Good news for HFCS haters: Pepsi & Mt. Dew about to release a limited run with sugar!

[Sebastian Doyle]

Now if only they would put it in glass bottles......

Per some forum members at BevNET involved with Pepsi sales, we know that the retro flavors will be arriving in regular 20 oz. bottles with new labels. The Pepsi bottle uses the imprinted 'wave' pattern we first saw with the redesign of the Diet Pepsi line and introduction of Diet Pepsi Max in 2007.

Meanwhile, the Dew bottle maintains its vertical 'swirl' pattern. We saw these being used heavily last summer with the "DEWmocracy 3"… Mountain Dew Supernova, Mountain Dew Revolution, and Mountain Dew Voltage (by the way, Voltage won that vote).

Of interest, however, is that the label design might not follow the previous images filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. An internal promotional piece of artwork shared with the Pepsi Bottling Group illustrates a completely different look.
Pepsi Throwback
(Source: Pepsi Bottling Group)

The Pepsi bottle showcases the logo design used from 1973-91, with the Pepsi font in non-italic sitting inside the two halves of what we now refer to as the Pepsi Globe. The light, baby blue color also makes a return as an accent in the background, which is prominently white, split between a red and blue bar. It's very 80s feeling, taking on the red/white/blue color scheme that Pepsi was known for before they claimed "blue" as their official color in 1998.

The label has a weathered look, reflecting the style used during the Pepsi Retro campaign in Mexico last year. The phrase "Made with Real Sugar" adorns the top of the label, with "Refreshingly Retro" and "Limited Time Offer" in smaller print on the bottom. In fact, the "Refreshingly Retro" tagline seems to be something that Pepsi is running with here, given that it's the title of this trade piece. The last time Pepsi did a retro-themed bottle design for a mainstream product was 2004's Pepsi Holiday Spice, which was favorable accepted for its look, but apparently didn't sell well enough to warrant its return.
Mountain Dew Throwback
(Source: Pepsi Bottling Group)

On the Mountain Dew side of things, we see a return to the 'box' logo used throughout the 1970s/80s. It has a bit of a rounded top/bottom to it, but still remains the logo most folks would remember (and references Pepsi's trademark filing for the Throwback lineup).

Instead of using the references Pepsi's trademark filing previously-noted font for "Throwback" which we saw with the patent office submission — which seemed to be the same font used in the controversial new Pepsi logo — PepsiCo has gone with more of a cartoony, upper-case font to denote "Throwback" under the traditional Dew logo. It's not a very integrated way to do it, but for the customer that this product is targeting, it probably doesn't matter. Like its Pepsi sibling, the phrase "Made with Real Sugar" adorns the top of the label, with "Refreshingly Retro" and "Limited Time Offer" sitting below the logo.

It should be noted that the bottom of the information provided to the Pepsi Bottling Group regarding the design of the Throwback products have the following disclaimer: "Visuals are directional only. Final executions may vary." So this might not be the final artwork. We will see!

Per a report by Serious Eats, the pricepoint for both of these products will be the same as regular high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) sweetened Pepsi and Dew. Their availability will be from April 20-June 13, which gives you just 54 days to enjoy sugar-sweetened goodness in these beverages. Is it any coincidence that the availability of these drinks just happens to be around Passover, traditionally the time when both Kosher Coke and Kosher Pepsi have been previously available? Hmmm….

http://www.bevreview.com/2009/02/19/bottle-designs-revealed-for-pepsi-throwback-mountain-dew-throwback/

I'm not a Pepsi drinker, but hopefully this will prompt Coca Cola to expand their own US sugar operations beyond the severely limited "Kosher Coke" run. And beyond that, hopefully both companies will take the hint from skyrocketing sales to keep the "retro" formula and dump the corn poison. And I might just buy a case or two of the Mountain Dew to help them out. Always did like that stuff, before it went corny.