PepsiCo (PEP) never seems to be at a loss for harebrained ideas. Having survived Pepsi Ice Cucumber, Crystal Pepsi and Pepsi Red -- which is Pepsi with a spicy ginger twist -- no one's surprised when the soft-drink giant introduces its latest outrageous new flavor for a limited market.

But maybe it's gone a tad too far: The company just launched a new flavor in Japan. It's called Pepsi White.

Pepsi White is described as having a "cola-yogurt" taste; I assume, therefore, that it's intended as an after-dinner dessert cola.

If the thought of a yogurt-flavored cola isn't enough to disgust you, maybe you ought to take a gander at what it looks like:



Marketed in a clear bottle to show off the color, which is meant to evoke thoughts of snow and Christmas, the carbonated appearance of Pepsi White makes it look like an Alka-Seltzer tablet was dropped into watered-down milk: A fizzy, cloudy-white horror.

Pop culture comedians like to namedrop Crystal Pepsi as the '90s version of New Coke - e.g. "Who are the ad wizards that came up with this one?"

But the short-lived soda had one thing going for it: There actually are soft drinks that are fizzy and clear: 7Up and Sprite. Though possibly part of the reason why Crystal Pepsi failed was it was unfortunately tied to that subconscious disgust of drinking something you thought was something else.

Pepsi White doesn't have this problem, because there are no other carbonated white drinks on store shelves. However, I can't see how anyone could cope with the image of watery sour-cream runoff while taking a sip.

Just... ugh, Pepsi. Why?

Decisions like these are why the company is in such desperate need of a business makeover.