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A Crystal Pepsi Retrospective on its 20th birthday

Posted in advertising, Pepsi, pop culture, soda with tags advertising, Crystal Pepsi, Pepsi, pop culture, soda, sodapalooza on April 12, 2012 by Paxton

Today is the 20th birthday of Crystal Pepsi. So in honor of our see through friend, I thought I’d take a look back at one of the more maligned soda drinks of our time.

In the ’90s there was a movement within America that equated clarity with purity. Pepsi decided to jump on this trend and create a colorless decaffeinated soda. Pepsi hoped that people would notice a colorless soda above other darker sodas and think that it’s more pure due to it’s colorless appearance and assume it would have less artificial coloring. Pepsi dubbed their new soda Crystal Pepsi and released it and a diet version to 9 test markets in early 1992.

After the drink faired well in test markets, a huge marketing campaign was developed and Crystal Pepsi was released nationwide in April 1992 to huge fanfare. The commercials were shown during Super Bowl XXVII. The Van Halen single “Right Now” was used on the commercials and the tagline for the soda was, “You’ve never seen a taste like this!”

Many people don’t remember, but Crystal Pepsi did well the first year grabbing almost 1% of the soda market. It did well enough to cause Coca-Cola to develop and release Tab Clear in December 1992. In 1993, however, the interest waned. Crystal Pepsi didn’t taste any different than regular dark Pepsi, which confused people because clear colas usually have a citrus taste. Sales dropped off and Pepsi pulled it off shelves. It was quickly reformulated into Crystal by Pepsi which was still colorless, but had a citrus taste like everyone expected.

By then, though, the damage was done and Pepsi canceled the soda in America in late 1993 – 1994. Crystal Pepsi continued to sell well in Europe for another year or so but was eventually canceled there also. The Crystal Clear concept quickly became a joke and was mocked on late night talk shows and eventually in a classic Saturday Night Live commercial, Crystal Gravy (via Redux).

PepsiCo quickly moved on and Crystal Pepsi eventually became a shameful footnote in the company’s history (a la New Coke). As a special promotion, however, Pepsi did release a Pepsi Clear in Mexico in 2005. Presumably, it used the same Crystal Pepsi formula. I’m unsure if it had a citrus flavor or not.

More soda history:
1. Misunderstood: The Saga of New Coke
2. The Story of OK Soda
3. Pepsi Patio: The Secret Origin of Diet Pepsi

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Nerd Lunch Episode 32: Nerd Heritage

Posted in movies, podcast, pop culture with tags movies, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts, pop culture on April 10, 2012 by Paxton

We had a completely different show all ready to go this week, but the guest had to bow out at the last minute, so our friend Fitz fills in last second to help us out. The topic? Nerd Heritage.

Within the walls of this podcast we all discuss how we became nerds. We also talk about how we want to pass on our nerd legacies to our children (by ignoring wifely protests). It’s a fun topic that was sort of “gently inspired” by a topic the Atomic Geeks did for their episode 148 called Geek Dads.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, we are still on the Zune Marketplace.

Creating a fantasy baseball team of movie ball players

Posted in movies, pop culture with tags LEB, movies, pop culture, sports on April 5, 2012 by Paxton

I took a few weeks off from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers due to several other things going on here with the blog and podcasting. But I like the new assignment Brian gave us this week so I’m jumping back in.

This week, Brian asks us to write about baseball. Anything we want. Now, I’m not a huge baseball fan. I’ve played Fantasy Baseball like once in my life and I never watch the game. However, I do enjoy going to baseball games and I also enjoy baseball movies and video games. I pondered reviewing one of my favorite games Baseball Simulator 1.000 for the Nintendo Entertainment System but I decided to go with an article I almost did for the League’s Expendables Week. I’m going to field a ball team with baseball players from movies.

I went through all of my favorite baseball movies and I’m picking the best players for each position. And by the best players, I mean, my favorite players. So grab your peanuts and Cracker Jacks and let’s play ball!

My fantasy team:

1st Base – Lou Gehrig (Pride of the Yankees) – As played by Gary Cooper in the classic 1944 movie about the baseball great.

2nd Base – Joe Hardy (Damn Yankees!) – Pretty boy Tab Hunter portrayed Hardy in the classic 1958 movie based on the popular stage play. The character of Hardy sold his soul to the Devil, literally, to be a bad ass baseball player. So yes, he’s on the team.

Benny the Jet
Shortstop – Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez (The Sandlot) – Obviously, not the kid version, but the older veteran version from the end of the movie. “The Jet” is fast so he’d be a great shortstop and he would most likely be my lead off batter.

Spike Nolan
3rd Base – Roy Hobbs (The Natural) – Because he’s “The Natural”. Probably one of the single greatest ball players in the history of Hollywood. I would have played him at pitcher (he was able to strike out “The Whammer”), but I have plenty of other talent there. I also thought of putting him in the outfield, but I really needed someone at 3rd Base, and Roy can play any position on the field. So he’s covering 3rd.

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Nerd Lunch Episode 31: Nerdy Lunchy Bucket List

Posted in Boba Fett, movies, pop culture, Star Wars with tags movies, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts, pop culture, Star Wars on April 4, 2012 by Paxton

Episode 31 is live and ready to be shot into your ear on a rocket sled. In this episode Jeeg, CT and I do a “3 way dance”, ie we fly without a fourth chair and just talk amongst the three of us. Our subject? Life, man. We just sit and talk about life, love and just being alive, my friend.

Just kidding, this isn’t an Oprah podcast. This week we are talking about our own personal Nerd Bucket Lists. You know, the list of things I’d like to do before I die in a hail of gunfire and lightsaber blades.

Actually, CT has deemed it Nerdy Lunchy Buckety List, or something like that. We list things we’d like to do, places we’d like to eat and places we’d like to go before we kick the bucket. We even discuss a few bucket list items we’d like to do before we retire from podcasting in like 50-60 years (trust me, you’ll be stuck with the Nerd Lunch Podcast for a while).

So download this episode and start thinking about your own demise. It’s fun.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, we are still on the Zune Marketplace.

Happy Atari National Pac-Man Day

Posted in Atari, Pac-Man, pop culture, video games with tags Atari, Cavalcade Arcade, Pac-Man, pop culture, video games on April 3, 2012 by Paxton

30 years ago today on April 3, 1982, Atari announced National Pac-Man Day.

National Pac-Man Day coincided with the release of Atari’s port of the Pac-Man arcade game.

Via John Mundy

Despite that game being one of the worst ports of a game ever created, it was the highest selling game of the year and received an enormous marketing push from Atari.

Above is an ad touting the popularity of Pac-Man and it includes pictures from Pac-Man release parties all over the world. Atari even held several Pac-Man Championships. Here’s an ad for the UK Championship.

Atari’s Pac-Man, along with E.T., probably killed not only Atari but the entire home console video game market. At least for 4 or 5 years until the Nintendo Entertainment System took off. Because, despite selling millions of Pac-Man cartridges (as well as E.T.), Atari had over estimated demand and made many, many more than was sold and they were left with tons of extra cartridges.

So, enjoy Atari National Pac-Man Day! One of the nerdiest holidays ever!