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Pepsi Zero Sugar

Bottles of Pepsi Zero Sugar
Product type	Diet soda
Owner	PepsiCo
Country	United States
Introduced	2007; 18 years ago (2007) (as "Diet Pepsi Max")
Related brands	Pepsi Max,Pepsi ONE,Diet Pepsi,Diet Coke,Coca-Cola Zero Sugar
Markets	United States, Canada
Website	pepsi.com/zerosugar

PepsiZero Sugar, also known asPepsi Max^[1][2] andPepsiBlack, is a low-calorie, sugar-freecola, marketed byPepsiCo. Adiet soda soft drink, it was first released in 1993 as an alternative to the company'sDiet Pepsi and has been widely available since.^[3]

Pepsi Zero Sugar aims to mimic the taste ofPepsi using a blend ofacesulfame potassium andaspartame artificial sweeteners instead of sugar, with small variations depending on region.^[4]

Pepsi-Cola International spent three years developing the product with the aim to create a sugar-free drink but tasting indistinguishable from regularPepsi.^[5] The product aimed to target those who chose not to consumeDiet Pepsi because of, what they would consider to be, an inferior taste and image.^[6]

It was officially announced on March 2, 1993 and initially called Pepsi Max. It was launched totest markets in Great Britain and Italy starting in April.^[5] The rollout was expanded to other countries in Europe and Australia and it was successful, becoming a permanent offering and availability growing to close to twenty countries by 1994.^[7] However the product remained unavailable in the United States (PepsiCo's home market, and the largest consumer of carbonatedsoft drinks), where one of its principal ingredients had not yet been approved by theFood and Drug Administration.^[8] The ingredient—acesulfame potassium ("Ace-K")—is combined withaspartame to provide the beverage's sweetness,^[9] whereas some other diet colas are sweetened by aspartame alone.

Pepsi Max's early logos

1993–96

1996–98

Beginning in early 1994, an entirely different Pepsi Max was marketed in Canada^[10] because of strict local laws regarding artificial sweeteners. This was the only Pepsi Max product to contain sugar.^[11] It was sweetened with a combination of aspartame andhigh 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.^{[citation needed]} Pepsi-Cola North America later introduced another "mid-calorie" drink calledPepsi Edge to compete againstCoca-Cola C2 (both became failures), but has no direct relationship to the earlier Canadian Max formulation.^[12]

In 1998, after the American FDA approved acesulfame potassium, the company introducedPepsi One for the North American market. This new variety contained the same sweeteners as Pepsi Max, but not an identical formula or flavor.^[13] In 2005, Pepsi One was revised, withSplenda brandsucralose replacing the aspartame ingredient.^[14] Diet Pepsi Max was introduced in the United States and Canada in 2007 and 2008 respectively. This drink had the same sweeteners as Pepsi Max in other countries but had additionalginseng andcaffeine.^[15] It was later renamed to simply Pepsi Zero Sugar.

Pepsi began making new flavored variants of the drink beginning in 2004, such as Pepsi Max Lemon and Pepsi Max Twist (with addedlemon-lime flavour) in some countries' product lines.

Diet Pepsi Max was introduced in theUnited States on June 1, 2007, and inCanada in March 2008. "Diet" was dropped from the name in early 2009.

Availability of Pepsi Zero Sugar was expanded to further countries in Asia, the Middle East and Europe in mid-late 2000s.^[15] It launched in India in 2010 but faced low sales there.^[16] It launched in Tanzania in 2019^[17] and in the Arab Gulf states, Jordan, Morocco and Libya as Pepsi Black in October 2019.^[18]

In 2002, Pepsi Max became the second highest-selling soft drink inNorway.^[19] Since 2015 it has been the top selling soft drink in the country.^[20] As of 2025, Pepsi Max makes up 98.4% of all total Pepsi cola sales in Norway.^[21] The drink has also found success in neighboringSweden where it had grown bigger than Pepsi's regular drink by 2007.^[22] In 2025 it was reported that Pepsi Max was the best selling carbonated soft drink in Sweden.^[23]

Pepsi Zero Sugar containscarbonated water, caramel color,phosphoric acid,aspartame, natural flavor,acesulfame potassium andcitric acid.^[24]

When launched in 2007 (as Diet Pepsi Max in North America) it originally contained nearly twice thecaffeine of PepsiCo's other cola beverages^[25] specifically 69 milligrams of caffeine per 355 mL (12.5 imp fl oz), versus 36 milligrams inDiet Pepsi.^[26] In January 2023, PepsiCo reformulated Pepsi Zero Sugar in the United States to reduce caffeine, removeginseng and tweak the sweetener system.^[24] The formulation change did not affect Pepsi Zero Sugar in Canada.^[27]

These ingredients should not be confused with Pepsi Zero Sugar in other countries which are simply rebrandedPepsi Max.

Pepsi Max has been produced in a variety of plastic cans, bottles, and glass bottles.

At launch, the first Pepsi Max livery was distinguished from regular Pepsi by having a blue colored can instead of white. The color inspired the company to rebrand the regular Pepsi drink into an all-blue color in 1996^[30][31] in what it called Project Blue.^[32] By the year 1998, at the centenary of the company, the entire Pepsi branding and marketing globally had adopted the blue that was introduced with the Pepsi Max.^[33] The Pepsi Max logo also adopted agraffiti-like red branding forMAX in 1998 in a typical trendy style of the millenium era, and which would be a precursor for later brandings.^[34]

From 2009–2010 all Pepsi brands were rebranded worldwide and theblue 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, and at least in the North American market (where it was also renamed with its international name from "Diet Pepsi Max"), the logo had a large "smile" and also usesblack in the bottom half of the globe as opposed to the more standardroyal blue.^[35] In July 2010, Pepsi began to change its North American branding of Pepsi Max to match the global branding, and rolled out a new slogan: "Zero Calories. Maximum Pepsi Taste".^[36] Since the rebranding, Pepsi Max has had a black livery as opposed to blue on regular Pepsi.

In 2023, Pepsi Max packaging was redesigned as part of a greater Pepsi rebranding. The updated packaging has a color scheme of electric blue and black.^[37] In addition, in many countries the product was renamed to Pepsi Zero Sugar. This was done for transparency because many people did not understand that "Max" represented a sugar-free product.^[38][39][40] "Pepsi Max" continues to be the name of the product in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, Finland, Iceland, Tanzania and Australia,^[41][37] and "Pepsi Black" continues to be the name in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Malaysia, Singapore and others.^[42][43]

The original name was stylized asPepsi MAX. Some of the taglines that PepsiCo have used in advertisements through various countries include: "Maximum taste, no sugar" (used since 1993),^[44] "Live life to the Max", and "Don't worry, there's no sugar".^[45][46][47] The company had attempted to appeal Pepsi Max to young men (in contrast to other diet cola drinks, which tend to target young women).^[48] Early advertisement had also incorporatedextreme sports likeabseiling.^[49] and in the 2000s PepsiCo launched new flavors, some of which (like the lemon-lime Pepsi Max Twist) targeted at women.^[50] Generally, the brand has been marketed with trends relevant to younger people.^[51]

Coca-Cola Zero, a rival sugar-free cola fromThe Coca-Cola Company, is marketed in a similar manner. 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".^[52][53][54]

In 2007, the official marketing website for the product^[55] contained an 'odd cast' featuring a spoofedtelethon urging viewers to donate yawns and uses the slogan 'WAKE UP PEOPLE'.^[56] Also, there was a featured commercial of a spoof on theDallas Cowboys offensive coordinator yawning, when calling a play, thus, causingTony Romo to besacked, he was then replaced by Cowboys' ownerJerry Jones who gives him a Diet Pepsi Max. The scene then cuts away to the words "WAKE UP PEOPLE" while a voiceover shouts the slogan.

ForSuper Bowl XLIV in July 2010, Pepsi Max did a reboot of a well-received ad that ran during the 1995Super Bowl XXIX.^[57] In the original ad, a pair of delivery drivers from Coca-Cola and Pepsi began a tentative friendship while listening to "Get Together" byThe Youngbloods; in a peacemaking gesture, the two rivals taste each other's soda. But the friendship ends in humorous conflict when the Coca-Cola driver refuses to return the (superior) Pepsi product.^[57] The new ad riffed on the same story, with the drivers this time coming to blows over the then-Pepsi Max at the expense of Coca-Cola's much more popular Coke Zero, with the song "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by the American funk bandWar as the soundtrack.^[57] In 2011,Snoop Dogg was featured in an ad campaign around the time ofSuper Bowl XLV.^{[citation needed]}

Richard Speight, Jr. is the "Pepsi Max" delivery guy for all commercials the last two years, with ads featuring major baseball and football stars, and also with Snoop Dogg and 4-timeNASCARSprint Cup Series championJeff Gordon, who worked with Pepsi Max in 2013 to createPepsi Max & Jeff Gordon Present: Test Drive,^[58] along withRoad Trip to the Race Track two years prior.^[59] Pepsi Max also sponsored Gordon'sHendrick Motorsports teammateKasey Kahne during the2013 Cup Series season.^[60]

Pepsi sponsored theSuper Bowl LI Halftime Show, naming it "The Pepsi Zero Sugar Super Bowl LI Halftime Show" with its headlining performer being American singer-songwriterLady Gaga. This halftime show became the most watched Super Bowl halftime show in history.^[61]

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

• List of energy drinks
• List of Pepsi types

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