Mountain Dew is turning 78 and leaning into its history with a five-cent bundle that’s as much about the price as the packaging.
The bundle features a commemorative can with an old-school logo that’s a nod to the soda’s 1948 Tennessee origins, along with a 10-pack of Mountain Dew Minis. Five cents gets you the whole thing, which is less than a dime for a hefty dose of branded nostalgia.
Only 1,948 bundles are being made, matching the soda’s founding year. The bundles drop exclusively on TikTok Shop across three days, from June 29 through July 1. Due to their limited quantities, once a day’s allotment sells out, the next opportunity will open only the following day at 12 p.m. ET.
Daily quantity announcements will be posted on Mountain Dew’s Instagram stories starting June 29, with one bundle per customer.
The method behind the nostalgia
The brand seems to be enjoying itself this year. Earlier this spring, it teamed up with Buffalo Wild Wings for a special drinks collab. This was followed by partnerships with Trolli for gummy worms and a Mountain Dew Dunker Donuts crossover with Kwik Trip.
Now, it’s releasing a literal throwback that comes with a price ripped straight out of 1948. Five cents in 1948 had real buying power, but today, it doesn’t even cover sales tax on most things. That’s basically the joke.
PepsiCo brands have been doing more of these limited drops and time-bound promotions lately. It has become a reliable way to generate attention without committing to a full product launch.
A prime example is the recent revival of the Pepsi Challenge, the classic blind taste test now reimagined as a national tour and Super Bowl campaign pitting Pepsi Zero Sugar against Coke Zero Sugar. Mountain Dew is particularly skilled in this format thanks to years spent cultivating a base of fans who treat each new release like an event.
Sources: PepsiCo, PR Newswire, Pepsi Challenge, Allrecipes