Pepsi Max (also known as Pepsi Black in some countries) is a low-calorie, sugar-free cola, marketed by PepsiCo as an alternative to their drinks Pepsi and Diet Pepsi. It is sold primarily in European and Asian markets.
A drink with the same name but different formulation (containing ginseng and higher quantities of caffeine) was sold in the United States until it was renamed “Pepsi Zero Sugar” in late 2016.
Recent UK/Australia Pepsi Max television advertisements have featured the taglines “Maximum taste, no sugar” and “Don’t worry, there’s no sugar.” Some have incorporated extreme sports and video games such as Motocross Mania in an attempt to appeal to young men (in contrast to other diet cola drinks, which tend to target young women). The British advertising campaign involved retouched versions of the American “Do the Dew” commercials for Mountain Dew (A variant of which is sold in the UK), rebranded as “Live life to the Max”.
Coca-Cola Zero, a sugar-free cola from The Coca-Cola Company, is marketed in a similar manner. In the UK, some Coke Zero advertising alluded to Pepsi Max, leading to a counter-campaign by Pepsi extolling the virtues of the concept of “maximum” over that of “zero”
In 2013, Pepsi Max collaborated with English magician Steven Frayne, also known as Dynamo, as part of their ‘Live for Now’ campaign which was launched the previous year. As part of a launch event, Dynamo was seen in London hanging from the side of a number 543 double-decker bus on its journey along Millbank, past the Houses of Parliament and across Westminster Bridge, while hundreds of passers by watched.[2][3] The partnership also saw Dynamo appear in an on-pack promotion on cans and bottles of Pepsi Max during July and August, and secured 19 million unique impressions & 7 million total video views on social media.