A lot has changed since 1985, but those very tactics in 1985 were kind of a liberal one in saying f-u to the customers and in case you don't remember it bit them in their a$$. They had to run with their tail between their leg and bring back the regular coke they tried to replace with NEW Coke bs.
Let me guess back then you were all gung ho on them trying to sell a product and not seeing the bigger picture behind it?
If I remember correctly, Pepsi and other companies were gaining marketshare from Coke. The Coke people thought a new product would boost their revenue — that new was better. They were wrong.
Don Keough, who was president of Coke at the time, recently wrote a book: The Ten Commandments of Business Failure, in which he explained the reasoning. Unfortunately, I haven’t read the book, yet.