"Fluids, Mandrake..."
Posted on 08/11/2012 1:09:41 PM PDT by thecodont
Diet Coke turns 30 this year, and despite health concerns and an rocky advertising trajectory (remember Paula Abdul dancing with dead celebrities?), the Thank-God-It's-Not-Sugar-But-Hopefully-Aspartame-Won't-Kill-You beverage is doing better than ever. Diet Coke has held the title of second most popular soda in the world (after regular Coke) for two years running — 40% of colas currently sold are either Diet Coke or Coke Zero — and it seems like more people are now drinking it for the taste instead of as a diet aid. But it wasn't always this way.
When Diet Coke was introduced in 1982, "it was too new to be cool," Zoe Williams recalls. "So it was very uncool not to drink it, but it wasn't totally cool to drink it either." While most people in the 80s were busy making horrible decisions regarding leg warmers and cocaine, the brand made headway with two genius moves. The first was buying Columbia Pictures as champions of product placement, guaranteeing that actors would be chugging Diet Coke for decades to come. Second, it differentiated itself from TaB, a title so associated with "diet" drinks that even literally putting Diet in its new moniker made the beverage more successful.
The brand has tried to experiment over the past decade with little success; the public knows what it wants, and it wants its Diet Coke. There was 2005's Coke Zero, which was practically the same as Diet Coke but meant to appeal to men who were too embarrassed to drink a sissy weight loss beverage like all those weight-obsessed ladies out there. Apparently, though, those men don't actually exist, because no one bought Coke Zero, despite its sleek packaging and uber-manly, throw-caution-to-the-wind "Enjoy everything" tagline. Oops.
(Excerpt) Read more at jezebel.com ...
"Fluids, Mandrake..."
I myself always preferred Sunset Sarsaparilla.
Who wrote this inaccuracy? Coke Zero sales are responsible for a large portion of Coca Cola sales?
http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2011/07/28/coca-cola-enterprises-2q-up-on-coke-zero-sales/
Who wrote this inaccuracy? Coke Zero sales are responsible for a large portion of Coca Cola sales?
http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2011/07/28/coca-cola-enterprises-2q-up-on-coke-zero-sales/
Forget cola - my new addiction is root beer, preferably A&W. This is my new drug/drink of choice.
Took me years to stop drinking soda, it is most certainly addictive. Won’t touch it at all now, out of sheer terror I will get hooked again.
I wish the author would not use terms like crack. Anyway, I’m drinking dcoke now...love the stuff.
I spent 30 years in the soda business (see screen name)
I think the author is on crack...
It’s like me writing about brain surgery...believe me I’m no brain surgeon
The Aspartame makes me nervous I’ll stick with diet Hansens or Shasta.
I have a Good Friend who sees Monsanto as the Evil Empire behind everything...they want your kids to grow up sterile, they want everyone to have cancer, and of course Fluoride is a Evil Plot. Just give me a diet soda.
No, thanks. Aspartame gives me headaches.
Coke Zero blows Diet Coke away.
You could make a great bomb out of the first one if my memory serves me correctly.
Hires was my favorite when I could get it, it started being sold in 1876.
"Hires Root Beer! Hires Rootin' Tootin' Root Beer! Hires Rootin'-Tootin' Rabble-Rousin', lion-roarin', Roman-candle-lightin' Root Beer!"
I agree. But I just noticed it has almost as much caffeine as a regular Coke. Geez, shouldn't "zero" apply to caffeine? My intake of that particular chemical goes for coffee, LOL.
I used to be (still am) truly mystified by the relationship of women to Tab, it was puzzling.
They both taste like horse piss. Real Coke is made from cane sugar not corn syrup. That is why I buy Mexican Coca-Cola.
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