# Pepsi Max

Pepsi Max (also known as Pepsi Black in some countries and Pepsi Zero in Poland and Portugal) is a low-calorie, sugar-free cola, marketed by PepsiCo as an alternative to Pepsi and Diet Pepsi, except for Norway, where it is the main Pepsi flavor. Pepsi Max is available primarily in Asian, European and Australia/New Zealand markets. While Pepsi Max was released in April 1993, it did not become available in the United States (with a different formulation) until 2007. In the US this different product was renamed Pepsi Zero Sugar in 2016.

## History

Pepsi Max debuted in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Italy on April 5, 1993. The rollout was expanded to Ireland the following September, and to France, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands the following December. By the end of 1994, Pepsi Max was sold in approximately twenty countries. By the end of 1995, that figure had more than doubled. The product remained unavailable in the United States until 2006 (the US, PepsiCo's home market, and the largest consumer of carbonated soft drinks), where one of its principal ingredients had not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The ingredient—acesulfame potassium—is combined with aspartame to provide the beverage's sweetness, whereas some other diet colas are sweetened by aspartame alone.
In early-2005, Pepsi Max Twist (with added lemon-lime flavour) joined the UK and Australian product line. In autumn 2005, "Pepsi Max Punch" was marketed in the UK for the festive season. Containing ginger and cinnamon, the product was similar in flavour to Pepsi Holiday Spice, a sugar-sweetened variety of Pepsi that was marketed in the US one year earlier. In late-2005 and early-2006, a coffee-flavoured variety was introduced in France, Finland, Ireland, Norway, and the UK. Known as "Pepsi Max Cappuccino" ("Pepsi Max Coffee Cino" in the UK), the product was prefigured by the similar Pepsi Kona (briefly test-marketed in the US in 1996) and Pepsi Tarik, available in Malaysia since 2005.
Pepsi Max was introduced to South Korea, Bulgaria, and the Philippines in 2006, as well as being reintroduced into Argentina in the spring of 2006 after being phased out after its launch in 1994. As well as this, Pepsi Max was introduced into Brazil, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during early 2007.
In October 2008, Pepsi announced it would be redesigning its logo and re-branding many of its products. Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi Max all use lower-case fonts for name brands, Mountain Dew was renamed "Mtn Dew", and Diet Pepsi Max was re-branded as Pepsi Max. The brand's blue and red globe trademark became a series of "smiles", with the central white band arcing at different angles depending on the product. In the case of Pepsi Max, besides renaming the drink with its international name, the logo has a large "smile" likely to emphasize the North American drink's "Wake up people!" advertising campaign, and also uses black in the bottom half of the globe as opposed to the more standard royal blue. The new lower-case font used on Pepsi's products is reminiscent of the font used in Diet Pepsi's logo from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. The website for the "Wake up people!" campaign now redirects to the Pepsi Refresh Project. In the UK, the cans had the "Pepsi" text and the new Pepsi globe (with the normal Pepsi "smile" and the blue bottom half, as opposed to the black half used in the US) but the "Max" is in the previous style.
A Pepsi Max Lime version was released in the United States in February 2010 under the name "Pepsi Max Cease Fire". It was introduced in the UK in late-2011. It was cross-promoted with a new flavor series of Doritos chips called "3rd Degree Burn". In July 2010, Pepsi began to change its North American branding of Pepsi Max to match the global branding. It carried a Max typography similar to that used worldwide, and rolled out a new slogan: "Zero Calories. Maximum Pepsi Taste". Its formula was not changed.
In May 2011, Pepsi introduced the drink to Spain.
In 2013, Pepsi Max collaborated with English magician Steven Frayne, also known as Dynamo, as part of their 'Live for Now' campaign which was launched the previous year. As part of a launch event, Dynamo was seen in London hanging from the side of a number 543 double-decker bus on its journey along Millbank, past the Houses of Parliament and across Westminster Bridge, while hundreds of passers by watched. The partnership also saw Dynamo appear in an on-pack promotion on cans and bottles of Pepsi Max during July and August, and secured 19 million unique impressions and 7 million total video views on social media.
In 2016, the drink was introduced to Venezuela. In 2017 Pepsi Max was launched in Costa Rica.
In 2017, the drink was reintroduced in Belarus, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, India, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine as Pepsi Black.
As of 2017 it is available as Pepsi Max in Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Venezuela.

## Product positioning

Recent UK and Australia Pepsi Max television advertisements (as well as in several European countries) have featured the taglines "Maximum taste, no sugar" and "Don't worry, there's no sugar." Some have incorporated extreme sports, as well as video games such as Motocross Mania, in an attempt to appeal to young men (in contrast to other diet cola drinks, which tend to target young women). The British advertising campaign involved retouched versions of the American "Do the Dew" commercials for Mountain Dew (a variant of which is sold in the UK), rebranded as "Live life to the Max".
Coca-Cola Zero, a sugar-free cola from The Coca-Cola Company, is marketed in a similar manner. In the UK, some Coke Zero advertising alluded to Pepsi Max, leading to a counter-campaign by Pepsi extolling the virtues of the concept of "maximum" over that of "zero".

### Variants

The Pepsi Max brand has seen many flavor variants and varieties across the world where the drink is marketed.

### Pepsi Max

| Name | Launched | Flavour | Regions where it is sold | Additional Notes |
| Pepsi Max Lemon | 2004 | Lemon | Belgium Norway Sweden The Netherlands Germany Australia | Was first sold in Belgium as Pepsi Max Cool Lemon before it was renamed in 2017. |
| Pepsi Max Lemon and Lime Twist | 2005 | Lemon/Lime | United Kingdom France Argentina Brazil Poland Turkey | Was sold in France as Pepsi Max Citron Citron Vert. |
| Pepsi Max Punch | 2005 | Ginger and Cinnamon | United Kingdom | Sold as a limited edition during the 2005 Christmas Season. It is similar to the North American Pepsi Holiday Spice which was sold the year before and the year after. |
| Pepsi Max Gold | 2006 | Ginger | Finland | Sold as a limited edition alongside the regular Pepsi Gold for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. |
| Pepsi Max Coffee Cino | 2006 | Cappuccino/Coffee | United Kingdom France Portugal | Sold in France and Portugal as Pepsi Max Cappuccino. |
| Pepsi Max Chill | 2007 | Apple | Sweden Finland | Sold as a limited edition in both countries in the Summer of 2007. |
| Pepsi Max Mojo | 2008 | Mojito Lime/Mint | Finland Denmark | Was sold as a limited edition in 2008 in the former, and in 2009 in the latter under the name Pepsi Max Mojito. |
| Pepsi Max Energy | 2008 | Cola with 66% more caffeine | Germany | Was sold as a limited edition in 2008. |
| Pepsi Max Wild Side | 2010 | Wild Baobab | Sweden | Was sold as a limited edition in 2010. |
| Pepsi Max Lime | 2011 | Lime | Australia United Kingdom France Lebanon Finland Sweden Norway Denmark Iceland Hungary Romania Poland Serbia Czech Republic China Poland, Portugal Serbia Spain Thailand Laos Philippines Vietnam Kuwait South Korea | Was first sold as Pepsi Max Cease Fire and Pepsi Max Citrus Freeze in Australia/New Zealand and the United Kingdom respectively in 2011 as part of a promotion with Doritos corn chips before being re-released in 2016 (as a limited edition) and 2021 respectively. Sold as Pepsi Black Lime in some countries |
| Pepsi Max Cherry | 2011 | Cherry | United Kingdom France Netherlands Denmark Romania Norway Finland Iceland Germany Russia | Was first released in the United Kingdom in June 2011 only at Asda stores in 2 liter bottles, and gained a wide release in 2012. |
| Pepsi Max Ginger | 2017 | Ginger | United Kingdom Lebanon Russia Norway Finland The Netherlands Denmark Sweden Germany | |
| Pepsi Max Vanilla | 2018 | Vanilla | Australia New Zealand Poland Germany | Sold as Pepsi Black Vanilla in some countries |
| Pepsi Max Raspberry | 2018 | Raspberry | Australia New Zealand United Kingdom Turkey Sweden France Romania Russia Taiwan Thailand United Arab Emirates Kuwait | Sold as Pepsi Black Raspberry in some countries |
| Pepsi Max Creaming Soda | 2019 | Cream Soda | Australia | |
| Pepsi Max Mango | 2020 | Mango | Australia Hungary Poland Czech Republic Serbia Finland Sweden Denmark Norway Turkey United Kingdom | Sold as Pepsi Black Mango in some countries |
| Pepsi Max No Caffeine | 2020 | Cola without Caffeine | United Kingdom Finland | |
| Pepsi Max Pineapple | 2020 | Pineapple | Hungary Poland Czech Republic Romania Serbia Sweden Australia South Korea | |
| Pepsi Max Cream Soda | 2020 | Cream Soda | Thailand Egypt | |
| Pepsi Max Strawberry | 2021 | Strawberry | Thailand Laos Egypt | |
| Pepsi Max Electric | 2024 | Citrus (blue coloured) | Denmark Norway Sweden United KingdomPoland Thailand | Sold in the United Kingdom and Poland as a year-long limited edition under the name Pepsi Electric. It is similar to Pepsi Blue. |
| Pepsi Max Orange | 2024 | Orange | Thailand | Sold in Thailand under the name Pepsi Zero Sugar Orange. |
| Pepsi Max Lime No Caffeine | 2024 | Lime and Cola without Caffeine | South Korea | Sold in South Korea under the name Pepsi Zero Sugar Lime Zero Caffeine. |
| Pepsi Max Ume | 2025 | Ume | Thailand | Sold in Thailand under the name Pepsi Zero Sugar Ume. |
In early 2005, the North American drink Pepsi ONE was revised, with Splenda brand sucralose replacing the aspartame ingredient.

## Historical Canadian formulation

Beginning in early 1994, an entirely different Pepsi Max was marketed in Canada. Now regarded as a precursor to Pepsi Edge, it was sweetened with a combination of aspartame and high fructose corn syrup. As a result, it contained two-thirds fewer calories than full-sugar colas (including regular Pepsi), but more calories than conventional diet/light colas (or the version of Pepsi Max sold elsewhere). The Canadian product was discontinued in 2002; the Diet Pepsi Max product was introduced in 2008 has no direct relationship to the earlier formulation.