Dr Pepper surpassed Pepsi to become the second best selling soda brand in the country in 2023. Coca-Cola continued its reign in first place in the ranking with 19.2% market share.

The surprise on the list was Dr Pepper. The brand, founded in 1885 in Waco, Texas, achieved second place with a percentage of 8.3%, the same as Pepsi. However, according to data provided by Beverest Digest, Dr Pepper is technically ahead, snatching away a second spot that Pepsi had held since 1985. In fourth place was Sprite, with 8.1% of the market, while fifth was occupied by Diet Coke, with 7.8%.

The reason for this shift, explained the editor of Beverage Digest, Duane Stanford, during an interview with CNN collected by CTV News, is that two factors have occurred, increase in popularity for Dr Pepper along with the decrease in sales of Pepsi: "Dr Pepper has been gaining, [Pepsi] has been declining, and they’re meeting in the middle," Stanford said.

Dr Pepper tries new flavors, while Pepsi increases its prices

Dr Pepper has seen an increase in sales due to its relentless release of new flavors. The brand has 23 different flavors including Strawberries & Cream and the limited edition Dr Pepper Creamy Coconut, both released last year. These products have made the brand gain popularity, while Pepsi is not betting so much on new flavors, but rather sticking to the classics.

In addition, Pepsi products saw a fairly high increase in price in recent months. The situation reached such a level that, in Europe, French grocery store Carrefour announced in January of this year that it would stop selling the company's different products, including beverages and chips.

The reason was "unacceptable increases" in prices. This was stated by a spokesperson for the Carrefour supermarket chain to Reuters, indicating that PepsiCo products (including Lay's, Cheetos and Doritos) would gradually disappear from the shelves of these establishments:

The PepsiCo controversy in Spain

Added to this is the controversy that the Doritos brand caused in Spain. In March, the company faced backlash on social media after a "paid collaboration" with controversial transgender singer and activist Iván González Ranedo, better known by his stage name, Samantha Hudson.

Although at first the post went unnoticed, a few days later, many users found the campaign and remembered Hudson's background, like his controversial tweets from 2015 where he claimed to hate "raped women" or his controversial songs where Jesus Christ, Christianity, the Virgin Mary and the Catholic Church are openly mocked with obscene lyrics that allude to his sexual preferences.

This caused conservative influencers in the United States to join the boycott that had already begun in Spain and question PepsiCo's decision to hire Samantha Hudson for its "Crunch Talks" campaign.