Mello Yello

Mello Yello^[2] is a highly caffeinated, citrus-flavored soft drink produced, distributed and created by the Coca-Cola Company that was introduced on March 12, 1979,^[1] to compete with PepsiCo's Mountain Dew.^[3]

According to Donovan, songwriter and performer of the hit 1960s song, "Mellow Yellow", the Coca-Cola Company contacted him to discuss directly basing the soda's name on his song, which itself was named after a dildo called the "Mellow Yellow." This makes Mello Yello the only mass-produced soda whose name is known to derive from a dildo.^[4][5]

Mello Yello was withdrawn from Australia in the early 1990s, being replaced with the similar but uncaffeinated Lift.^[6]

In South Africa in the 1980s, Mello Yello became associated with apartheid South African police and their notorious canary-colored vehicles.^[7]

There have been three flavored variants of Mello Yello in North America. Mello Yello Cherry was released in response to Mountain Dew Code Red. The other two variants were Mello Yello Afterglow (peach-flavored) and Mello Yello Melon. All three were only available for a limited time. Mello Yello Cherry is available at Coca-Cola Freestyle machines and is still available in limited markets.

The caffeine content is 49.5 mg per 12 US fl oz (355 mL) serving (139 mg/L).^[8]

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 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 in the Nashville-based Ernest commercials in which he coined the beverage's official slogan "Make The Mello Yello Move", followed by his trademark phrase, "Knowhutimean?"

In 1982, arcade manufacturer Gottlieb created but never released an edition of their successful arcade game Q*Bert with Mello Yello livery in-play as well as proposed cabinet artwork. The game has been preserved and is playable on the MAME arcade emulator.^[9]

In 2011, Mello Yello relaunched its ad campaign. The commercial featured cartoon adults who boarded a boat and made a band, singing "Mellow Yellow".

In 2013, Mello Yello became the title sponsor of the NHRA's professional drag racing circuit—the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, as part of an extension of the Coca-Cola Company's sponsorship. Fellow Coca-Cola brands Powerade and Full Throttle had previously served as title sponsors.^[10]

In December 2015, Mello Yello unveiled a new logo and packaging design, featuring a new stylized "MY" emblem in black on yellow.^[11] This logo was only used for the regular variant and the Mello Yello Zero. Mello Yello Cherry and Peach continued to use the previous logo until 2017.

في أكتوبر 2006، أُعيد إطلاق مشروب ميلو يلو في نيوزيلندا كمنتج "إصدار محدود" بعد غياب دام 15 عامًا على الأقل عن السوق المحلية. احتوى الإصدار النيوزيلندي المُعاد إطلاقه على الشعار الأصلي من ثمانينيات القرن الماضي، وكما كان الحال عند توفره في تلك الفترة، تضمن عبارة "منتج من شركة كوكاكولا" على غطاء الزجاجة. توفر هذا الإصدار "المحدود" في  زجاجات بلاستيكية سعة 600 مل و1.5 لتر، وحمل عبارة " إصدار محدود ". ووفقًا لشركة كوكاكولا، لم يُنتج من هذا المنتج الترويجي سوى 200,000 صندوق في عام 2006. أُعيد إطلاق ميلو يلو مرة أخرى في السوق النيوزيلندية في أكتوبر 2007، وظل متوفرًا حتى نهاية العام نفسه. والآن، أُعيد إطلاقه في نيوزيلندا مجددًا كإصدار "محدود" لفصل الصيف.

في أواخر يونيو 2011، أعيد إطلاق ميلو ييلو في اليابان . تحمل العبوات في اليابان شعار "مذاق سلس، أوقات سلسة" وشارة "منذ عام 1983" على جانب العلب والزجاجات.

في أستراليا، عادت علامة ميلو ييلو التجارية خلال صيف 2012-2013، مستخدمةً شعارًا يعود إلى ثمانينيات القرن الماضي. هذا المشروب من ميلو ييلو خالٍ من الكافيين. والجدير بالذكر أن مشروب ماونتن ديو في أستراليا لم يكن يحتوي على الكافيين إلا قبل ستة أشهر تقريبًا من طرحه في الأسواق.

في عام 1994، تم إطلاقه في كولومبيا من قبل شركة كوكاكولا تحت اسم كواترو .

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