepts behind it still has people ready to buy it.
— filed by the fans of Crystal Pepsi, at products.rip
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