This year, most Morton East students are skipping out on the famed seasonal soda known as “Sprite Cranberry” because of the absence of the arguably more famous commercial.

Recently it has been announced that basketball player LeBron James has signed a contract with Pepsi Co. to be the spokesperson for Mountain Dew Rise. This means that LeBron would not be the spokesperson for Coca-Cola’s Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry, leading to the classic “Wanna Sprite Cranberry?” commercial being taken off the air and mass disappointment for the retirement of the famous commercial with people even opting to not purchase the drink this holiday season.

According to the product page for Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry from Sprite, “Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry infuses the crisp lemon-lime flavor of Sprite with a warm spice blend and tart Cranberry flavor.” Originally released in 2017 under the name “Sprite Cranberry”, the soda has been re-released every year around the holiday season. Traditionally, a commercial starring basketball player LeBron James has aired each year to promote the soda. Recently, Sprite has lost its contract with the athlete leading to the commercial being retired this year. The consensus online is that Sprite Cranberry just isn’t the same without the classic commercial, but what do Morton students think? In a random survey of 122 students, 76 say that they will not be purchasing the beverage as a result of the old Sprite Cranberry commercial having been retired this year.

“I’m utterly devastated, honestly when I heard the news I couldn’t even get out of bed. I will still buy liters upon liters of my favorite “winter spiced” cranberry soda, but I will drink my sorrow away then,” senior Juan Lopez said.

But some students have simpler motives.

“Because of LeBron not being there, it doesn’t feel as special anymore. Therefore, I will not be buying it this year,” senior Juan Gutierez said.

By contrast, some students have strangely complex motives.

“In my personal opinion, the advertisement is no longer appealing and it lost its charm for the season,” senior Jesus Perez said, “First, it was the change in the soda name, now it’s the lore behind it. I used to love seeing that silly little ad, it always made me want to buy one. But now, all I get to see is a sad little 5-second clip of a soda on a podium and a narrator telling us to buy it.“