PURCHASE, N.Y. -- For the past three months, the country has been engaged in a passionate election that has changed the course of history forever: DEWcision 2016.
Members of Dew Nation have cast their votes for either Mountain Dew Baja Blast or Mountain Dew Pitch Black, two specialty flavors that have developed cult followings over the years.
After months of voting and online challenges, the results are in.
With more than 2.9 million votes, Pitch Black has edged out Baja Blast by less than a half of a percent of the total nearly 5.8 million votes to win the election. As a result, Pitch Black will become a permanent member of the Mountain Dew retail lineup, making its debut on shelves this September.
"Over the course of DEWcision 2016, you, the members of the DEW Nation, pulled out all of the stops to show your passion for these two flavors," said Ryan Collis, senior director of marketing for Mountain Dew. "You dyed your hair. You built towers. You conquered mountains. Although there could only be one victor, you showed us that neither flavor was going to go out without a fight. And that's the relentless, unyielding, no-holds-barred spirit that Dew Nation stands for."
Fans cast their votes on DEWcision.com or Twitter by including one of the following hashtags in their tweets: #VoteBajaBlast or #VotePitchBlack. But to make their votes count for a little something extra, superdelegates—or, fans—completed additional challenges. They built pyramids of Pitch Black. They color-blasted their hair green in the name of Baja Blast. And they bathed with their favorite flavors, posting the images to social-media channels to proudly pledge their allegiance.
"No other brand puts more influence into the hands of its fans than Mountain Dew," said Collis. "For DEWcision 2016, we gave them the power. No cash prizes or fancy incentives--only the reward of their favorite flavor staying on shelves. And they far exceeded our expectations, proving a true example of brand love."
The winning flavor, Mountain Dew Pitch Black, is the flavor of Mountain Dew with a twist of citrus and dark fruit flavor. It was first released in October 2004 as a limited-edition Halloween flavor. It was resurrected in the summer of 2011 as part of the "Back by Popular DEWmand" program and, earlier this year, became available exclusively via fountain at Speedway convenience stores nationwide.
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