It’s January 1993 and everybody’s watching the Dallas Cowboys take on the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII, when suddenly, during a commercial break, Van Halen rocks out to Right Now and the entire country is officially introduced to Crystal Pepsi. Crystal Pepsi, the clear and caffeine free version of the long standing Pepsi Cola was ushered in with a big money marketing campaign and a series of high concept commercials.  The spots, featuring images of being refreshed and free, promised “You’ve never seen a cola like this.”  They were certainly right, but no one could have predicted the disaster that followed. The idea for the clear Pepsi began in the 1980’s when many manufacturers started experimenting with clear products after seeing the success Ivory had by creating a transparent bar of soap. Pepsi reformulated their recipe by removing the dark brown color, the caffeine, and many preservatives. Crystal Pepsi first hit stores in several test cities in 1992.  Denver, Colorado; Sacramento, California; Dallas, Texas; and Providence, Rhode Island were the four lucky cities selected.  Congratulations to them!  The test run was a success and sales of the new clear cola in those cities did quite well.  Those who purchased the product gave the idea and taste “positive results.” Pepsi decided to give the clear cola a full national launch and officially add it to the Pepsi lineup of products in stores coast to coast in 1993.  Hearing this, Coca-Cola would quickly work on a rival clear cola, Tab Clear, and rush it to stores by Christmas 1992. Pepsi spent a massive amount of marking money to promote their new product.  The rights to Van Halen’s Right Now, which could not have been cheap, spearheaded the series of commercials that aired in a heavy...