We Totally Forgot About This Discontinued Life Savers Soda
When you think of Life Savers, your mind probably goes straight to the ring-shaped candy. Since introducing the original Pep-O-Mint Life Savers candies in 1912, the brand has introduced several different variations of Life Savers, including gummies, mints, and sours. At one point there were even Life Savers Holes. What a lot of people might not know is that there used to be a Life Savers soda, too. The soda's tagline "From the candy with the hole, the beverage with a whole lot of flavor," was a reference to the iconic candy design.
If you don't remember LIfe Savers soda, that's probably because it wasn't around for very long. Created in the 1980s and released after successful taste tests, Life Savers soda was available in five flavors (just like the hard candies), but only some of the flavors were the same flavors as the candy. There was a pineapple, orange, and lime Life Savers soda, but the candy's cherry and lemon flavors were swapped for fruit punch and grape for the sodas. Despite the initially positive feedback, Life Savers soda ultimately didn't resonate with consumers, and by 1982, it was discontinued.
Why did Life Savers release a soda?
Confectionary brands normally focus on developing additional candy products, but Life Savers releasing a beverage probably seemed like a good business move at the time. Soda was extremely popular during the 1980s; in 1987, The Chicago Tribune reported soda consumption had exceeded water consumption. Throughout the decade, soda brands had gotten creative with their offerings, releasing flavors like diet chocolate fudge. Pepsi even came out with a fruit-flavored soda collection called Slice, which now looks completely different, so the concept of a Life Savers soda wasn't exactly far-fetched.
It's also worth noting that in 1981, Life Savers Inc. had been bought out by food manufacturer Nabisco. Often when big companies acquire smaller brands, one of the main reasons is to tap into new markets. Therefore, it's possible that Nabisco saw an opportunity to grow Life Saver's brand by releasing a soda version of its hard candy. But even with five different soda flavors for consumers to choose from, the product didn't perform well enough for Life Savers to continue making it.
The discontinuation of Life Savers soda
It's clear that Life Savers soda wasn't on the market for very long, but the specific date that it was discontinued isn't widely reported. In fact, there's no mention of the discontinued soda at all on the history section of the Life Saver's website, which includes a timeline that jumps from 1935 to 1992, skipping the period when the soda was developed and released.
Many people who got the chance to try Life Saver soda seem to have the same opinion. Some folks shared on Reddit that it was overly sweet for their liking, or that they expected a better flavor. Going back to the drawing board in 1995, Life Savers tried again with another beverage called Life Savers Squeeze-It. This drink was not carbonated, and came in different flavors from the soda, including watermelon, blue raspberry, and tropical fruit. A commercial announcing the new product suggests that it tasted like a liquid form of the candy, which would mean it was probably just as sugary as the soda. It would seem people preferred eating their Life Savers rather than drinking them, as the Squeeze-it beverage didn't take off either.