Diet Pepsi will bring aspartame back into its formula after sales plummeted when PepsiCo dropped the artificial sweetener a year ago.
Called “Diet Pepsi Classic Sweetener Blend,” the aspartame-sweetened soda will hit the shelves in September with its 12-ounce cans, 2-liter bottles, and 20-ounce bottles. The cans will sport light blue packaging.
The current Diet Pepsi sweetened with sucralose (Splenda) will continue to come in silver cans.
PepsiCo nixed aspartame in August 2015.
With U.S. soda consumption dropping to a 30-year low, diet colas did especially poorly and the perception was that health concern over aspartame may have been the cause.
“Diet cola drinkers in the U.S. told us they wanted aspartame-free Diet Pepsi and we’re delivering,” said Seth Kaufman, a senior vice president of PepsiCo North America Beverages, in a press release announcing the decision last year.
Indeed, Diet Pepsi volume dropped 5.2 percent in 2014, while Diet Coke lost 6.6 percent, Fortune reported.
But when the first quarter 2016 numbers came in, the aspartame-free Diet Pepsi did even worse than coke, losing 10.6 percent, while Diet Coke declined 5.7 percent, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest.
Diet Coke continues to use aspartame.
Some consumers complained online about the taste of Diet Pepsi with sucralose.
The new diet @pepsi is awful!!!!!!! It always taste flat and leaves a bad after taste. I’m ok with the aspartame #nasty
— dannie (@DeeRitta) August 19, 2015
