Remember How Boulder Was Involved in a Big Soda Flop?

Many who live in Colorado are health conscious; people who live in Boulder are more so. To think that Boulder would be involved in a soda, is remarkable on its own.

On one hand, finding out that Boulder was involved in a horrible soda hitting the market and then failing, does sound better than if the soda would have been a hit. What would people think, today, of Boulder helping a soda company "win?"

Perhaps, that was Boulder's plan... all along.

Boulder Was a Part of a Failed Soda Entering the Market

Americans just seem to gravitate toward the stories of failures, almost as much as they do "true crime" stories. This story of a failed soda is a classic, and it's fun (to me) that we get to mention Boulder when talking about it.

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Crystal Pepsi Was a Major Flop

In the early '90s, the gang Pepsi wanted in on the "clear soda" craze that was happening, but didn't take the time to really think "clearly," if you will.

RELATED: 'Aspen' Soda Made Colorado Look Bad

While other clear soft drinks, like 7-Up and Sprite could be found in green colored "clear" bottles, Crystal Pepsi wanted their bottles non-colored clear. I'm sure it all looked good on paper, but in the end, that was the flop.

Putting the clear sodas into clear bottles, (not colored ones) exposed Crystal Pepsi to the sunlight, and over a bit of time, turn that refreshing soda into something putrid. With that, Crystal Pepsi pretty much came to an end.

How Boulder Helped Crystal Pepsi [Fail]

Before Crystal Pepsi launched nationwide they went into a couple of test markets, including Boulder, Colorado. Boulder has long been known as a kind of "granola" town, so it's very hard to figure out why Pepsi would choose it for soda testing.

Bottom line, Boulderites gave a green light to the clear soda that was in a clear bottle. Sure, they got "fresh" Crystal Pepsi, which probably tasted fine.

Then again, Boulder is also full of higher-educated people; perhaps they saw that this soda was going to hit Pepsi in a bad way, and let it proceed to see what would happen?

If so, very clever, Boulder.