The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 1992–1994
Crystal Pepsi chased a clear-cola fad and fizzled out in under two years
Riding the early-'90s 'clear means pure' craze, Pepsi launched a colorless cola in 1992. It grabbed 1% of the market, then vanished as the novelty wore off.
PepsiCo · 1992-12
What happened
In the early 1990s, a 'clear craze' swept consumer goods: clarity was marketed as purity, from clear soaps to clear drinks. PepsiCo, led by a risk-taking management team, decided to ride the wave in the biggest soft-drink category of all. After 1,000 product concepts and 3,000 formulations, it created Crystal Pepsi — a colorless cola, made clear by swapping caramel coloring for modified food starch, with a slightly lighter taste and 20 fewer calories.
Launched nationwide in the US in late 1992 behind a big marketing campaign, Crystal Pepsi was an immediate sensation. In its first year it captured about one full percentage point of US soft-drink sales — roughly $474 million worth. But the buzz was novelty, not loyalty. Consumer enthusiasm faded fast, and Coca-Cola deliberately fired back with a 'kamikaze' clear copycat of its own, Tab Clear, designed to muddy the category and drag Crystal Pepsi down with it.
By late 1993, production of Crystal Pepsi had stopped; it was effectively gone from shelves by 1994. David Novak, the executive credited with the concept, later called it 'the best idea I ever had, and the worst executed,' adding: 'It would have been nice if I'd made sure the product tasted good.' Crystal Pepsi became a textbook case of chasing a trend — and has since enjoyed occasional nostalgia re-releases, which is about all that survived of it.
Why it happened
- Crystal Pepsi was built on a marketing fad ('clear means pure') rather than a durable consumer need or a meaningfully better product.
- Novelty drove the first purchase but gave people no reason to keep buying; enthusiasm collapsed once the newness wore off.
- Coca-Cola's deliberate 'kamikaze' copycat (Tab Clear) confused the category and accelerated the decline.
- The product's taste didn't earn repeat business — its own creator later admitted it should have tasted better.
The lesson
A fad is not a foundation. Novelty drives the first purchase, not the tenth — if your product's main feature is that it's new, you've built on sand. Make sure it tastes good enough to come back for.
Aftermath
Crystal Pepsi is taught as the classic example of a fad-driven product launch: huge awareness, a strong start, and nothing underneath to sustain it. Its creator's rueful verdict — best idea, worst execution, should have made it taste good — is now a standard quote in product and marketing courses. The clear-cola craze burned out across the industry within a couple of years. Pepsi has revived Crystal Pepsi a few times since 2016 as a nostalgia play, a reminder that a brand people remember fondly is not the same as a product they'll buy every week.
Sources
spotted an error? The club wants to know.
Comments · 0
Sign in to join the comments.