Sprite vs Sierra Mist has been a long battle fought by both Pepsi Co. and Cocacola, but now there is a new fighter in the ring, and people have a lot to say about this lemon-lime soft drink. 

In January of this year Pepsi replaced Sierra Mist with Starry, a new and possibly improved lemon and lime flavored soda. The company did this to further the competition with Sprite, and their goal was to make a lemon-lime soda that had a juicy, crisp, and refreshing flavor. Starry even advertises a, “crisp, clear burst of lemon lime flavor” on their products. 

In a survey about the colorful and controversial soda, students here at Thunderbird responded to a series of questions about the drink. 

Out of everyone who responded to the survey and had tried the drink, only 40% liked it. 60% of participants did not enjoy the beverage. In regards to the logo, about 63% liked the new logo, with its bright yellow and green colors. Just about 32% reported that the they had conflicting feelings about the logo, and 7% who answered felt indifferent. The name, Starry, seems to be rather controversial as there was an even split between students who liked the name, who disliked the name, and students who were not sure how they felt about the new name. 

Is Starry better than Sierra Mist? What about Sprite? This is where students had a lot to say about Pepsi’s big decision to eradicate Sierra Mist and shine a light on Starry. Over 60% of students think that Starry does not taste better than Sierra Mist, and over 70% reported that they do not believe starry tastes better than Sprite. Over 18% believe that Starry actually does taste better than Sierra mist, and Just over 9% think it tastes better than Sprite.  In the battle of Starry vs Sprite vs Sierra Mist, 18.2% thinks they all taste the same. 

A students who were very passionate about this topic anonymously commented, “Starry should have never happened. Sierra Mist was already heavily populated and preferred over Sprite for years.”  Another pro-Sprite and Sierra Mist student adds, “what was the reason…Sprite and Sierra mist was enough.” And finally, a student who shares an opinion that many people even outside of Thunderbird have, “It seems like another version of Sprite.” 

While here at Thunderbird High School students have different feelings about the taste and new look of Starry, it is commonly agreed upon that we are just surprised and confused that Pepsi made this change.