Crystal Pepsi: It's Clear This Ain't Working with Dulcé Sloan | 10

The Big Flop

Wondery

Society & Culture, Comedy, Business

4.6 • 884 Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When you think of health and wellness, do you think…clear soda? One Pepsi executive in the 90s was determined to capitalize on the healthier soda trend by releasing Crystal Pepsi, a clear, caffeine-free, lower calorie soda with the same great taste of regular Pepsi. The only issue? It didn’t taste anything like regular Pepsi. Dulcé Sloan (The Daily Show) joins Misha to digest one of the most infamous flops in pop culture history, AND to uncover Coca-Cola’s secret shocking plan to sabotage the whole campaign.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to the Big Flop early and ad-free.
0:05.3	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:20.0	A YouTuber who goes by the name L.A. Beast is a professional, competitive eater.
0:26.8	He's broken a bunch of Guinness World Records, like eating the most chicken nuggets in under three minutes,
0:33.1	and drinking almost a liter of maple syrup in just over 10 seconds. So when he announces on his
0:39.9	YouTube channel that he's extra excited to try something new, you gotta be a little intrigued.
0:47.5	Today, I'm gonna relive my childhood memories. I bought a 20-year-old bottle of Crystal Pepsi.
0:56.3	Crystal Pepsi.
0:57.8	It was named Best New Product of the Year for 1992 and dazzled potential customers when it hit the market,
1:05.2	all because it was completely clear.
1:09.3	But LA Beast's 20-year-old bottle was not.
1:13.6	And as you can clearly see, it's yellow.
1:19.6	Presumably, the folks at Pepsi didn't anticipate anyone drinking a bottle that old,
1:25.6	but LA Beast is literally a record-breaking eater and
1:30.9	drinker. A little discoloration isn't going to stop him. He opens the cap. He slurps it down.
1:39.4	And then he seems to notice a problem.
1:42.3	Is this a little sit there in your stomach like that?
1:45.8	That'll feel so good.
1:48.0	And with that, LA Beast barfs.
1:50.8	Now, look, is it fair to judge Crystal Pepsi from a 20-year-old bottle?
1:55.9	Probably not.
1:57.2	But let's just say, there are plenty of other things you can judge it on, like its weird, taste, and over-ambitious marketing campaign.
	...

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