Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi-whats the difference?

[rootytoot]

Ok here's me making a fool of myself again....but whats the difference supposed to be between diet pepsi and pepsi max?

 

They taste a little bit different, but aren't they practically the same thing? is it just another way of getting the same thing on the market in different packaging to make more money?

[Beakerzoid]

Pepsi Max is sweetened with acesulfame potassium combined with aspartame, whereas Diet Pepsi is sweetened with aspartame on its own. This gives a different taste to the standard Diet drink.

 

The reason for the seperate brand is due to a few factors. One being that in the US acesulfame potassium had not been cleared for public consumption, so rather than scrap the Diet formula for the rest of the world, they chose to start a new brand for the Euro market (Max) alongside the standard Diet range. Also, had they just changed the formula, it would have meant a re-education campaign of the change in case anyone had objections / allegies, and could no longer drink the standard drink. It is much cheaper to do a 'soft advertising' rollout on a new product as you don't have to target everyone than a 'reinforation campaign' where you need to let everyone know. Also, anyone who recalls the failure of New Coke (studied it in Business Studies) and the way in which a percieved change in a popular drink can make people turn away from it will know that companies are wary of making hasty changes nowadays.

[Titian]

Wasn't pepsi max geared towards the male market?

[rootytoot]

bit of a con really, they really dont taste that much different to me, although my boyfriend doesn't like pepsi max but likes diet pepsi, perhaps i have just destroyed my tastebuds after years of smoking

 

Thanks for telling me the difference anyway!

[Beakerzoid]

I think they do taste very different. I don't like Pepsi drinks normally, but took to the Max brand from day one - it just tasted so much better than Diet Pepsi ever did.

 

The marketing for Max was not necessarily to the male market, but was to a 'hip and happening' kind of crowd, and definitely to the teens to twenties market (with sponsorship of the ride in Blackpool, adverts with snowboarders and stuff)

[floyd77]

I hate Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi, and diet Pepsi - but Pepsi Max is my favourite soft drink, in fact, I think I'm addicted!

[sallonoroff]

Coke = Pepsi

Diet Coke = Diet Pepsi

Coke Zero = Pepsi Max

 

...but as far as i know, Pepsi don't yet have a competitor to the ultimate in sweetened, brown water... caffeine-free Diet Coke.

 

 

Not that i drink much of the above. I like things to be sweetened with good ol' sugar, not sweeteners.

 

 

 

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[ShinyPurple]

Pepsi Max is Man Pop

[Beakerzoid]

 

...but as far as i know, Pepsi don't yet have a competitor to the ultimate in sweetened, brown water... caffeine-free Diet Coke.

 

.

 

In the US they do. They introduced Pepsi Free (now named Caffeine Free Pepsi) in the early 80s, and before Coke released their version too. The drink was referenced in Back To The Future when Marty asks for one in the 50s (to be met with the response "If you want a Pepsi pal, you gotta pay for it!") and a can is visible in one scene (bit of pointless trivia for you - and I wonder why no-one will take me on at the Buzz film quiz)

 

Thankfully it didn't make its way over here. Cola without caffeine is like a pencil with no graphite.....pointless.

 

 

 

*Edited as I originally types that a "can can be seen" which conjoured images of Moulin Rouge with Deloreans

 

By the way, I am not a cola obsessive before anyone starts wondering. Like I said I studied the New Coke fiasco in Business Studies many years ago, and also researched the competition between Coke and Pepsi. For some reason a lot of the trivial information stuck in my head (I have a habit of remembering pointless facts).

[Savannah2]

I like things to be sweetened with good ol' sugar, not sweeteners.

 

 

I agree. Sugar and not poisons.