Mountain Dew (History, Marketing, Flavors & Commercials)

Mountain Dew is one of Pepsi’s most popular soft drinks that has added billions to Pepsi’s revenues. In Mountain Dew’s 80 year history, it has grown a large group of loyal fans that love the drink.

Here is the history of how Mountain Dew became one of PepsiCo’s most popular drinks. Going from its creation in Virginia to the development of numerous flavors, and the gaming community’s embrace of Mountain Dew.

History

The creation of Mountain Dew

The first Mountain Dew formula was created by two beverage bottlers from Tennessee named Barney and Ally Hartman in 1940. During this time, sodas and soft drinks were more regionally sold and many top sellers weren’t available to them.

Ally and Barney Hartman weren’t trying to develop their own soda. Instead they were trying to come up with a mixer that would taste good with alcohol.

One day when the brothers were giving samples out on a train, they would meet Charles Gordon. The co-owner of a popular regional beverage called Dr. Enuf.

Gordon would strike a deal with the Hartman brothers to bottle their drink at the Tri City Beverage Corporation. Unfortunately, Barney Harman would die a few years later in 1949 and left Alliy as the sole owner of the drink.

Mountain Dew gets revised

In 1960, Bill Bridgforth, who owned the Tri City  Beverage Corporation, would alter the flavor of Mountain Dew. Mixing the Tri-City Lemonade flavored drink that tasted like the drink 7Up with Mountain Dew.

This formula would become the original Mountain Dew flavor that is still used today.

Pepsi buys Mountain Dew

In 1964, the Pepsi-Cola company would purchase the rights to Mountain Dew. Pepsi would begin coming up with a marketing strategy to release the drink within a year. 

Mountain Dew started to get shipped around nationally and also in Canada. The first marketing used to sell Mountain Dew with a cartoon man called Hillbilly Willy.

Numerous commercials featuring Hillbilly Willy would be released during the 1960s. In them, he would shout the early Mountain Dew catchphrase, “Yahoo! It’ll tickle your innards!”

Early Mountain Dew flavors

From 1964 to 1987, there was only one flavor of Mountain Dew sold, which was the original citrus flavor. In 1988, Pepsi released the second Mountain Dew drink called Diet Mountain Dew.

Ten years later, the 3rd Mountain Dew flavor would be introduced called Mountain Dew Red in 1998. This flavor was introduced the same year as one of the first redesigns of the Mountain Dew.

Just three years after the release of Mountain Dew Red, Pepsi would release Mountain Dew: Code Red.

More Mountain Dew flavors are released

After the success of Mountain Dew: Code Red, this would start a trend with Mountain Dew. They would become known for releasing various different flavors annually and different lines of Mountain Dew brand drinks.

Mountain Dew would often be used to advertise various new movies and video games prior to their release. A lot of these flavors would be limited time releases and would create a fervor with Mountain Dew fans.

They hunted down all of these new flavors and tried them before they were discontinued. Many fans would buy limited edition flavors they liked to stock up and drink them years after they were discontinued.

Logo change

In the early 2010s, PepsiCo would rebrand all of their soft drinks, which included Mountain Dew. They would change the logo to a more shortened version of the name Mtn Dew. 

As of today, this is the logo that is still used on Mountain Dew bottles and cans.

Mountain Dew sold in fast food chains

Over the years PepsiCo has had agreements with numerous fast food chains to sell Pepsi owned drinks. Pepsi and Frito Lay would later purchase some of these fast food chains that included KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell.

Taco Bell in particular would be the most prominent fast food restaurant to sell Mountain Dew flavors. A Taco Bell exclusive flavor called Baja Blast was even created to only be sold at Taco Bell restaurants.

Mountain Dew and Action Sports

During the 1990s during one of the first rebrandings of Mountain Dew, they began to be marketed within action sports. Everything from skateboarding, BMX, and snowboarding would advertise Mountain Dew as the action sports drink.

They have continued this marketing and released different styles of Mountain Dew like the Amp Energy Drink series. A series of Mountain Dew energy drinks that were first released in 2001.

Mountain Dew and the gaming community

Mountain Dew marketing has specifically targeted the gaming community. This marketing towards gamers has created a diehard fan base of gamers that love Mountain Dew.

So much so that gamers make up the majority of purchases of the drink. These sales have been fueled by releases of different flavors of Mountain Dew to promote different video games.

Everything from: Halo games, World of Warcraft, and Call of Duty inspired flavors of Mountain Dew. Pepsi has even released their own line of Mountain Dew drinks dubbed Gamer Fuel. 

Who came up with the name Mountain Dew?

Mountain Dew is a slang term for ‘potion’ that is of Irish origin. The term was used in the mountainous areas of the southern US as a nickname for moonshine.

The name was suggested by Carl E. Redski, who was at a meeting between the Hartman’s and Owens-Illinois Inc.

This name would stick and the Hartman brothers would trademark the name Mountain Dew in the 1940s. It would later be owned by PepsiCo, who have been the owners of Mountain Dew for nearly 60 years.

Mountain Dew banned in multiple countries

The sale of Mountain Dew is actually prohibited in multiple countries across the world. This is because one of the ingredients in Mountain Dew called brominated vegetable oil(BMO) is outlawed in numerous countries.

BMO is considered a toxic chemical that may cause organ damage, birth defects, and even schizophrenia. 

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Flavors

Mountain Dew has never been one to shy away from introducing flavors. For the past few decades, they have released nearly a hundred different flavors of Dew.

They have even started releasing limited time yearly batches. Here is a list of nearly all of the Mountain Dew flavors that have ever been released.

• Original
• Diet
• Zero Sugar
• Code Red
• Voltage
• Major Melon
• Major Melon Zero
• Kickstart (Fruit Punch)
• Kickstart (Orange Citrus)
• Kickstart (Pineapple Orange Mango)
• Kickstart (Black Cherry)
• Kickstart (Grape/Midnight Grape)

• AMP Game Fuel (Original Dew)
• AMP Game Fuel (Cherry Burst)
• AMP Game Fuel (Berry Blast)
• AMP Game Fuel (Tropical Strike)
• AMP Game Fuel (Orange Storm)
• AMP Game Fuel Zero (Watermelon Shock)
• AMP Game Fuel Zero (Raspberry Lemonade)
• RISE (Strawberry Melon Spark)
• RISE (Pomegranate Blue Burst)
• RISE (Orange Breeze)
• RISE (Peach Mango Dawn)
• RISE (Berry Blitz)
• RISE (Tropical Sunrise)
• AMP (Original)

Fountain Drink Exclusives

• Berry Monsoon (Sam’s Club)
• Berry Monsoon Zero Sugar (Sam’s Club) (upcoming)
• Baja Blast (Taco Bell) (upcoming in bottles/cans)
• Baja Blast Zero Sugar (Taco Bell) (upcoming in bottles and cans)
• Sweet Lightning (KFC)
• Atomic Blue (Kum & Go, Sheetz)
• Goji Citrus Strawberry
• Cyclone (Speedway)
• Vibe (WhichWich)
• Southern Shock (Bojangles)
• Pitch Black (Sheetz)
• Electric Apple (Villa Pizza)
• Berry Burst (Applebees)

2022 Mountain Dew Releases

• Baja Gold
• Baja Mango Gem
• Flamin Hot Cheeto
• Legend
• Mountain Dew Energy(Cherry Lime Lift)
•  Purple Thunder
• Riddler’s Brew
• Spark
• Typhoon 

Mountain Dew Hard Series (w/ alcohol)

• Black Cherry
•  Watermelon
• Zero Sugar Original Flavor
• Zero Sugar Baja Blast

Store Exclusive Flavors

• Maui Burst (Dollar General)
• Frostbite (Walmart)
• Frostbite Zero Sugar (Walmart)

Regional Flavors(US)

• White Out
• Livewire
• Citrus Cherry
• AMP (Cherry Blast)
• Diet Code Red
• Caffeine Free Dew
• Diet Caffeine Free Dew
• Real Sugar/Throwback
• 2021 Limited Time

International Flavors 

• Supernova (Raspberry Lemon) (Finland)
• Passionfruit Frenzy (New Zealand)
• Blue Shock (Malaysia)
• Pitch Black (Malaysia)
• Berry Twister (Fountain/Freeze at Circle K) (Canada)
• ICE (India)
• Code Red Berry (New Zealand)
• Livewire (NZ)

2021 Limited Releases

• DEW-SA 
• Baja Blast (Now available in cans and bottles.)
• Baja Punch 
• Baja Flash 
• VooDEW 2021 
• Cake Smash 
• Snap’d 

Discontinued Flavors

• Pitch Black
• ICE
• ICE (Cherry)
• Game Fuel Citrus Cherry (2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
• Game Fuel Wild Berry/Alliance Blue (2009)
• Game Fuel Tropical (2011)
• Game Fuel Electrifying Berry (2013)
• Game Fuel Lemonade (2014)
• Game Fuel Berry Lime (2015)
• Game Fuel Mango Heat (2016) (Half-Diet)
• Game Fuel Tropical Smash (2017) (Half-Diet)
• Game Fuel Arctic Burst (2017) (Half-Diet)
• Supernova(DEWmocracy Flavors: 2008, 2011)
• Revolution (DEWmocracy Flavor: 2008)
• Typhoon (DEWmocracy Flavors: 2010, 2011)
• Distortion (DEWmocracy Flavor: 2010)
• Solar Flare (7-11 Exclusive)
• Sangrita Blast (Taco Bell Exclusive)
• Triple Berry (Applebees Exclusive)
• Black Label
• Green Label
• White Label
• Kickstart (Limeade)
• Kickstart Hydrating Boost (Strawberry Kiwi)
• Kickstart Recharge (Blood Orange)
• Kickstart Recharge (Blueberry Pomegranate)
• Kickstart Hydrating Boost (Watermelon)
• Kickstart (Mango Lime)
• Kickstart Hydrating Boost (Raspberry Citrus)
• Kickstart (Original Dew)
• Kickstart Ultra (Original Dew)
• AMP (Tropical Punch)
• AMP (Strawberry Limeade)

Discontinued Holiday Flavors

• Holiday Brew (2017)
• Merry Mash Up (2018, 2019, 2020)
• Liberty Brew (2019, 2020)
• VooDEW 2019 (2019)
• VooDEW 2020 (2020)
• Pitch Black (2004, 2016-2021)
• Pitch Black II (2005)
• DEW-SA (2017) (Half-Diet)

Discontinued Diet Flavors

• Diet Supernova
• Diet Ultra Violet
• Diet Voltage

Discontinued Freezes 

• Cold Fusion
• Darth Dew
• Distortion
• Typhoon
• Thin Ice

Discontinued Limited Time Flavors

• Dewshine
• Throwback (now known as Real Sugar)
• Sangrita Blast
• Dark Berry
• Johnson City Gold
• Spark
• Discontinued Permanent Flavors:
• MDX
• Sport
• Diet Sport
• ICE
• ICE Cherry
• Pitch Black

Discontinued International Flavors

• Violet (Japan)
• Max Air (Japan)
• Max Air 2 (Japan)

Mountain Dew today

Mountain Dew has developed a loyal fan base that love the drink and try every new flavor that is released. This loyalty has led to PepsiCo adding billions to their annual revenue.

Their die hard fan base will keep buying their favorite Mountain Dew flavors and try all of the new Dew flavors. Expect Mountain Dew to release more flavors to be released for their loyal fans to try.

Ingredients

• Carbonated Water
• Sugar
• Citric Acid
• Antioxident (ascorbic acid)
• Caffeine
• Flavourings
• Preservative (Potassium sorbate)
• Stabiliser (Gum arabic)
• Colour (Beta Carotene)

Nutrition

Serving Size:	1 can (347g)	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat	0
Calories	170
Total Fat	0g	0%
Sodium	60mg	3%
Total Carbohydrates	46g	15%
Sugars	46g
Protein	0g
Vitamin A		0%
Vitamin C		0%
Calcium		0%
Iron		0%

• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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