#60 - Extinct, Disappearing and Discontinued Food and Beverage Items from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, part I

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On today's episode we will be taking a look back at some of the extinct, disappearing and discontinued food and beverage items from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.  We will be specifically looking at President's Choice, Clearly Canadian, Tato Skins, Crystal Clear Pepsi, Five Alive, Mr. Salty and Ecto Cooler!  I found so much information that this will be a series of at least 2-3 episodes!  I love putting these together so I hope you get to kick back, relax and enjoy!

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Transcript

Episode #60:  Extinct, Discontinued and Disappearing Food & Drinks from the 1980s and 1990s, Part I

It has often been said that a person’s sense of smell is the most closely associated with memories.  I would argue that taste would be up there as well.  I remember the first time I smelled my Grandmother’s mushroom soup, which she made for us every year on Christmas eve and how incredible it tasted.  I remember the smell of incense in my sister’s room and the taste of snack well’s devil’s cake cookies which we ate together as teenagers.  

With that in mind, on today’s show we will be taking a look back at some of the extinct, discontinued and disappearing food and drinks from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.  From crystal clear drinks to supposed health food, me and my sister’s generation had no shortage of memorable and not-so-memorable food and beverage items.  I came across so much fascinating information and articles to share that this episode will need to be broken up into 2 parts.  So….put on your comfy pants, pull up a chair and who cares about high fructose corn syrup, let’s go….

Hello and thank you so very much for tuning in to the Pop Culture Retrospective Podcast, a show inspired by, and in memory of, my big sister Rebecca and her love for all things pop-culture, especially the people, places and things of the 80s, 90s and early 00s.  My name is Amy Lewis and I am your captain aboard this pop-culture time machine. You are tuning in to episode #60, Extinct, Discontinued and Disappearing Food & Drinks from the 1980s and 1990s, Part I.  What follows will be sort of a list of various items you may remember from your childhood or adolescence.  We’ll discuss some behind the scenes information as well as some articles written about food and drink from yesteryear.  Some items had a ton of information written about them and others not as much.  Either way, I think you are going to seriously enjoy this ride so let’s get started….we begin our journey with….

President’s Choice- which is a company owned by Lablaw Companies which-

• Was established in Canada
• Actually started as President’s Choice Beers which was created by Dave Nicol who surprisingly was not a beer drinker
• The beer was discounted, one of the very first of its kind in Canada
• Eventually, in the 1980s, the company expanded and started selling their products in the United States.  They sold soda with the classic PC logo on it, cookies and other snack related items such as potato chips, cheesecake and granola bars. With the help of places like Wal-Mart and Jewel (my favorite midwestern grocery store chain) PC items were on shelves in about 1200 stores in 34 states.  At Wal-Mart it was sold under the names Sam’s Choice and Great Value.
  • Eventually President’s Choice expanded their reach to places like Arizona, Massachusetts and Michigan.  
• Our family and especially my paternal grandparents were big fans of President’s Choice, such as their “decadent chocolate chip cookies” or the “raspberry temptations.”  And let me just tell you, I was ALWAYS tempted by those raspberry temptations, trust me.  
• By the early 2000s, a lot of the chains that sold President’s Choice products in the United States were bought out by larger grocery companies who made their own lines of food and drink.  In some instances, the contracts just ran out.  Either way, in less than about 20 years, President's Choice came and went.  I had forgotten about President’s Choice for a long time as I have lived away from my home state of IL for a long time now.  However, I remember being in a Jewel Grocery store in the past few years during a visit and was so disappointed to realize that I could no longer find President’s Choice items on their shelves.  It was a sad day, indeed.  

While we are on the topic of Canadian imports, let’s talk about Clearly Canadian, shall we? 

• In the mountains of British Columbia, an entrepreneur had an idea to add a little flavor to the mountain water and thus CC was born in 1987.
• CC was essentially sparkling water with flavor.  Those flavors included:  Orchard peach, country raspberry, mountain blackberry, and wild cherry.  The nice thing about them is that they only had 4 ingredients.    Each came in their own glass bottle with the corresponding fruit depicted in a colorful drawing on it.  
• At first it was just sold in greater British Columbia but soon, it expanded and by the early 1990s it was sold in the United States.  
• It became such a staple in the United States that it appeared in television shows like Seinfeld and Friends.  
• Perhaps even better than the product placement in TV shows, Clearly Canadian could be found at another 90s gem, everyone’s favorite Italian restaurant, the Olive Garden.  My sister and I always looked forward to our Olive Garden visits and not just because of the bread sticks and salad.  It was because of the Clearly Canadian.  That and the rolly chairs.  Anyways.  
  • With the popularity of Clearly Canadian came many similar items like Orbitz, which was created by the same people who made CC coincidentally.  It was a non-carbonated beverage with fruit flavoring.  It was famous for the floating balls in the drink which were, thankfully, edible.  The drink was only produced for a year, perhaps that was because people said the drink looked like a lava lamp.  Once the drink ceased production and thus no longer needed a website, the travel company Orbitz, bought their website name.  
• By 2009, popularity of Clearly Canadian had taken quite the dive so production was halted and the delicious sparkling drinks could no longer be found.
• A movement to bring the drinks back started in 2013.  In 2015, a crowd-funding campaign began.  Soon, the company was purchased by a group of gen x’ers who wanted to bring the brand back to life.  And thankfully, they have.  
  • The company has created a fantastic new website and features nostalgic pictures of the drinks and there is even a store locator for the beverages!  There are apparently a few locations near me that sell it!  You can also find the drinks in large grocery store chains like Kroger, Meijer, Win Dixie and Cost World Plus.  You can also purchase the drinks on Amazon.  
  • In addition to carrying the flavors they are known for, you can also get an unflavored sparkling water created by CC.  My goal in the next few weeks is to drink a bottle of Clearly Canadian, I’ll let you know how it goes.

During the 1990s, in America especially, we became obsessed with diet culture as well as low fat and nonfat foods.  Snackwells, created by Nabisco and later sold to Back to Nature Foods, fed right into it.  There were several different items created by Snackwells, including Vanilla Creme Sandwich cookies and my sister’s personal favorite, Devil’s Food Cookie Cakes.  Online, some people have described them as a stale chocolate covered hockey puck which is most certainly accurate, yet we ate them anyways.  The Devil’s Food Cookie cakes were introduced in the early 1990s and claimed to have 40% less fat than their competition.  As a result though, they were filled with high fructose corn syrup and they weren’t very big, so I think this led to people eating them in higher quantities thus canceling out their supposed low fat benefits.  When Snackwells was sold to Back to Nature foods, the recipe changed to make them taste better, but people complained and the popularity of Snackwells started to tank.  So, in 2022, the Snackwell line was officially discontinued.  My sister did not live to see the day that Snackwells were discontinued, however I’m quite sure she would be seriously disappointed.  She LOVED these cookies and I know I ate my fair share of them as well. 

In an article from Eater.com entitled “The Devil’s Food”, writer Meghan McCarron, wrote about her love affair with Devil’s Cake Cookies and how they ruined her childhood. Here’s a bit from that article:  https://www.eater.com/21429206/snackwells-devils-food-cookie-cake-fat-free-snacks-diet-food-90s

Well said Meghan, well said.

In 1985, Keebler released Tato Skins.  For 15 years we were able to enjoy chips that were fried potato skins with flavors like Cheddar Cheese N Bacon, and Sour Cream N Chives.  Note that both of these flavors did not use the word AND but rather, just an N. At one point you could purchase a ceramic, potato shaped bowl, purposefully created to hold tato skins in.  Yes, that’s right.  Someone recently sold one on Etsy! Sadly, Tato skins lasted until about 2000.  Allegedly, Keebler later sold it to a food company that later sold it to TGI Fridays.  

In addition to diet culture, the 1990s was also famous for all things clear:  you know, phones, blow up furniture and Crystal clear pepsi! 

• Introduced in 1992, Crystal Clear pepsi was created by a former pepsi executive named David Novak, he said the beverage was the best idea he’s ever had, however he also said it was poorly executed.  Clearly Canadian and sodas like Slice were gaining popularity so Novak thought perhaps he was on to something. I found some really fascinating information from the Thrillest website about the development of Crystal Pepsi.  Here’s a bit from their article

To create the see-through spinoff, Novak teamed up with food scientist Surinder Kumar, the junk food wizard behind the flavor of Nacho Cheese Doritos. Novak explained the idea and stressed the importance of clear bottles to show off the drink’s hip new look, according to Kumar.

Kumar, who was then head of Pepsi’s Research and Development branch, balked at first. He foresaw a huge problem. “I knew it had a strong possibility of going bad in clear bottles,” he said. “Colas are brown for a good reason.”  

The color keeps sunlight from spoiling the drink, and morphing it into a brew that  “smells and tastes like shoe polish,” he says. Ever wonder why 7-Up and Sprite are sold in green bottles? It’s the exact same concept, he stressed to Pepsi executives.

“But Pepsi’s motto at the time was ‘Go Big.’ And so I was told, ‘You’re a food scientist -- figure it out,’” Kumar says. “From a technical standpoint, I thought it was impossible. There are laws of physics and chemistry you can’t change.”

But he set out to try.  The goal was to make a caffeine-and-preservative-free clear soda that tastes like original Pepsi but wouldn’t eat into its sales. Over the next few months, he concocted a recipe that included a mix of sugars and salts -- along with a secret substitute for the caramel-brown color and flavor, which he’s still not at liberty to disclose.

Problem was, honchos wouldn’t tell him the full recipe of regular Pepsi, he says. Only a few execs at the firm knew the coveted trade secret, which made it harder to replicate. To Kumar, it felt like guarding a castle in a blindfold.  

“Imagine trying to protect the flavor of something without actually knowing what’s in it,” he says. “It was difficult and very frustrating.” (Pepsi didn’t return requests for comment.)

Kumar also wasn’t hot on the idea of marketing Crystal Pepsi as healthy. It was made with high fructose corn syrup and had roughly the same amount of calories. “It was misleading to consumers. My point of view was if we want to market it as ‘pure’ and ‘natural’ then the ingredients need to reflect that,” he says.

Focus groups didn’t seem to mind. “They loved it,” according to Novak. “So I rushed it into the test market.”

In April 1992, the drink launched in Boulder, Colorado, and was soon flying off the shelves. “It was the hottest news in the category,” Novak recalls. “People were calling their friends and shipping them six-packs. Everybody wanted to try it.”

But in Novak’s mind, the clock was ticking. He wanted the soft drink to launch nationally in time for the Super Bowl on Jan. 31, 1993, as part of a $40 million ad campaign.

All told, Crystal Pepsi was rolled out across America at breakneck speed -- just nine months after Novak’s first pitch. By contrast, “It took us three years to launch Slice,” Kumar says. “It wasn’t enough time to accurately test its shelf-life.”

Bottlers gave Novak the first hint that something wasn’t right. “They said, ‘You have a really good idea, but the problem is that it doesn’t have enough Pepsi Cola flavor in it,’” Novak says. “One of them told me, ‘Everybody will try this. The problem is nobody is going to retry it.”

He added, “They had a unique perspective that I basically ignored... And they were right.”

After the Super Bowl commercial, sales of $1.50 six-packs soared. The company sold $474 million of Crystal Pepsi by March 1993, according to The New York Times.

Crystal Pepsi’s immediate success sent competitors at Coke into attack mode. The company launched Tab Clear in what chief marketing officer Sergio Zyma described as a mutual destruction effort to fail -- and take Crystal Pepsi down with it. He hoped to kill it off by confusing shoppers into thinking it was a diet drink.

“Pepsi spent an enormous amount of money on the brand and, regardless, we killed it. Both of them were dead within six months,” Zyma said in the book, Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Goliath in Your Industry.

Whether or not the scheme actually worked, not many people tried Crystal Pepsi twice. Novak thinks the flavor simply wasn’t good enough. “Because we rushed it, we were having product quality problems. It had more of an aftertaste than it should have had,” he said.

More serious dilemmas soon began to bubble up. “Cases of Crystal Pepsi were being displayed sitting out in the direct sunlight at gas stations,” Kumar says. “That was the kiss of death.”

As he predicted, ultraviolet rays caused the soda to spoil. Reports began pouring into Pepsi headquarters from customers saying the stuff tasted strange, according to Kumar.

By 1994, less than a year after Crystal Pepsi’s big launch, it was discontinued. “I was disappointed that it wasn’t more enduring,” Novak says. “If we had gotten the flavor notes to taste more like [original] Pepsi Cola, it could have been more than just a novelty.”  End quote. 

Crystal Clear Pepsi has re-appeared a few times, mainly for nostalgia tie-ins for us Gen Xers/Elder Millennials. 

In 2016, it appeared briefly after a fan campaign got enough attention and also in 2017 to coincide with a nostalgia throwback tour with acts like Salt N Pepa, Busta Rhymes and Sugar Ray.  It was also brought back last year due to increased interest in 90s nostalgia once again like JNCO Jeans, Scrunchies and CC Pepsi of course.  Being reminded of the line-up for the Nostalgia brought up 2 thoughts for me:  1 - I LOVE Salt N Pepa and would have loved to see them perform and number 2 - I HATE Sugar Ray so much! How did they get Salt N Pepa to agree to tour with that godforsaken horrible alternative band?  Ugh, now I am going to have Fly stuck in my head for the next few days.  Son of a…anyways….

If ever there was a snack that reminded me of my childhood, it would have to be Mr. Salty’s Pretzels COMMERCIAL HERE

• Created by Nabisco in the late 1960s, Mr. Salty was in fact a cartoon caricature of a pretzel shaped like a man.  He was tall and slender with curved arms and straight legs, which I guess means he was literally a pretzel with legs.  He wore a white sailor hat that said Nabisco on it.  I distinctly remember having Mr. Salty pretzels in our house frequently when me and my sister were kids.  To this day, I would say that I am most certainly a sucker for pretzels and anything salty.  I can thank my mother for that.  
• At one point Mr. Salty was so popular that you could purchase a plethora of different types of pretzels like sticks, twists of course, rods, nuggets, minis, rings, etc.  At one point you could even purchase a Mr. Salty Plush which you can now find on ebay.  Is anyone else seriously grossed old by old plush or stuffed animals?  I just think about all of the bodily fluids that can be found on old items that are made of fabric like mucous from 1975 or remnants of diarrhea from 1985.  As tempting and nostalgic as stuffed animals or whatever you want to call them are, there is something about it though that really makes me want to throw up.  But anyways…
• Mr. Salty remained popular for many decades but as people started to get more health conscious, complaints started that Mr. Salty should have been called Mr. Too Salty or perhaps people said that their heart was assaulted by Mr. Salty.  I may have made that up but I find it funny!  Nonetheless in recent years, Mr. Salty has really been nowhere to be found.  At one point it seemed like the company was bought out by Anderson Pretzel Stix with an x.   They reportedly took out a lot of salt from the pretzels, however that company appears to be defunct as well.  
• That being said, its time for Mr. Salty to move over because there’s a new king, or rather queen, of pretzels now if I do say so myself.  Have you ever heard of Dot’s pretzels?  Oh my god.  My mom introduced this to me last summer I think it was and ever since then, I have grabbed a bag whenever I see them.  They are amazing and the best snack pretzel I’ve ever had in my life.  I’ll put a link in the show notes to where you can purchase them online.  You can thank me in advance.  

Next on our list we have Five Alive…yet another item that was once found in the United States but can now only be found in Canada.  I’m not bitter, you are!  

• Five Alive was created by Minute Maid, which is owned by Coca-Cola.  
  • The name Five Alive came from the 5 fruit juices contained within the beverage.  
  • It was introduced in 1970s in both 12oz and 16oz cans…gosh do you remember when juice came in a can in the freezer section of a grocery store? 
  • In 1981, it could be found in both cans and cartons.  The carton I distinctly remember pulling out of my fridge was navy blue with the world five being multi-colored and alive being in white lettering.  The slogan for five alive was “get a taste for life.”  And likewise people tell me that I am a big nerd when it comes to pop culture and that I should actually get-a-life.  Funny how that works.  
  • By the 1990s, five alive stopped being sold in the United States.  Life hasn’t been the same since.  

We will end our show with everyone’s favorite juice box flavor, Ecto-Cooler.

• Released in 1989, Ecto Cooler was created by Hi-C.  It was actually a re-release of a drink originally sold in the 1960s as a drink called “Citrus Cooler” but produced again to coincide with the movie Ghostbusters II coming out in theaters, just with a name change.  
• The juice box design was famous for not only it’s unique green and orange coloring, but also because a character from Ghost Busters, slimer, was on it.  He remained on the boxes until 1997 when he was removed, likely because the movie was not as popular as it had been in the decade beforehand.  Echo cooler was still made until 2001 when it was discontinued and the name was changed yet again and renamed Shoutin' Orange Tangergreen.  So 2001 was really a year for me to say goodbye to my childhood.  I graduated from high school and Ecto Cooler was discontinued.  And then September 11th happened, could 2001 have sucked more? Oh wait, I worked at Disney World that year, that was the best thing ever! In 2006, the name was changed yet again to Crazy Citrus Cooler but was subsequently discontinued in 2007.  
• In 2016, Ecto reemerged for a limited time.  Fans could enter a contest to win ecto cooler which would be released in cans for a short period of time before the nation-wide release.  Fans could eventually purchase ecto cooler in stores and in movie theaters.  By the end of 2016, Ecto cooler disappeared once again, sort of like how Slimer can disappear into a brick wall.  However, just 5 years later in 2021, Ecto cooler again made its way back on to shelves due the release of the film “Ghostbusters:  Afterlife.” However that year in December, just like in 2016, Ecto cooler was discontinued yet again.  As far as I can tell right now, there are no signs of it coming back but based on past history, I think there is a very good chance we haven’t seen the end of Ecto cooler…I wish that could be said about a lot things on this list, but I won’t hold my breath.  

I hope you have enjoyed this look back on some of the Extinct, Discontinued and Disappearing Food & Drinks from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s and this was just the tip of the iceberg.  Since we have so much more to cover, we will do so on the next episode of the show, so please stay tuned to that.  

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Until we meet again, BKBSAHOTYM.