Can a soda be cool? I’m asking you because I’m a 40-year-old woman and I have aged out of knowing or having to know what’s cool (this is what I tell myself, anyway). Let’s take a look back … Pepsi was cool when Britney Spears was its spokesperson, even though everyone in the world was like, girl, you don’t drink Pepsi. And Mtn Dew is sort of perpetually cool by virtue of being what kids guzzle at sleepovers to stay awake all night, at least until they can start buying drugs from a cousin or older sibling.
Okay, we all agree soda can be cool, and that’s good news for PepsiCo, because they released a new soda that’s ~ for the kids ~ called Starry. That’s right. Pepsi up and discontinued Sierra Mist—much to the chagrin of some people somewhere, I’m sure—and stocked shelves with this new lemon-lime soda, which the brand says is “built for Generation Z.” “With Starry, we were able to create a game-changing recipe with the perfect balance of lemon-lime flavor and sweetness compared to the competition,” PepsiCo R&D vice prez Danielle Barbaro told Food Business News (and, as you may have guessed, Sprite is the “competition” in question). Is it better than Sierra Mist? Is it Gen-Z-ier than Sprite? Who better than a Millennial who almost never drinks full-sugar soda to tell you?!