Patio (soda)
| Type | Diet cola |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | PepsiCo |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1963 |
| Variants | Root Beer Orange Imitation Grape Imitation Strawberry Dry Ginger Ale Dry Club Soda Dry Tonic Water Diet Cola |
Patio Diet Cola was a brand of diet soda introduced by Pepsi 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. 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.
The creation of an advertising campaign for Patio was a featured plot of the third season of the AMC television series Mad Men. In "My Old Kentucky Home", the advertising agency hired an Ann-Margret look-alike. In "The Arrangements", they notably used a take-off of Ann-Margret's opening number from the film Bye Bye Birdie for their television commercial.
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