Diet Pepsi is a diet carbonated cola soft drink produced by PepsiCo, introduced in 1964 as a variant of Pepsi with no sugar. First test marketed in 1963 under the name Patio Diet Cola, it was re-branded as Diet Pepsi the following year, becoming the first diet cola to be distributed on a national scale in the United States. In the 1960s and 1970s, its competition consisted of the Coca-Cola Company's now-discontinued Tab. The United States represents the largest single market for Diet Pepsi.
History
Diet Pepsi was originally test marketed in the United States under the name Patio in 1963. Following a positive reception attributed to the shifting dietary habits and preferences among the Baby Boomers at the time, the drink was launched nationally as Diet Pepsi the following year. It became the first diet cola to be distributed on a national scale in the US. Distribution was extended to the United Kingdom in 1983, where it is also referred to as Pepsi Diet.
Distribution has since expanded to other countries around the world; though an alternate name is used in certain countries. In Italy, Czechia, Poland, Argentina, Spain Greece, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and Brazil, the beverage is known as Pepsi Light.
Diet Pepsi competed primarily with The Coca-Cola Company's Tab in the 1960s and 1970s; however, The Coca-Cola Company introduced Diet Coke in 1982, which has since been the principal competing product to Diet Pepsi. As of 2010, Diet Pepsi represented a 5.3 percent share of all carbonated soft drink sales in the United States, and was ranked as the #7 soft drink brand by volume. In the same year, Diet Coke was recorded as having a 9.9 percent market share.
In December 2012, an AP article reported that Diet Pepsi was changing its sweetener to sucralose ahead of a major rebranding of the soft drink set for January 2013. In 2015, some people on Facebook and Twitter expressed their distaste for the new formula. In response, Pepsi revived its aspartame formulation, as "Diet Pepsi Classic Sweetener Blend" for US markets in September 2016, and it was sold alongside the new formula. PepsiCo later announced plans to revert Diet Pepsi's sweetener from sucralose to aspartame. The new formulation was released marketwide on February 25, 2018.
Flavor variations
Additional variations of Diet Pepsi have been introduced over the years, wherein other flavors (such as wild cherry, vanilla, lemon, and lime) have been added to the cola. A caffeine-free version of Diet Pepsi is also produced. In Australia, this variant is known as Pepsi Light Caffeine Free and has a gold label. It's only available in 1.25 litre bottles, and the ingredients are listed as Carbonated Water, Caramel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Aspartame, Sodium Benzoate, Acesulfame Potassium, Flavour (Natural), and Citric Acid. The availability and brand identification of Diet Pepsi flavor variants varies by country. In addition to Diet Pepsi, PepsiCo also produces the low-calorie colas Pepsi Max and Pepsi Zero Sugar, depending on the country.
Composition
In the United States, Diet Pepsi is marketed as having zero calories, as FDA guidelines categorize products with fewer than five calories per serving to be labeled as containing "zero calories".
Though Diet Pepsi is represented worldwide as a low- or no-calorie beverage, the ingredients comprising its makeup vary in some cases by the country of origin. In the US, its ingredients are recorded as "carbonated water, caramel color, aspartame, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate (preserves freshness), caffeine, citric acid, natural flavor, acesulfame potassium; phenylketonurics: contains phenylalanine". In Canada, the ingredient listing reads: "carbonated water, caramel color, phosphoric acid, aspartame (124 mg/355 ml, contains phenylalanine), sodium benzoate, caffeine, flavor, acesulfame potassium (32 mg/355ml), citric acid, dimethylpolysiloxane". Comparatively in the UK, Diet Pepsi is listed as consisting of "carbonated water, colour (caramel E150d), flavorings (including caffeine), phosphoric acid, sweeteners (aspartame, acesulfame K), acidity regulator (sodium citrate), preservative (sodium benzoate), citric acid, contains a source of phenylalanine".