Code Red (2024)

Code Red is a Mountain Dew flavor released in stores in May 2001 as a permanent flavor in the United States. During its release, it proved to be massively successful. This introduction alone increased overall Mountain Dew sales by 6% in its first year, eventually leading to the creation of multiple other flavors in the 2000s.

Description

Code Red is a Cherry flavor of Mountain Dew, and its name implies having a red look and a comparable tasting flavor and color to that of Cherry Fusion and Game Fuel (Charged Cherry Burst).

Tagline

Its tagline is "DEW with a Rush of Cherry Flavor." while in Oceania, its catchphrase is "DEW with a Rush of Berry Flavour."

History

In March 2001^[1], Mountain Dew's website held an online racing game called "Mission: Code Red." After the top-scoring winners won the online racing game with high enough points, the winners acquired their free Code Red merchandise. They were sent a box containing a "you won" letter, following a Code Red shirt, and a six-pack of bottles to be the one of the first to sample. The letter revealed that Code Red is "Coming to a store near you in May," signifying a planned release of May 2001.

It was officially released in stores in May 2001 nationwide in the United States as a permanent flavor, and was available in various sizes such as 20-ounce bottles, 24-ounce bottles, 2-liter bottles, 3-liter bottles, 12-packs, 24-packs. It was also available in Slurpee^[2] form exclusively for a few years until 2005^[3].

When Code Red first released in the United States, this introduction alone increased overall Mountain Dew sales by 6%^[4] in its first year. The parent company, PepsiCo, was inspired by this introduction, eventually leading to the creation of multiple other flavors such as LiveWire (released in summer 2003) and Baja Blast (a Taco Bell exclusive released in 2004).

Variants

Diet Code Red

After a successful first year on shelves, Diet Code Red was brought into production in 2002. This was similar to how Caffeine-Free Mountain Dew, Red, and Sport all received Diet versions before Code Red came along.

In early 2019, Diet Code Red, along with many other underperforming flavors (namely Real Sugar, White Out, Citrus Cherry, Pitch Black, Caffeine-Free Mountain Dew, and Caffeine-Free Diet Mountain Dew), was pulled from shelves in most regions.

It was officially discontinued in January 2022, and replaced by Code Red Zero Sugar.

Code Red Zero Sugar

On September 12th, 2021, a render of Code Red Zero Sugar leaked online. This variation had no release date but as planned to replace Diet Code Red. It was unspecified whether it would retain Diet Code Red's region exclusive status. In November that year, it appeared in a Mountain Dew commercial^[5], showing that it would be releasing soon.

It was released in January 2022, but only in the same regional markets as Diet Code Red. A national release was planned for the following March, but this has since been cancelled.

Mountain Dew Energy (Code Red)

Main article: Mountain Dew Energy (Code Red)

On May 20th, 2022, on the Dew Drinker Discord, Mountain Dew Energy (Code Red) was leaked first by a trustworthy PepsiCo employee who confirmed a September 2022 release window.

On June 9th, 2022, in a r/MountainDew Reddit post, Mountain Dew Energy (Code Red) was further leaked by a user named u/Whole_Job2709, showing a photograph, revealing that it's coming soon, displaying a 16-ounce test can on a wooden floor.

Hard Code Red Variant

Main article: Hard Code Red

On October 4th, 2023, it was leaked by Team Supernova that Hard Code Red was announced at the NACS show, which plans to be released in February 2024 to replace Hard Watermelon in the variety pack and the 24-ounce cans.

International release

Canada

In 2002, Code Red was introduced into Canada. Unlike the US version, it was sold without caffeine due to laws preventing caffeine from being added to non-dark soft drinks. It was known as "Code Rouge" in Canadian French.

It was discontinued in 2005 due to potentially low sales.

Main article: DEWmocracy Canada

In March 2013, a voting promotion called DEWmocracy Canada was announced. The candidates were Voltage, Supernova, Code Red, and White Out. The French name "Code Rogue" was retired from its previous release, making "Code Red" the sole name for both languages. Code Red lost to Voltage in the first round, and there was a second round called Back by Popular DEWmand, in which Code Red won, making it a permanent flavor in Canada.

On May 4th, 2019, the official Canadian Mountain Dew Twitter account announced that Code Red ceased production in bottles and cans.

In April 2021, it was reported that Code Red was later released in Circle K locations as a Froster Freeze and in June 2021 as a fountain drink, making it potentially an exclusive flavor available only at Circle K locations. This release replaced Berry Twister as the new franchise-exclusive flavor in Circle K locations, which was confirmed by the Canadian Mountain Dew's social networking team.

On March 9th, 2024, it was confirmed on the Dew Drinker Discord that Code Red would be coming back to Canada in bottles at 7 Eleven starting March 27th.

The Philippines

Around the early 2000s, Code Red was sold in The Philippines in bottles for a limited time. There's nothing currently known other than the fact that it was a limited edition release.

In December 2019, it was released exclusively to Filipino 7-Eleven convenience stores for a promotion based on Mobile Legends, a mobile game for phones and tablets. Like its predecessor, this was also a limited time release.

Iraq

Around 2004/2005 (the same time as its release in The Philippines), Code Red was also released in Iraq, and was available in bottles and cans.

South Korea

Code Red was released in South Korea as "마운틴 듀 코드 레드" (Mountain Dew Code Red) on March 24th, 2005, which coincided with a promotion that billed attendees to win products.^[6] The drink was sold in 250ml (8-ounce) cans and 500ml (16.9-ounce) bottles.

It was likely released for only a short time, as little known about it. It is likely that it was discontinued sometime in the Mid-2000s, as it was available when Wild Black was on the shelves in 2006.

New Zealand

Code Red was introduced in New Zealand in 2009, making it the brand's first flavor expansion in New Zealand. Unusually, this particular release of Code Red features a different flavor than the classic cherry flavor found in all other countries where it had released, as this release features Berry flavoring instead of Cherry flavoring.

Germany

In 2010, Code Red was released in Germany, and was in mostly gas station convenience stores in 500ml (16.9-ounce) bottles. After a year, the bottle changed from a clear bottle to a light red bottle. It was discontinued silently in 2016 due to low sales.

Australia

In 2014, Code Red was released for a limited time in Australia under the Mountain Dew Energised name as part of an X-Men: Days of Future Past promotion. Similar to the New Zealand variant, the flavor used in New Zealand is Berry instead of Cherry. It was available from April and until September of the same year.

Trivia

• One of the most successful flavor variations in Mountain Dew history, Code Red is the first modern release of a recent kind, instantly being one of the most popular flavors. Code Red demonstrated the reason behind Mountain Dew's massive family of flavors. LiveWire in 2003, Baja Blast in 2004, and other multiple notable flavors in the years following.
• The computer worm Code Red was so named because the person who discovered it was drinking this flavor of Mountain Dew at the time.
• The Coca-Cola Company competitor to Mountain Dew, Mello Yello, made a similar flavor in 2003 to compete with Mountain Dew Code Red, called Mello Yello Cherry. It was discontinued shortly thereafter but was brought back briefly in 2015 and 2018, and is still available in Coca-Cola Freestyle machines.

References