[oh8eleven]

“A phenomenal shift!” remarked Pauley, wide eyed. “We now by soft drinks for the image.”
Good thing we don't buy them that way too.

[Izzy Dunne]

Monkeying with the recipe is akin to diddling with the U.S. Constitution,

I sure wish THAT was true.

I'd like to see a similar backlash of outrage about the Constitution.

[qam1]

Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.

[MAexile]

I knew people that took the Pepsi Challenge, and picked Coke.

Funny how they didn't appear in any commercials...

[bert]

I have a carton of 6 original cokes in the king sized bottle. They will sell for a zillion $$$ one of these days

[Yo-Yo]

In an attempt to win over those customers who prefered the taste of Pepsi, Coke changed their formula to be sweeter and less carbonated. To say it flopped is an understatement. People who like the taste of Pepsi continued to buy Pepsi, while those who preferred the taste of the old Coke revolted in droves.

Somewhere in all of this should be a lesson for John McCain, Linsay Graham, and the rest of the RINOs.

[Persevero]

I want diet vanilla Coke back.

I WANT DIET VANILLA COKE BACK.

[KarlInOhio]

and took their seats around an ominous circular table straight out of Dr. Strangelove. And, like Dr. Strangelove, an eccentric foreign scientist, the flavor chemist-turned Coke vice president Sergio Zyman, announced a shocking plan: “We’re replacing Coke with a new Coke.”

Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rain water, pure grain alcohol and Pepsi?

[Buckeye McFrog]

it did give us Max Headroom, who served as sort of the early prototype for the Obama campaign...

[dfwgator]

I have heard this theory floated about, that Coke did this to hide the fact they were replacing cane sugar with HFCS.

So the idea was to make New Coke so bad, that people would gladly accept “Classic” Coke with the HFCS.

[Talisker]

[Not now, Not ever!]

pelosi New Coke, the Edsel of softdrinks.

[OldMissileer]

I still had half a case of the original coke when the “Classic” came back.

The Coke Classic tasted different than the true original. They still diddled with the formula somehow and I still do not enjoy it as much.

[Crolis]

I remember New Coke. It was horrible. But for the 80s, with the swish doubled in metallic silver and the bold block print lettering on the can it certainly got everyone’s attention. Until they tried it.

“Sweeter and flatter” is exactly how I’d describe Pepsi to Coke. To this day I will go out of my way to avoid Pepsi. In restaurants which serve Pepsi, I usually order iced tea or water.

[Clemenza]

To this day Sergio Zyman (who was the brand manager of Coke at the time in charge of launching Coke 2.0), New Coke was a "success" in that it got people talking about the product at a level unprecedented in the company's history. The interest that it generated led to a sizeable uptick in sales once Coke Classic was brought back.

Of course, you can also take these as the words of a guy justifying his handling of the worst product reboot in history.

[PAR35]

Cuban ex-patriot

The writer should probably invest in a dictionary. Or switch to broadcasting.

[Tolsti2]

Pepsi sucks, Coke and Dr Pepper only for me. IF the place only serves pepsi products, I’ll get mountain dew.

[Publius Valerius]

What always gets overlooked with New Coke is that New Coke beat “old” Coke in taste tests, which is the main reason that Coke rolled it out. Coke just didn’t expect the backlash that would come from changing what was considered a classic.

Can’t really fault Coke for consumers behaving irrationally. It’s hard to see that type of thing coming.

[the OlLine Rebel]

“the surest move ever made”

I’ll say.

[the OlLine Rebel]

1 reason I don’t buy Coke these days - off the shelf: since c.1990 around here, it is seriously lacking in something like carbonation, evidenced either by no bubbles, or heavy tiny bubbles that head like root beer. People think I’m crazy until they taste our local Cokes vs. some other place that isn’t tainted. It’s a bit heavy on syrup, I guess. My cousin for 1, because his home region still has great Coke. I complained to Coke a few times when I noticed this problem suddenly back in college, but no help.

(I only buy Pepsi because my husband likes it.)

So, generally, I only buy Coke from a fountain - restaurants, etc. The bottling around here stinks.