Sugar cane growers benefit from ‘Throwback’ brands

PepsiCo and the American Sugar Cane League are partnering to bring soft drink consumers a sweet touch of south Louisiana.

Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, slated to hit shelves this month, contain locally grown, all-natural sugar.

The two beverages – offered in 20-ounce single-serving bottles and 12-ounce cans – will be available through June 13.

“As we revamp our brand with our ‘refresh everything’ campaign, we want to give a nod to the fun things of the past,” said Anamaria Irazabal, director of marketing for Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. “For some, it will be a trip down memory lane, but for others, it will be a chance to experience a new twist on their favorite brands.”

PepsiCo’s decision to use all-natural sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup is a boon to the local economy, especially local sugar growers and processors. Louisiana’s sugar industry provides 27,000 jobs with an economic impact to our state of $1.7 billion.

“While these products are only in our markets for an eight-week period, we are confident that the consumers will like the clean, crisp taste of Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, made with all natural sugar and encourage PepsiCo to continue with these two drinks,” Jim Simon, general manager of the American Sugar Cane League said in a press release. “If consumers voice their approval for these two drinks, then we are hopeful that PepsiCo will add other drinks in their line-up to the all-natural sugar line.”

Both Pepsi and Mountain Dew products bear a unique packaging to help consumers distinguish between the regular and “Throwback” brands.

The bottle design for Pepsi uses the vertical “swirl” pattern in the plastic, found today on most new Pepsi products. The 1940’s Pepsi-Cola script logo is used to identify the Throwback product. The logo is seemingly “cut out” of the rest of the blue background by a baby blue shadow, according to the Pepsi-Cola Web site.

The Mountain Dew logo displays the “box” logo used throughout the 1970s and ’80s. It is designed to be viewed sideways.