Introduction: Pepsi and Coca-Cola are two juggernauts in the soda industry. The two have had a longstanding rivalry ever since the ‘80s, fighting over market shares, endorsements, and so on. And while both companies have had their highs, they’ve certainly also had lows. Most notably, Crystal Pepsi—a supposedly ‘healthier’ alternative to the drink—and New Coke—an adapted version of the classic beverage. These drinks are commonly known as two of the worst/most infamous marketing moves of all time. But, a question remains. In terms of taste and effect on their parent company, which drink was worse? 

Crystal Pepsi: The year is 1992, and diet culture is in full swing. Many companies are being accused of having extremely unhealthy products, and are being forced to rebrand accordingly. PepsiCo, being a company under fire, comes up with a solution: They would replace the caramel food coloring inside the drink with cornstarch, ‘solving’ the health issue while also giving the drink a clear color that was all the rage at the time. What could possibly go wrong? Well, for one, the taste. The semi-sweet, watered-down taste of Crystal Pepsi was almost universally agreed to be awful, and was removed from store shelves less than two years after its introduction. Besides the taste, another factor that led to Crystal Pepsi’s downfall was the price. Like a lot of healthier versions of products, Crystal Pepsi was priced at around an ¢50 upcharge compared to its predecessor. Reasonably, many people weren’t willing to pay an increased price for an ever-so-slightly healthier version of their favorite drink, especially one that tasted as bad as Crystal Pepsi did.

New Coke: The year was 1985, and the 100th anniversary of Coca-Cola was fast approaching. Between that and increased rivalry with Pepsi, the executives at Coca-Cola knew that they needed to either go big or go home for the big 100. Unfortunately, they ended up choosing both. In late April of 1985, The Coca-Cola Company announced a twist on the classic formula they had been using for the past 99 years. Lovingly titled ‘New Coke’, the recipe was deemed better than both Pepsi and the original Coke in blind taste tests. However, the major fault in New Coke lies in one of the most basic rules of marketing: ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’. Millions of people loved the classic taste of regular Coke, so when replaced, they rioted. In fact, the revision was so hated, that Coca-Cola received up to 8,000 angry phone calls per day, talking about how much they disliked New Coke. In the end, not even 80 days after New Coke’s release, the company switched back to the classic taste.

The Catch: While it’s clear that both of these products were almost remarkable failures for their times, I'd be lying if I said that was the full story. In 2015, Pepsi kickstarted a limited-time sweepstakes: the reward? A brand new bottle of Crystal Pepsi was delivered to the winners. In 2019, in collaboration with the hit Netflix Original Stranger Things, Coca-Cola similarly re-released a version of New Coke. In the absence of their presence, both Crystal Pepsi and New Coke developed a cult-like following, small groups of people that campaigned for the drinks to be brought back. Beyond that, both drinks had upsides in the moment. Original Coca-Cola, then re-named ‘Classic Coke’, spiked massively in sales upon its return, overtaking both its ‘New’ predecessor and Pepsi. Likewise, in the first half of its lifespan, Crystal Pepsi did surprisingly well in stores, before sales fell. All in all, while both products were undeniably bad, neither of them were without benefits.

Conclusion: Looking at all of the information now presented, I find it most interesting how each company failed uniquely. New Coke was a comically large failure, to the point where if searching ‘worst marketing decisions in history’, it’s one of the first results. Meanwhile, Crystal Pepsi was bad in a much different way, resulting in overall profit losses for the company. Both drinks have become punchlines, being used in various commercials by both their competitors and themselves. Personally, because of the pricing difference, taste, and lack of prior market testing, I would say that Crystal Pepsi was worse for PepsiCo than New Coke was for Coca-Cola. The return of Classic Coke after New Coke revitalized people’s love for both the company and the drink, while Crystal Pepsi had little of the same effect.