Crystal Pepsi

Cause of death

Killed by indifference

Made by

PepsiCo

Shoppers found a clear cola that tasted like cola confusing rather than futuristic.

Crystal Pepsi arrived at the peak of the early-nineties belief that clear meant pure, and lasted roughly a year at national scale. The product worked on its own terms; the positioning did not survive contact with people who expected a clear drink to taste like a clear drink. PepsiCo has since brought it back for several deliberately short nostalgia runs, which makes it one of the few entries here with a genuine afterlife.