Product information

Pepsi Max contains 69 milligrams of caffeine

Caffeine

Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants...

 per 355ml (12 fl oz). Diet Pepsi

Diet Pepsi

Diet Pepsi is a no-calorie carbonated cola soft drink produced by PepsiCo, introduced in 1964 as a variant of Pepsi-Cola with no sugar. First test marketed in 1963 under the name Patio Diet Cola, it was re-branded as Diet Pepsi the following year, becoming the first diet cola to be distributed on a...

 contains 24 milligrams of caffeine per 237ml.

History

Diet Pepsi Max was introduced in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 on June 1, 2007 and in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in March, 2008. "Diet" was dropped from the name in early 2009.

Marketing

Pepsi Max competes in the energy drink market. Compared with other common energy drinks, Pepsi Max gives the consumer a relatively low dose of caffeine. Pepsi Max provides 5.75 mg caffeine per 30ml, while Red Bull

Red Bull

Red Bull is an energy drink sold by the Austrian Red Bull GmbH, created in 1987 by the Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz. In terms of market share, Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world, with 3 billion cans sold each year. Dietrich Mateschitz was inspired by an already...

 provides 9.64 mg/30ml, AMP Energy provides 8.93 mg/30ml, Monster Energy

Monster Energy

-Distribution :Though it is not widely advertised in the media, Monster receives a large amount of recognition from its sponsorship of various sporting events, including motocross and car racing. Hansen Natural Corporation announced a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch in the U.S. and Grupo...

 provides 10 mg/30ml and Cocaine (drink)

Cocaine (drink)

Cocaine is a highly caffeinated energy drink distributed by Redux Beverages. It contains more caffeine than rival energy drinks Red Bull and Rockstar, symbolized by three and a half steer heads on the label. Aside from caffeine, the label claims 750 milligrams of taurine, another common ingredient...

 provides 33.14 mg/30ml.

The product is marketed as an 'Invigorating Cola' implying it is meant to compete in the energy drink

Energy drink

Energy drinks are beverages whose producers advertise that they "boost energy." These advertisements usually do not emphasize energy derived from the sugar and caffeine they contain but rather increased energy release due to a variety of stimulants and vitamins....

 market. The official marketing website for 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

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

 offensive coordinator yawning, when calling a play, thus, causing Tony Romo

Tony Romo

Antonio Ramiro "Tony" Romo is a professional American football quarterback in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys. Romo's career passer rating - at 95.8 - ranks third-best all time. Tony Romo didn't play in the regular season in 2003, 2004, or 2005...

 to be sacked

Quarterback sack

In American football and Canadian football, a sack occurs when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before he can throw a forward pass, or when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in the "pocket" and the intent of what he was going to do is unclear...

, he was then replaced by Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones

Jerry Jones

Jerral "Jerry" Wayne Jones is the owner and general manager of the NFL team, the Dallas Cowboys.-Early life:Jones was born in Los Angeles, California. His family moved to North Little Rock, Arkansas when he was an infant. Jones was a star running back at North Little Rock High School...

 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 Max 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 Max 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

Doritos

Doritos is a brand of seasoned tortilla chips created by Arch West and produced since 1964 by the American food company Frito-Lay ....

 Burn flavors. In July 2010, Pepsi Max 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.
In 2011, Snoop Dogg was featured in an ad campaign around the time of the Super Bowl XLV.

4-time NASCAR

NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...

 champion driver Jeff Gordon

Jeff Gordon

Jeffery Michael "Jeff" Gordon is a professional NASCAR driver. He is the driver of the #24 Drive to End Hunger/DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet Impala. He is a four-time Sprint Cup Series champion and a three-time Daytona 500 winner. He is third on the all-time wins list, with 85 career wins, and has the...

, who has traditionally driven a Pepsi

Pepsi

Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...

 paint scheme twice a year, is scheduled to run a Pepsi Max scheme twice in 2010: February at Las Vegas and October at Auto Club.

Coca Cola produces Pepsi Max's primary competing product, Coke Zero, another zero calorie soda.

Ingredient List

Carbonated Water

Carbonated water

Carbonated water is water into which carbon dioxide gas under pressure has been dissolved, a process that causes the water to become effervescent....

, Caramel Color, Phosphoric acid

Phosphoric acid

Phosphoric acid, also known as orthophosphoric acid or phosphoric acid, is a mineral acid having the chemical formula H3PO4. Orthophosphoric acid molecules can combine with themselves to form a variety of compounds which are also referred to as phosphoric acids, but in a more general way...

, Aspartame

Aspartame

Aspartame is an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener used as a sugar substitute in some foods and beverages. In the European Union, it is codified as E951. Aspartame is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide. It was first sold under the brand name NutraSweet; since 2009 it...

, Potassium Benzoate

Potassium benzoate

Potassium benzoate , the potassium salt of benzoic acid, is a food preservative that inhibits the growth of mold, yeast and some bacteria...

, Caffeine, Natural flavor, Acesulfame potassium

Acesulfame potassium

Acesulfame potassium is a calorie-free artificial sweetener, also known as Acesulfame K or Ace K , and marketed under the trade names Sunett and Sweet One. In the European Union, it is known under the E number E950...

, Citric acid

Citric acid

Citric acid is a weak organic acid. It is a natural preservative/conservative and is also used to add an acidic, or sour, taste to foods and soft drinks...

, Calcium disodium EDTA, Panax ginseng

Ginseng

Ginseng is any one of eleven species of slow-growing perennial plants with fleshy roots, belonging to the genus Panax of the family Araliaceae....

extract.

External links

• PepsiCo