Anyone remember Kick? What about Crystal Pepsi? Many of the nontraditional students here probably remember New Coke.

What do all these have in common? They didn’t last long. For whatever reason, these new and exciting products, brought to the public after years (or at least months) of tests and focus groups, went flat like an open bottle of Sprite.

In 2002, we got a triple dose from all three major soft drink players, all introducing something new, with a variety of results. The three come during what feels like a stream of new pop products in the market.

On May 8, Coca-Cola introduced Vanilla Coke. This was not as much a new product as a manifestation of old-style soda-shop concoctions. Unlike a certain other formula tinkering, Vanilla Coke has turned out to be somewhat of a hit. And, according to its severely-Flash-intensive Web site, Diet Vanilla Coke is now available. Releasing a diet version seems to mean that it’s proven enough of a success to expand.

In August, Pepsi “answered” Vanilla Coke with Pepsi Blue, introduced only one year after Pepsi had started working on it, according to its somewhat-Flash-intensive Web site. For those of you who have not tried Pepsi Blue, imagine what a Blue Razz Blow Pop might taste like in liquid form, and add a bunch of caffeine. Whoo! Like the change in the Orange Slice formula a few years back, Pepsi has succeeded only in getting this consumer to stick to the company’s staples.

Pepsi Blue could also be considered the juicing-up of the other of those staples after the launch of Code Red Mountain Dew. While I consider the addition of cherry flavoring a mistake as big as not classifying “Caffeine Free Mountain Dew” as an oxymoron, others disagreed and some even consider it better than the original.

But while Code Red, like Vanilla Coke, has become a modest success, Pepsi Blue already seems destined to join Crystal Pepsi on the pop-can heap of history — and supposedly the only thing different with Crystal Pepsi from the original was its color.

Perhaps Blue will only live on in fan sites, like crystalpepsi.captain mike.org does for that drink. Of course, I could be wrong. Consumers are strange people.

The most recent product in this triple-release year also wins the award for cutesiest name and packaging. It’s dnL, two lowercase letters and capital L, from the Dr. Pepper/Seven Up Corporation. The strange capitalization scheme reflects its logo and slogan: The logo bears an uncanny resemblance to the 7UP logo rotated 180 degrees, complete with red spot, and the product wants you to “turn your thirst upside down.”

According to its severely-Flash-intensive Web site (see a pattern here?), “7UP is turning it’s self [sic] upside down and inside out to introduce dnL, the strong, full-flavored soft drink guaranteed to flip your perspective on life and give you a big kick of green.” And, apparently, to flip grammar rules out the window just like the comic book section of the “Spider-Man” DVD. (Millions in marketing, not one cent to stop the incorrect use of “poured” and appearance of “seperate.”)

Speaking of “kick,” that reminds me — Kick was another product from Dr. Pepper/Seven Up in the mid-’90s, intended to be yet another citrus pop. It tasted like semi-flat, watered-down Mountain Dew, not to be confused with Coca-Cola’s Surge, which tastes like Mountain Dew mixed with orange juice, and is still around. This time dnL is described on the label as a “fruit flavor blast,” an attempt to distinguish this green caffeinated citrus drink from all the other green caffeinated citrus drinks. And, like Pepsi Blue, there’s no holding back on the taste, but dnL’s a little less edgy.

According to a press release, 60 percent of the country was introduced to dnL on Nov. 4, making it a month old in those areas, including Iowa. It’s supposed to reach the other 40 percent of the country in January and sell in other sizes besides the 20-ounce bottle in April.

Right now many places are selling dnL two for a dollar, most likely in an attempt to get it out to the public. It’s a bit premature to know what will happen with this drink with the cute-yet-silly logo. After all these new attempts to sell sugar water, it’s doubtful that any will change the soft drink world — or, at the very least, have an effect on the level of blood in my caffeine stream.

Jeff Morrison

is a junior in journalism

and mass communication and political science

from Traer. He is a copy

editor for the Daily.