Worst. Soda. Ever.
Posted on 11/04/2005 1:13:14 PM PST by Drew68
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co., the world's largest soft drink maker, said on Friday it would phase out its Vanilla Coke, Vanilla Diet Coke and Diet Coke With Lemon beverages in the United States by end of this year.
Coca-Cola shares were down 1.1 percent in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The announcement came a day after Coca-Cola said it would phase out Vanilla Coke and Vanilla Diet Coke in the United Kingdom early next year. The company said sales have declined.
Coca-Cola added that it plans to introduce Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke and Black Cherry Vanilla Coke in the United States in January 2006.
The company said Vanilla Coke, which was introduced in the United States in 2002 and Diet Vanilla Coke in 2003, could return sometime in the future. Details about whether Diet Coke With Lemon, which made its U.S. entry in 2001, would be brought back were not available.
"I don't know if we have ever taken out a flavor and brought it back to the market, but the landscape continues to change and we want to be as flexible as possible to adapt to the changing landscape," said Scott Williamson, a spokesperson for Coca-Cola.
The phase out follows declining sales for the brands in the United States. Vanilla Coke sales slipped to 35 million unit cases in 2004 from 90 million unit cases in 2002, while Vanilla Diet Coke sales dropped to 13 million unit cases last year from 23 million unit cases in 2003, according to Beverage Marketing, a beverage research and consulting firm.
Sales of Diet Coke with Lemon have fallen to 9.9 million unit cases in 2004 from 24 million unit cases in 2001, data showed.
Analysts have said that one of the keys to the company's future is to innovate new products that will help Coca-Cola capture more consumers who have moved away from sugary soft drinks to diet versions, or to healthier low-or no-calorie beverages such as water and orange juices with reduced sugar.
Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Inc., the No. 2 soft drink company, are battling for the allegiance of increasingly picky U.S. consumers. The United States is the largest market for the soft-drink companies.
"It is a rapidly changing beverage landscape and it is important for Coke to move quickly to deliver on what the consumer wants," said Gary Hemphill, managing director of Beverage Marketing. "The competition for shelf space is intense."
Shares of Dow Component Coca-Cola were down 44 cents at $42.15 on the NYSE.
I like Vanilla Coke too.
You can get Coke made with real sugar from Mexico. And around Passover, in the U.S. you can find Coke made with sugar.
Vanilla coke was my beverage of choice at the soda fountain after school.
I hated vanilla coke but loved Pepsi with Lemon. Apparently I was the only one, cause they still making it also.
YEA! That stuff was awful. PEPSI CLEAR!!
Vanilla Coke and Cherry Coke from the OLD SODA FOUNTAIN (Bobby Valentine's in Stamford had one) are great. The crap that Coke bottles is a different story.
Don't you mean Cherry-Coke?........
They CANT take my diet Vanilla Coke!
I want a Diet Cinnamon Coke.
I like the new Coke that is sweetened with Splenda.
I think RC missed a huge opportunity. They should have dropped the price for a while, back when they had an exclusive and gotten more people to try it. I think they could have taken significant market share. But their strategy may have been influenced by manufacturing capacity which continues to be tight for spenda.
You'll still be able to find Cream Sodas to satisfy you cravings........
I miss Tab!
Moxie is where its at!
They would do better to phase out corn syrup in the U.S.
You'll have to revert back to Cream Sodas..........
When they introduced the "New" coke (can't remember what they called it), did they stop production of Coke "Classic", or just market the other more heavily?
Is that the "Kosher for Passover" Coke? I've been wondering what the deal with that is.
Oh my, THAT sounds good!
I'm sorry to lose diet vanilla Coke, but frankly, I don't probably need to drink so much soda anyway.
susie
It is so bland. And too damn sweet. I wish they would return to real sugar instead of fructose. It just isn't right.
Coke "kosher for Passover" is made with cane sugar. People line up at the kosher groceries when it goes on sale, to buy whole cases. And they are not even Jewish.
There was an article about that in the paper recently. Over in nearby Indio and Coachella (75% and 90% respectively Hispanic) they sell the product of Mexican bottlers at the ethnic grocery stores...I should drop in and snag a six pack to compare.
They'd better not touch Diet Coke with Lime, or they'll be looking at a bipartisan, Camp Sheehan-style protest outside their headquarters.
"I mean original Coca Cola sweetened with sugar. Real, honest sugar."
That would be nice, but remember that the original coke also had cocaine in it, making it even better!
Yuck. No I asked the soda jerk for coke and add vanilla.
I love the Vanilla Coke and have already had a hard time finding it. I asked the store manager, and he said for some reason Coke stopped sending it even though it was the best seller in the store. Now there saying it doesn't sell?????
Worst. Soda. Ever.
Hosmer Mountain Soda makes a good Coke knock-off. Soda-Red.
The Pepsi version is....Soda-Blue.
Then why all this wailing an gnashing of cavity ridden teeth over the loss? Just add some vanilla extract to your cokes and carry on!..........
I like "classic" better though.
And as far as the original coke, that'd have cocaine in it rather than caffeine and I would doubt and hope not that they'd bring that back.
The name "Coca-Cola" instantly switched from meaning the product we all knew and loved to the vile, disgusting, syrupy dreck that normal people called "New Coke". When we threatened to lynch the entire management and Board of Directors, they saw the light of reason, and introduced a product called "Coca-Cola Classic", which is similar (but not quite identical) to the "Coca-Cola" that existed before the Day of Infamy. A can of "Coca-Cola Classic" sits on my desk at this moment.
"Coca-Cola" does not exist in these United States, today.
Agreed. That stuff is pretty darned good.
And after drinking nothing but diet sodas over the past two years, I can't drink regular soda anymore, too much sugar.
That's interesting to know. I'll keep my eyes open.
The Splenda sweetened stuff (of all kinds, not just Coke) is too sweet. Once you get used to the low sugar/low carb diet necessary to deal with Type II diabetes, you don't need all that sweetness.
I agree about the 'real' Coke. If they would sell it at a premium price but less than the imports cost, they could make a fortune. As it is now, I'll just buy a Sam's Cola. At least it is fully carbonated, even if the flavor isn't any better than the 'Classic' coke.
Actually that stuff isn't bad. The half Splenda sweetened with 80 calories. Can't recall what it is called.
Yeah, it doesn't have corn syrup in it. Ashkenazic Jews won't use corn anything at Passover.
I'm a confirmed diet Coke addict. Has anyone tried the "Zero" Coca-Cola? How is it different from the plain old diet stuff?
There goes them damn jooos taking everything for themselves again...
/sarcasm
Ewwwww.........
The post 'New Coke' beverage is not the same as the old. It is slightly sweeter, doesn't have the afterburn, and has much less carbonation than the old 6-1/2 oz doses of the "real thing'. When is the last time you gulped down a Coke, and then had it backfire, burning your sinuses? Real Coke would do that.
Probably not for much longer. The U.S. won a NAFTA case that will requrie Mexico to remove its tariffs on corn syrup, meaning that the ADM abomination will spread south of the border.
In the olden days a young lady would put a dab of vanilla extract behind her ears as a perfume to excite her beau.........
I have bought Tab several times recently. It is better than Diet Coke. My favorite, which was test marketed in Philadelphia for a while, was Pepsi Kona, Pepsi with a coffee flavor. RC was also selling a premium product at the same time. I can't remember what it was called, but it came in a blue glass bottle and was sweetened with cane sugar.
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