Amp Blasts: PepsiCo, Inc.

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Lately, I don't know what the hell is the deal with PepsiCo, Inc. While I don't drink Pepsi, the company are suppliers of Mountain Dew Code Red and was the supplier for No Fear Energy Drinks. Also, it seemed like they were more open to making true sugar versions of Pepsi and Mountain Dew available in the US unlike Coca Cola which is resorting to gouging people by selling 12 oz bottles of "Mexican Coke" for $1.10 each in the US. However, their recent actions have reeked of total bullshit.

For years, when I thought of energy drinks I always though of No Fear. When comparing them, No Fear tasted better and didn't have as much caffeine. In the past year however, PepsiCo, Inc decided to stop being the supplier of this product and as a result No Fear has stopped production of this drink until another supplier is found. The reason for PepsiCo doing this crap may have been that No Fear's sales were cutting into the sales of AMP energy drinks. (Note: For the record, it may have my name, but those drinks suck.) This was my first problem with them.

My next problem came when PepsiCo made the decision to stop offering Mountain Dew Code Red options for Fountain Drinks at most gas stations. The day I saw this at my local gas stations, I was none too happy. Not many drink options exist that really handle cherry worth a damn anymore to be honest. Furthermore, I see this choice as a bad sign that this drink may be on the way out despite still selling decently.

Last but not least are the "throwback" drinks. Now, they seem like a novel idea, but after receiving the opportunity to compare the throwback drinks to the European versions of Mountain Dew and Pepsi (which according to many sources, always used real sugar apparently), I've decided to call bullshit on PepsiCo. While they are indeed using real sugar, the reality is that they taste nowhere near as good as the European versions. With that in mind, I have to believe that there is a possibility that they still have the preservatives used for high fructose corn syrup in them and it is causing the taste discrepancy.

To me, PepsiCo needs to figure out what they want to do for their strategy and stick with it. Their decision to fuck over No Fear (and for that matter Sobe's energy drinks as well) in favor of their in house brand is just piss poor. It was actually cause of this that I decided to stop drinking energy drinks regularly unless I absolutely need it. In addition, they need to improve their throwback drinks as they really are missing a great opportunity to get the drop on Coca Cola. Last, but not least, stop messing with Code Red cause it's making them money unlike white out and supernova.