Everything you say is true, only remember it wasn’t on purpose.
It wasn’t on purpose, I freely acknowledge that.
It was an incredible tactical and strategic damage control that boosted product loyalty. The only other example I can think of that’s close is the Tylenol tampering case which is widely cited as the best corporate damage control case study of all time.
I still give the edge to Tylenol because people actually died from product tampering but they could have easily not just lost the brand but the whole company.
Coke, if they had been pig headed in defending the indefensible, would have just bled a slow agonizing death. Instead they catapulted ahead of the competition.