Mello Yello

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This article is about the soft drink. For the Donovan song, see Mellow Yellow.

Mello Yello
Type	Citrus soda
Manufacturer	Coca-Cola Company
Distributor	Coca-Cola Company
Country of origin	United States
Introduced	1979
Related products	Mountain Dew Vault

Mello Yello in fountain at a Burger King restaurant

Mello Yello is a caffeinated, citrus-flavored soft drink produced and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. It was introduced in 1979 to compete with PepsiCo's Mountain Dew. There have been three flavored variants of Mello Yello. Mello Yello Cherry was released in response to Mountain Dew Code Red. The other two variants were peach-flavored Mello Yello Afterglow, and Mello Yello Melon. All three were only available for a limited time. While Mello Yello is greatly outsold by Mountain Dew, the product nonetheless allows Coca-Cola to have a presence in the citrus soft drink market segment. A low calorie version, called Diet Mello Yello, also exists in select markets.

[edit] Marketing

Mello Yello is presumably named after the 1967 Donovan album and single, Mellow Yellow and, in fact, a cover of the song was used to promote this product. It was introduced with the slogan "Mello Yello - The World's Fastest Soft Drink."[1] Early television advertisements touted the suitability of the beverage for quick consumption, with an actor (dressed in an auto racing uniform) downing an entire bottle within the time of the commercial.

Mello Yello was featured in the 1990 NASCAR-based movie, Days of Thunder, in which Tom Cruise's character, Cole Trickle, drove a Mello Yello-sponsored car to victory in the Daytona 500, although the product name itself is never verbally mentioned in the movie. That livery went on to become a real NASCAR paint scheme the following year, when driver Kyle Petty drove with Mello Yello sponsorship in the Winston Cup Series. He ran four seasons (1991-1994) with the sponsor before switching over to Coors Light in 1995. Mello Yello then in turn was seen as a sponsor on die-cast toy and collectible cars for both the Days of Thunder #51 Chevrolet Lumina and Kyle Petty's #42 Pontiac Grand Prix. Mello Yello also sponsored the fall Winston Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway through 1994.

Mello Yello was also advertised by Jim Varney in the Ernest commercials in which he was known to say "Make the Mello Yello move, knowhutimean?".

Mello Yello has largely been phased out by many Coca-Cola distributors in favor of Vault, a similar, highly-caffeinated citrus drink.