Insights / Perspectives

What Brands Can Learn from the Dirty Soda Craze

Dirty sodas have taken the country by storm, expanding across restaurant chains and CPG brands. McDonald’s, Crumbl, and Taco Bell are adding dirty soda beverages to their menus, while traditional beverage brands like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Mug are launching dirty soda-inspired flavors. Once a niche beverage phenomenon, awareness among U.S. consumers jumped from 56% to 75% between 2025 and 2026 and trial doubled from 21% to 42% over the same period, according to Torani Research. Dirty sodas offer a window into broader consumer behaviors and demonstrate opportunities for brands across categories, including food, alcoholic beverages, personal care, and beauty.

Gen Z Is Gaining Influence

Gen Z is entering the market and driving new trends. According to Forbes, “Driven largely by Gen Z and younger millennials, the dirty soda trend reflects broader changes in how consumers engage with food and beverage products. Personalization, visual appeal, and social currency now play a central role in shaping demand.” Dirty sodas appeal to younger consumers who want to customize products to reflect their individual preferences and personality. Brands can capitalize on growing demand for personalization with packaging that encourages creativity, customization, and self-expression. Bold graphics, playful structures, collectible designs, mix-and-match components, and formats that invite personalization can help products feel more creative and expressive.

Digital Engagement Is Key

Dirty soda isn't just being consumed; it's being shared. According to MenuData, social media conversations around dirty soda have increased more than 270% year over year. TikTok and Instagram have become powerful sources of flavor inspiration, recipes, and product recommendations, driving consumer engagement and category trends. That means CPG products increasingly need to perform in two environments: physically on the shelf and digitally on the screen. Packaging with a strong visual identity, distinctive formats, interesting closures, bold graphics, or unexpected structural elements can become part of the content itself.

Consumers Want Unique Experiences

Consumers are looking beyond functional benefits, seeking products that offer discovery and delight. A GlobalData survey found that people are willing to pay more for products that satisfy them on a more experiential level. Dirty sodas deliver those distinctive experiences, from unexpected flavor combinations to unique textures. Across categories, packaging can play an important role in delivering special experiences. Distinctive shapes, tactile finishes, unexpected materials, interactive elements, and structural designs can make opening and using a product feel like an event rather than a routine.

Nostalgia Is Having a Moment

The popularity of dirty sodas demonstrates the enduring power of nostalgia. Orange Julius, egg creams, and root beer floats all preceded today's trend, combining familiar flavors with a new format. Pepsi VP of Marketing Michael Smith observed, “Dirty soda, nostalgic flavors, and float-inspired decadence were all showing up organically in culture in repeatable ways.” For brands, the lesson is not to simply recreate the past. It's to take something recognizable and give it a contemporary twist. Packaging can do the same through retro-inspired colors, typography, illustrations, and formats interpreted in a fresh way.

Thinking Ahead

The dirty soda craze illustrates how quickly consumer behaviors can reshape a category, and how a highly specific trend can reveal broader opportunities for brands across categories. The winning formula isn't necessarily dirty soda itself. It's the combination of familiarity, customization, experience, visual appeal, and social currency that has helped propel the trend. Brands that understand those underlying behaviors can apply them far beyond beverages, creating products and packaging that feel more engaging, expressive, and relevant to today's consumers.

By: Moira Stein
Date: September 21, 2026