Crystal Pepsi: the 'clear' 90s hit makes a return

By Subrat Patnaik

(Reuters) - PepsiCo is going retro. The company is officially bringing back Crystal Pepsi, a clear cola drink that was hugely popular for a brief period during the early 1990s.

PepsiCo Inc <PEP.N> said on Wednesday said it would sell Crystal Pepsi this year for a limited time in the United States and Canada.

Crystal Pepsi will be sold in 20-ounce bottles starting July 11 in Canada and Aug. 8 in the United States.

The soft drink was introduced in 1992. The clear soda caught the imagination and soon hit an iconic status on the back of a slick advertising campaign.

It, however, fell out of favor equally fast and disappeared from shelves in 1994.

This, however, will not be the soda's first comeback since.

Pepsi had made the drink available for two days in December last year in the United States through a sweepstakes on a company app.

"We've always had a special place in our heart for Crystal Pepsi, and there has been a huge groundswell of support to bring it back," said Stacy Taffet, senior director of marketing for Pepsi said in a statement.

Indeed, a Facebook page called "Bring Back Crystal Pepsi" has garnered more than 7,000 'likes' since it was started more than six year back.

However, opinions seem to be divided on the official comeback.

Some such as Keenan Watson ‏(@MrBuddyGarrity) were nostalgic, "@pepsi hell yeah! My childhood #CrystalPepsi".

Others such as Iliza Shlesinger ‏(@iliza) were not so impressed. "THERE IS NO REASON TO BRING BACK #CRYSTALPEPSI other than Pepsi is out of ideas. Are you a soda company or movie studio? MAKE SOMETHING NEW."

The news comes two days after Pepsi said it planned to bring back aspartame, an artificial sweetener it removed from Diet Pepsi in the United States last year.

(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)