The brand was registered as "Pilsener Cristal" in August 1977 and its commercial launch occurred in 1978.[1][2] In 1993, it was relaunched as "Cerveza Cristal",[3] and in that same year, it adopted the motto "Única, Grande y Nuestra" ("Unique, Great and Ours").[4][5]
In 2008, a non-alcoholic version was launched on the market, called "Cristal Cero", to which "Cristal Cero Radler" was added in 2016, which contains lemon juice.[3] In 2023, a limited edition called "Cristal Orígenes" ("Cristal Origins") was presented as a tribute to the three natural regions of Chile: the northern zone with a touch of
limón de Pica, the central zone with a touch of
honey, and the southern zone with a touch of
berries.[6]
In December 2003, CCU commissioned a series of commercials for Cerveza Cristal, which were broadcast at the beginning of each advertising period during the broadcast of Star Wars saga films on
Canal 13, so that the spots seemed to be continuations of the preceding scenes. In A New Hope, for example, the scene where
Obi-Wan Kenobi opens a chest to show
Luke Skywalker his father's lightsaber is edited seamlessly to have the former hold a Cerveza Cristal complete with its jingle.[7] The campaign, titled The Force is with Cristal Beer, was awarded at various international events.[8][9]
The campaign resurfaced as an
internet meme in 2024 applied to other movies and media to lighten up usually intense or dramatic scenes.[7][10]