Embarrassment is no fun.
Everyone has been embarrassed by something at one time or another.
Even big companies get embarrassed.
Let’s face it, everyone makes mistakes - some bigger than others.
Now let’s take a look at ten Mountain Dew soda drinks that embarrassed the company.
Mountain Dew A.M.
This version of Mountain Dew was meant to be consumed in the, yup, you guessed it, the
morning.
Yes, Mountain Dew does have plenty of caffeine in it and could act as an alternative to coffee,
but that does not mean it should be.
Consuming Mountain Dew in the morning will wake you up, but may not be the healthiest
to start the day.
The Mountain Dew A.M wasjust Mountain Dew mixed with orange juice.
Orange juice is an obvious breakfast favorite.
It is also very mixable.
People mix orange juice with champagne, creating a holiday or special occasion drink we all
know as the mimosa.
People mix orange juice with vodka, creating a quick and easy cocktail called the screw
driver.
But, were we really looking for another orange juice mixer?
If you don’t think this is that bad give it a try…
You’ll see that the Mountain Dew A.M is just not the best way to start your morning
and you’ll surely be longing for a mimosa instead.
Mountain Dew Pitch Black II: Sour Black Grape
During the 2004 Halloween season Mountain Dew released a sour grape drink they called
Mountain Dew Pitch Black.
The drink was successful enough for it to be brought back the following Halloween.
This drink was the only sequel Mountain Dew ever made, and will probably be the last.
Why the last?
Well the company makes so many different flavors, under so many different names, that having
something come back with the same name is kind of odd for them.
This drink was also kind of a fail because it was sour.
It tasted like a candy drink that you can only have a little bit of.
It’s not something you drink alongside your meal.
It was really sour and sweet and kind of coated your teeth in stickiness.
Grape is also a hit or miss.
Many people adore grape flavor and others just can’t take it.
The grape flavor was probably chosen because of its dark color that could easily be transmitted
into a sour Halloween themed soda.
Just what Halloween was missing!
Not.
Mountain Dew Supernova
Let’s all just commend the name of this one…
Mountain Dew Supernova… like when suns explode.
That sounds cool.
That name is pretty hip and unlike any other soda name out there.
The Mountain Dew was said to give a blast of strawberry melon flavor and ginseng.
It was a very bright magenta color and was not actually consistent from one country to
the next.
In Europe, the Supernova has raspberry lemon flavor and was orange.
That sounds like a whole other drink, no?
Why would they sell two different sodas under the same name?
They do enough variations that they could have just made this into two instead of lumping
them together.
Mountain Dew’s lack of consistency was pretty silly and confused customers.
Imagine traveling to Europe and going to buy a Mountain Dew Supernova and finding out that
it is something completely different than what you had in North America?
Yes, having some variation in different countries can be cool.
Like going to a McDonalds in India versus England, or Thailand, or Switzerland, or Canada.
They all have slightly different things.
But, this situation with the Mountain Dew Supernova is nothing like that.
This is not the variation of a whole restaurant chain, but of the flavor in one product.
Mountain Dew Supernova is not just Mountain Dew Supernova it is different wherever you
go and this sucks because it means you cannot trust the company to give you what you want.
Mountain Dew really messed up on this one because it had customers losing faith in them.
The Mountain Dew Supernova was a breach in trust between the company and the customer.
Mountain Dew Sangrita Blast
Let’s all be clear on this: this is the Mountain Dew Sangrita, and not Sangria.
Oh, this was really embarrassing because it did not offer drinkers the sangria that they
hoped to find.
The Mountain Dew Sangrita Blast was obviously nonalcoholic and nothing like sangria.
For those not in the know, sangrita is a chaser.
It is meant to be served with a shot of tequila.
The acidity from the tequila would be highlighted by the chaser and cleanse the palate.
Did the company think that people would buy this, bring it home, and use it as a chaser
with tequila?
If they did they were assuming a lot.
The word looks an awful lot like sangria and probably had young and old alike thinking
they were getting a wine and fruit flavored soda, when they just weren’t.
Mountain Dew tried to be a little bit too hard with this one.
They also served this primarily in Taco Bell’s.
Having it as an option in a fast food joint totally removes any mixing opportunities.
Furthermore, if you see this listed among many other drinks you are probably only seeing
sangria, which again, is not at all what the drink represents.
This was a word play fail that had people confused, unhappy, and wishing they actually
had a proper sangria.
Mountain Dew DEW-S-A
Mountain Dew offers so many different versions of their sodas, in so many unique colors,
this should just create their own little Dew rainbow.
The Mountain Dew DEW-S-A is documented as being “dark magenta”.
This was created to support Memorial Day and Independence Day in the US.
It was similar to Liberty Brew, yes, they have another patriotic blend in their very
large history of blends.
This new product was supposed to make you feel patriotic and taste new but it just didn’t
do that.
The company’s word play was embarrassing because it was actually missed by many people
who are not saying the names of their sodas out loud.
When spoke, DEW-S-A does sound like USA, but if you read it you completely miss this analogy
and think SA is an acronym for something else, but you don’t know what…
The most hilarious part about this is that customers expect random things from Mountain
Dew, so if people were expecting SA to stand for something, but they couldn’t figure
out what it is they likely let it go!
Why would you keep hunting to figure it out?
Especially, if you’re pretty sure the flavor will be gone again before you know it.
Mountain Dew Holiday Brew
Imagine this: your feeling jolly, got a holiday tune stuck in your head, you’re waiting
in line to buy Christmas gifts, and you see a bright red soda in the impulse buy fridges
near the cash.
What could it be?
As you approached you see a familiar Mountain Dew logo, but this promises to be different
than your regular Mountain Dew, this one is an “ultimate holiday blend” and, not only
that, it is also “NEW!”
You immediately think that buying this is festive and a good idea, but you do not know
that in fact it is just a mix of the Code Red Mountain Dew and the original Mountain
Dew.
There’s nothing holiday about this blend other than its color.
Not that you really want a candy cane or ginger bread soda in the first place… but still…
if it promises to be a Holiday brew you expect a little bit of holiday magic.
The Holiday Brew was only available during the holiday season of 2017 and was replaced
the following year with the Merry Mash-Up.
Oh, what will this holiday season bring?
Mountain Dew Coolatta
The Mountain Dew Coolatta was not a soda per say, it was a slushie.
This was offered at select Dunkin’ Donuts and was released in 2011.
Apparently it had the texture of a smoothie.
Hmmmm…
Slushies and smoothies… this is exactly what we all think of when we think about soda,
right?
No, absolutely not!
If we wanted a slushie, we would go get one.
If we wanted a smoothie, we’d go get one of those or even just blend it up ourselves!
The Mountain Dew Coolatta was just trying to be too many things.
Mountain Dew lost reliability here, because customers went in looking for the soda they
loved and came out with some weird summery drink that was meant to be refreshing and
just like a Mountain Dew, but kind of wasn’t.
When a thing you know well changes into something to the point where you do not recognize that
original thing at all, well then it is something new and not what you wanted in the first place.
The Mountain Dew Coolatta only lasted one summer season… go figure.
Mountain Dew Dewshine
This next Mountain Dew actually ran for longer than one season.
The Mountain Dew Dewshine was launched on March 23, 2015 and was only discontinued in
February of 2017.
This version of Mountain Dew was seemingly very different and special because it was
sold in glass bottles!
Then, because consistency is just not their thing, they switched the format to a limited
edition twelve ounce jug.
This particular variation of the classic Mountain Dew was also neat because it harkened back
to the very, very original flavoring of the Mountain Dew, which was citrusy.
This is a fail because it could have been something cool, but it ended up being yet
another knock off of their own product that was not able to last.
Had they kept selling this in cases of four, it probably could have done very well.
Its name was also different enough that it could have been an accompanying product to
Mountain Dew.
Why can’t they just make new things, make them well, and keep them?
Stop embarrassing yourself Mountain Dew!
Mountain Dew Baja Blast
This next one on our list of Mountain Dew soda drinks that embarrassed the company is
the Mountain Dew Baja Blast.
This was tag-lined “DEW with a blast of Natural and Artificial tropical flavor”
and was advertised by Taco Bell as being like “A tropical lime storm”.
This drink was also aquamarine blue.
Like pool water.
Or like a cloudless sky in the summer time.
Appetizing, right?
The other interesting fact about this drink is that it was only released in select Taco
Bell restaurants and was said to have been chemically formulated to taste good when eaten
alongside the restaurants food.
Fail!
Who wants to drink something that looks like a kiddie pool and has been tinkered with to
only taste good with tacos?
That just sounds odd?!
It looks odd too!
The Mountain Dew Baja Blast was also released in a diet version.
Then, even though they said the drink was engineered to be eaten with Taco Bell food,
they started selling it in convenience stores.
Apparently it is still available today in select locations in the United States.
So, if you want your tongue to look like it licked a mermaid and your insides to be filled
with partially real and partially fake lime flavor then this beverage is for you!
Go ahead, try it!
Mountain Dew Spiked Raspberry Lemonade
This little Mountain Dew flavor has two names… it can be called Mountain Dew Spiked Raspberry
Lemonade or it can be called Mountain Dew Extra Raspberry Lemonade.
Why!?
Why does it have two names?
Pepsi Co, what were you thinking?
The names are so similar and yet just ever so slightly different.
What is the purpose of this?
Turns out that the drink was released as Spiked in the U.S and Extra in Canada.
We’re not exactly sure why they needed different names in each market but…they did.
This “Spiked”, or “Extra”, or whatever you want to call it, Mountain Dew was released
alongside a regular lemonade.
So, now not only does the company have two names, but it also has raspberry and lemonade
going on as well.
That is like four different products all lumped into one.
How ridiculous can this be?
This would not pass on Shark Tank that’s for sure!
Each shark would say that the effort is there but that the banding is not consistent enough
and for that reason they’re out.
Well, we are all OUT on this one Mountain Dew…
Don’t bring it back unless you have one stable product that can be recognized and
then even, may just even, found again a second time!
How do you expect to retain customers if they never know what your product will look like
or taste like?
Valid questions being asked here… no?
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