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The Times Square Diet Mountain Dew Party!

As I walked out the door this morning, something told me to go back inside and grab my camera.  I used to carry it with me at all times, and the fact that I've fallen off that wagon has bit me on the ass far too often lately.  I wasn't sure why the imps that live inside me created such a sense of camera-urgency today, but once I got near my building, it all made sense: The biggest Mountain Dew party in the history of Mountain Dew parties.

The reason for the celebration?  The new “tuned up taste” of Diet Mountain Dew, a brand that evidently was not championed by many and has existed for years as-was despite clear indications that it needed to be reformulated.  Friends, the day has come.  Diet Mountain Dew has been reformulated.  How?  No idea.  I've never had original Diet Mountain Dew.  I've never had a passing interest in trying Diet Mountain Dew.  Still, if anything could inspire me to change my soda style, it's the sight of Dew-drenched snowboarders gliding down a 40’ hill of snow in the middle of Times Square.

The first sign that things were not normal was the group of happy folks in green sweatshirts handing out cans of Diet Mountain Dew.  Sample-givers are a Times Square morning staple, but as I gleefully pocketed two cans and brought my attention back to Mr. Cigarette...there it was.  A construction shaped like a gigantic arcade basketball hoop game, covered with snow and Dew signage, and overflowing with snowboarders who knew how to take it to the extreme.  It's bad form to look like a tourist in front of potential coworkers, but there was no way I wasn't going to photograph this.

It went deeper than that.  Giant signs!  Dew-adorned race cars!  Inflatable Diet Mountain Dew cans as tall as houses!  It's likely that a good 60 billion cans of Diet Mountain Dew were passed out to willing samplers, and even by late afternoon, the festivities were still rolling along. All in the name of a (revised) soda. The crowd absolutely ate it up, so much so that I swear on Christ's soul that I heard an audible "DEW, DEW, DEW" chant as I walked to the bus after work.

Aside from all that, today was been pretty boring. I wish sodas threw parties outside my building everyday.

And as for the drink? Bleh.



(click pics to enlarge)

Posted by Matt on 03/08/2006. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 100 comments

It’s amazing that you can see this kind of stuff on a smoke break. It’s so exotic.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 03/08/2006 11:46 PM

The only free sample I got today was a Jesus-themed pamphlet from a hobo in the subway station. I’m slightly jealous.

Chestnuts roasted by Lizzy @ 03/08/2006 11:55 PM

Wow, the cans are even customized. I wonder how many other places had Mountain Dew parties today.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 03/09/2006 12:05 PM

Is the idea of this revision to taste more like regular Mountain Dew? That’s what these usually seem to be. Just to be sure we get this out of the way and are able to move on, I’ll acknowledge for the board as a whole "Homer Simpson vs. the City of New York" and all the Mountain Dew/bad taste connections thereof implied. Now that that’s done, I’m sorely confused as to why anyone would make an authentic-tasting diet version of Mountain Dew. Diet makes me think that it’s intended for people who at least think that it won’t ruin their bodies utterly, while the term "Mountain Dew" strongly contradicts this.

Chestnuts roasted by Tougi @ 03/09/2006 12:06 PM

Also, children are starving. How much did this cost?

Chestnuts roasted by Tougi @ 03/09/2006 12:07 PM

I just noticed that I have the "Tuned Up Taste" Diet Mountain Dew in my room and had one today. I tasted NO difference in flavor. To me, it’s like when Mr. Pibb all of a sudden became Mr. Pibb Xtra and had no difference in taste either. Doesn’t matter cause I love Diet Mountain Dew (along with Diet Dr. Pepper).

Also, I bought a 20oz soda bottle of something called Vault today. Haven’t tried it yet. Wonder if it tastes liked Mountain Dew’s MDX energy soda, which also tasted the same as regular MD. Also didn’t give me energy.

Chestnuts roasted by JLAJRC @ 03/09/2006 12:15 PM

Mountain Dew is the best soda in the history of mankind. As for diet Mt. Dew? Never tried it either.

Chestnuts roasted by Gozer @ 03/09/2006 1:22 AM

Remember: the Dew-swillers take it to the EXTREME!!! Nothin’s more intense than SLAMMIN’ A DEW!!! If you don’t got Dew, you’re NOTHING!!

It’s been an effective marketing campaign for over a decade now to bill Mountain Dew as "screaming outrageous." I say effective because when one thinks about it, "Mountain Dew" is the sissiest-sounding name of any soft drink out there.

Though it might be more effective to actually advertise that Mountain Dew is a contraceptive. There are teens that still believe that, and we have a lenient ad regulations board….

Chestnuts roasted by Mars @ 03/09/2006 1:26 AM

Matt you’re great; you build me up with all the greatness of floats, snowboarders, and race cars, then the REVIEW….bleh. I give you mad props. You tell it as it really is.

Chestnuts roasted by super_dex @ 03/09/2006 2:14 AM

A Diet Mountain Dew? How Dew they do it? Okay, that was terrible.

I used to get excited about the new variations of drinks, but they often disappoint me. They either taste like medicine or they just make me want to drink the original. But, throwing a party for a drink should make it a little more enjoyable.

Chestnuts roasted by Dr. Acula @ 03/09/2006 5:30 AM

Does anyone else remember Mt Dew Sport from the early early 90′s? It was only around for a year or two. I think they were trying to jump on the Gatorade bandwagon. It seemed like a mix between Gatorade lemon and MD. I drank alot of it. It was in the vending machine at my elementary school.
Completely unrelated, my son is at work with me today (pinkeye-sitting in the stock room with a bean bag and Monsters Inc.) I just found him with a empty bottle of sprinkles that was left over from Christmas. When he looked at me and knew he was caught, he just said "Sprinkles!!!!!"

Chestnuts roasted by kb @ 03/09/2006 8:02 AM

Wow- All I saw on the way to work was a garbage can that had blown into the street…damn winter.

I’m very jealous, Matt.

Oh well, at least I get to do this at school today while my students work on a webquest!

Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 03/09/2006 8:31 AM

A party in the name of soda rules, but Diet is always icky. What’s the point really. If the original soda is going to kill me someday, i’m far past that point… so bring it on.

Chestnuts roasted by Mattman @ 03/09/2006 8:47 AM

Did you know Mountain Dew was a name for moonshine? Pretty awesome looking party. They should have another one for Pitch Black III with a haunted house and spooky monsters handing out the soda, NOT red-head kids that think it’s really cool to sit in the dark. It’s weird to think about places that are still cold out. In Texas it’s like 88 degrees these days, but the way people in New York are dressed, it still seems like it’s all Christmassy.

Chestnuts roasted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 03/09/2006 8:59 AM

The only thing I want to know is what role this plays in the current cola war between Diet Coke and Diet cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper. Could it be that Diet mountain dew is announcing it’s intentions to join the soda makers’ battlefield?…Judging from the gnarly snowboarders, I would say a big fat yes to that.

Chestnuts roasted by TC Falcon @ 03/09/2006 9:14 AM

Diet Mt Dew was was of the few diet sodas I could stomach. I hope they didn’t fuck it up too badly.

Chestnuts roasted by ZiZak @ 03/09/2006 9:20 AM

"Also, children are starving. How much did this cost?"
That’s one of the first things I thought too. I think it’s a sure sign of getting old and [shudder] responsible.

Clearly I don’t understand the power of Times Square. If I had a company, blowing that kind of dough on a promotional party that wouldn’t be seen or heard of by anyone except the people who passed through the area (unless, of course, one of them had a digital camera and a popular website) wouldn’t seem like a wise way to spend the money. Still, all things considered, I want one of those mylar balloons (a lot more than I want the soda, by the way.)

Chestnuts roasted by Lori @ 03/09/2006 9:27 AM

I thought I wanted to live out my days in Iowa, but now I know Times Square’s where it’s at.

Chestnuts roasted by Shii @ 03/09/2006 9:57 AM

You walked right into a TV commercial. I like to think that as soon as you reached the crowd, you started moshing along with everyone else, and that Lauren Hill was singing or something.

Chestnuts roasted by Jessica Marie @ 03/09/2006 10:17 AM

I simply detest all Mountain Dew sodas.

I’ll stick with Crab Juice, thank you very much.

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 03/09/2006 10:17 AM

I think it’s just a new marketing campaign like I said above. I didn’t taste any difference in flavor.

I love MD, especially the Code Reds (Livewire I can live without).

Anyone tried Vault? What’s it like? MDX-like?

Chestnuts roasted by JLAJRC @ 03/09/2006 10:37 AM

The grocery stores around here are giving away 4 packs for free. All you gotta pay for is tax and deposit.

My little brother is a soda-hound so he’s stocked up with enough diet dew to bathe in it daily.

Chestnuts roasted by Jeff Mack @ 03/09/2006 11:07 AM

EXTREME MEGA-AMPED DIET SPORT GIANT APE JUICE! IN YOUR FACE!

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 03/09/2006 11:58 AM

Q: Why is mountain dew yellow?

A: Bears.

I walk nearly a mile to work, and all I get to see are severely flattened squirrels and Texans who have no idea how they’re supposed to react to somebody walking down the side of the street. That’s it, I’m moving someplace that has something approaching a pedestrian culture. Also something approaching culture. Also something approaching a winter season. Also smarter squirrels.

Chestnuts roasted by Jedoc @ 03/09/2006 12:14 PM

Jessica Marie–that may be one of the funniest things I’ve seen all day

I’ve never had a Diet Soda I didn’t like. Diet MD is passable.

Chestnuts roasted by mtrox @ 03/09/2006 12:24 PM

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 8th, 2006 at 11:26 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.