We are no strangers to the new flavor fad. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be a day where we don’t see some form of new flavored Oreo, ice cream, or coffee creamer. soda companies are the kings of this, with the constant expansion of their flavor lines to see what stays and what goes. Some flavors are good, but some are nothing to write home about, until today.
In 2012, the Pepsi company decided to roll out a new flavor, which was described as “Classic Mtn Dew with green apple attitude.” So proud and excited was the Pepsi company about this new flavor that they decided to create a poll titled “Dub the Dew.” The poll was created with the intent of reaching out to the internet and its consumer base to gather options and have the public vote on the most popular choices to name this upcoming flavor. What the Pepsi company received was not expected.
The promotion was met with a hearty amount of criticism and mockery from various internet communities, such as Reddit; however, some internet groups were proactive in their trolling. The community of 4Chan took it upon itself to attack the poll in force, after only a few days choices such as “Hitler did nothing wrong,” Gushing Grannies” and “Diabeetus” topped the poll, gathering thousands of votes for the shocking choices. To add insult to injury, hackers also attacked the site to add a banner that read “Mtn Dew salutes the Israeli Mossad for demolishing 3 towers on 9/11!” Thus adding to the car wreck of the promotion.
Like all scandals associated with a large company they buried it, so much so that they sat on the flavor itself for ten years until they felt that it was time to roll it out, that time is now. This time, however, there will be no polls, no public opinion, or feedback whatsoever. Instead, they kept quiet about it and rebranded it “Twisted Apple,” but those of us who do remember the train wreck that was “Hitler didn’t do anything wrong” will only smile and shake our heads, allowing some companies to quietly learn from their mistakes.
