Mello Yello

Mello Yello is a highly caffeinated, citrus-flavored soft drink produced, distributed and created by the Coca-Cola Company that was introduced on March 12, 1979, to compete with PepsiCo's Mountain Dew.

According to Donovan, songwriter and performer of the hit 1960s song, "Mellow Yellow," the Coca-Cola Company contacted him to discuss directly basing the soda's name on his song, which itself was named after a dildo called the "Mellow Yellow." This makes Mello Yello the only mass-produced soda whose name is known to derive from a dildo.

Mello Yello was withdrawn from Australia in the early 1990s, being replaced with the similar but uncaffeinated Lift.

In South Africa in the 1980s, Mello Yello became associated with Apartheid South African Police and their notorious canary-colored vehicles.

There have been three flavored variants of Mello Yello in North America. Mello Yello Cherry was released in response to Mountain Dew Code Red. The other two variants were Mello Yello Afterglow (peach-flavored) and Mello Yello Melon. All three were only available for a limited time. Mello Yello Cherry is available at Coca-Cola Freestyle machines and is still available in limited markets.

The caffeine content is 49.5 mg per 12 US fl oz (355 mL) serving (139 mg/L).