Whatever Happened To SoBe Drinks?
There are lots of things we're expected to say goodbye to as we dive into adulthood, but sugary, fun drinks shouldn't be one of them. That seemed to be the idea behind SoBe, everyone's favorite technicolored drink of the late '90s. Branded as an elixir with a vibrant rainbow of colors to choose from, SoBe juices and teas could be mistaken for magic potions. They were supposedly healthy, but the sweet and fruity combinations tasted far from natural. Flavors like piña colada, strawberry daiquiri, and orange cream helped put SoBe front and center during an iconic era in 2000s pop culture. Between the long list of all-star athletes they sponsored and their run of provocative ad campaigns, SoBe seemed like the coolest brand at the time.
PepsiCo picked up on the cult following and acquired the brand in 2000 for somewhere around $370 million. SoBe only seemed to grow over the years until, seemingly out of nowhere, the drink got harder and harder to find. Based on the numerous Reddit investigations and petitions, it looks like supply began dwindling around 2017 or so, but SoBe drinkers weren't going out without a fight. They demanded answers but PepsiCo stayed silent. The closest fans got to closure was SoBe's last tweet in 2017, "No plans for a return at this time, but we'll share your interest with the right teams!" Rather than properly announce the end of the SoBe era, it seems like PepsiCo quietly abandoned the brand.
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SoBe Ghosted Its Long-Time Fans
The iconic SoBe lizards can still be found on the company's official brand list, and yet, no one seems to be able to find the elixirs anywhere. Fans blow up SoBe's Instagram comment section on the daily, pleading for the drinks' return, despite the page's radio silence since 2018. PepsiCo has vaguely responded to some tweets over the years, still refusing to make any concrete statement about the highly coveted drink. When harassed about SoBe's whereabouts on X (formally Twitter), PepsiCo diplomatically responds that local availability varies and "not all flavors are sold everywhere," still dodging any explanation of the drink's disappearing act.
PepsiCo ends its carefully worded responses by directing fans to SoBe's website, which may be live but looks just as neglected as the brand's social media pages. While the site shows a few remaining SoBe retailers, it doesn't take long to discover they've sold out, and our guess is they're not re-upping anytime soon. With such a strong fanbase, it's tough to say why Pepsi dialed back on SoBe. By the mid to late 2000s, there were dozens of new energy drinks to compete with and SoBe may have simply fallen by the wayside. There must be a reason PepsiCo is avoiding an official statement and hanging onto the brand name, but we won't get our hopes up. Sadly, it seems more likely that SoBe's one-of-a-kind elixirs have joined the ranks of delicious drinks that disappeared too soon.
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
