Patio Diet Cola was a brand of

diet soda Diet sodas (also known as sugar-free sodas, zero-calorie sodas, low-calorie sodas or zero-sugar sodas) are soft drinks which contain little or no sugar and/or calories. First introduced onto the market in 1949, diet sodas are typically marketed ...

introduced by

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

in 1963. It was created in response to Diet Rite Cola. Fitness promoter Debbie Drake was Patio Diet Cola's spokesperson; the drink was also marketed as a soda alternative for diabetics. In 1964, Patio released orange, grape, and root beer flavors. This flavor line was not meant to compete with brands like Orange Crush, but rather fill out the line. Patio sodas were available in the cold-bottle market: grocery and mom-and-pop stores. Advertising for Patio was comparatively scarce; at the time, bottlers were regionally franchised, and related advertising was necessarily local. In 1964, Patio Diet Cola became

Diet Pepsi Diet Pepsi, also called Pepsi Light in some countries, is a diet carbonated cola soft drink produced by PepsiCo, introduced in 1964 as a variant of Pepsi with no sugar. First test marketed in 1963 under the name Patio Diet Cola, it was re-bra ...

. The newly branded diet soda was advertised alongside Pepsi, with the tagline "Pepsi either way", which replaced the slogan "Dances with flavor". Most of the remaining Patio line of flavors were phased out by the early 1970s, while a few survived until the mid-1970s. Patio Red Cherry was available as a soda fountain choice at Bojangles'

Triarc The Wendy's Company is an American fast food corporation and the holding company for Wendy's and First Kitchen. Originally founded as the Deisel-Wemmer Company, it is sourced in Dublin, Ohio. The company's principal subsidiary, Wendy's Interna ...

-franchised locations in central

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, but no longer appears on the Bojangles website as of June 2024. Patio Red Cherry was not a diet soda as it contained 58g of sugar in a 16oz serving. However, the "patio" logo on the fountain dispenser was substantially the same as that used on the 12-ounce cans of diet soda from 1972 through 1976 (which were accompanied by a design with spiral rows of balls).

In popular culture

A print ad for Patio appears in the window of the bodega in the opening scene of " Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" (1995, S03E04), an episode from ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...

''. The creation of an advertising campaign for Patio was a featured plot of a three-episode story arc in the third season of the AMC television series ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

'', first mentioned in the episode “Love Among the Ruins" (2009, S03E02). In the next episode, "My Old Kentucky Home" (2009, S03E03), the advertising agency hires an Ann-Margret look-alike. Finally, in "The Arrangements" (2009, S03E04), they use a riff of Ann-Margret's opening number from the film '' Bye Bye Birdie'' for their Patio television commercial.

Flavors

* Diet Cola (became

in 1964) * Root Beer * Orange * Imitation Grape (later changed to artificially flavored) * Imitation Strawberry * Dry Ginger Ale * Dry Club Soda * Dry Tonic Water * Red Cherry (contains sugar; not a diet/diabetic soda)

References

External links

Patio Soda Cans
from usasoda.com
Eat, Fast and Live Longer - Documentary Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patio (Soda) PepsiCo brands Products introduced in 1963 Defunct brands Diet drinks