The return of Cadbury’s Wispa bars is now legendary within social media circles, thanks to the user-generated petition that put the classic British confectionary back into production.

A genuine love for the brand inspired two fans to create the ‘Bring Back Wispa’ group on Facebook, which eventually grew to 14,00o-strong and spawned many others .

Now, PepsiCo is attempting to reverse-engineer the same kind of demand, but this time lighting the touchpaper itself. After a 12-year absence from the UK, it will be re-introducing the neon-green soft drink Mountain Dew, aiming to compete with the likes of Lucozade by tagging the word ‘Energy’ on the end.

However, instead of responding to demand (like the Wispa example), the product is already being prepared for a roll out into stores over the next month. This seems a tad backwards, as instead of an authentic response to calls for the drink’s return, PepsiCo seems to be enforcing this desire onto its potential customers.

The campaign will encourage Facebook and Twitter users to ‘get plugged in’ to the ‘shockingly drinkable energy’, encouraging them to update their status with information about Mountain Dew Energy, as well as entering competitions.

Tiffany Welsh, PepsiCo brand manager, said in a statement that the launch was a result of fans’ online campaigning, but where’s the evidence of this? The central focus of Cadbury’s PR campaign was the consumer input, but this seems to be missing from PepsiCo’s efforts.

Mountain Dew first launched in the UK in 1996 with disappointing results, but retained cult status within the youth market. Will PepsiCo’s latest approach work? Can you re-create the same kind of buzz generated by an online petition based on something led by the brand? The drink is one of the top-selling drinks in the US, so will the ‘me too’ element of social networking work in its favour – or will this campaign simply fall flat?