All about the ads. Review on Mountain Dew

Mountain Dew is sold with some of the oddest television ads you're likely to find. If one was to pay attention to those commercials, one would believe that Mountain Dew is the drink chosen by ''cool dudes'' and it gives them the power to drive mountain bikes off of skyscrapers, fly alien space ships and other such nonsense.

Indeed, Mountain Dew comes with a particular image that suggests its for the 20-something types who enjoy odd, out-of-doors sports activities. Mountain Dew is presented as a drink of choice for the hipsters out there.

Truth be told, there's just not a whole lot about Mountain Dew that's very special. It's a citrus-based drink that's thick, sweet and loaded with caffeine. That pretty much all there is to it, contrary to what the ads might have you believe.

When I say thick and sweet, I mean it. This stuff tastes more like carbonated syrup than a refreshing soft drink, and the citrus flavoring is more of the candy variety than anything else. The tart sweetness of, say, lemons and limes is toned down with heaps of sugar. I don't know about the ''cool dudes'' who work up a sweat riding their bicycles off of overpasses, leaping out of airplanes without parachutes and that kind of junk, but I sure wouldn't want this if I were thirsty and tired. It's just too thick and sweet to quench a thirst, and the stuff forms kind of a thin, sticky layer in your mouth.

Now, that's not to say Mountain Dew doesn't have its advantages. I enjoy a good shot of caffeine in the morning as much as the next pale, think office worker, and Mountain Dew delivers that stimulant in spades.

So, Mountain Dew isn't a bad drink, but ignore those ads. They're nothing but packs of lies that are even more blatant than the typical falsehoods companies use to sell us junk we don't need.