This new soft drink was originally going to be called something along the lines of, "Cherry Red Mountain Dew." It was decided that this name wouldn't really appeal to minorities anymore than the name Mountain Dew had in the past. Thus, the name Code Red.
This drink has also stirred (pardon the pun) up some controversy over its caffeine content. Code Red features a whopping 4.6 milligrams, far more than typical soft drinks (often weighing in on average at 2 milligrams, less than half as much as Code Red). Although this stays well within US FDA regulations (no knowledge of Mountain Dew's foreign exploits), that require soft drinks stay under 6 milligrams, several scientists have been questioning whether caffeine's only role in the drink is taste. A group of researchers conducted a taste test using unlabled drinks, some of which contained caffeine, and others that didn't. Taste testers were unable to tell the difference between the drinks. Although, the marketing center for Mountain Dew is quick to note that at higher levels of caffeine the researchers say the testers could tell, but fail to mention at exactly what level that was.