

The diet soda segment, which includes diet and zero-calorie branded drinks, has ballooned since it first hit the mainstream in the 1960s. Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Imagesīut distaste for the word diet doesn’t signal an aversion to no-calorie beverages. “No Gen Z wants to be on a diet these days,” he said, adding that the company is “going to continue to innovate and support that business.”ĭiet 7UP is dead. Pepsi rebranded “Pepsi Max” as “Pepsi Zero Sugar” in 2016 and has been investing in its zero-sugar offerings over the past few year. “Younger people just don’t like the word ‘diet,” said Greg Lyons, chief marketing officer at PepsiCo Beverages North America, during the Beverage Digest Future Smarts conference in December. The reason for the overhaul: The word “diet” has fallen out of fashion - especially for Millennials and Gen Z-ers. Canada Dry and Schweppes ginger ales, 7Up, A&W and Sunkist, made by Keurig Dr Pepper, now label their diet drinks “zero sugar.” (One exception is the namesake Dr Pepper brand, which will still come in “diet” packaging in addition to a different zero sugar version.) “Zero sugar” has replaced “diet” for many no-calorie soft drinks. Instead you’ll find those beverages under their new branding: zero sugar. That’s because some diet sodas are disappearing - or at least, that packaging is gone.

As you make your way through the soda aisle, you may notice a lot less of the word “diet” than you used to.
