the many taste of coke

Some months back, I did a case study on Coca-cola.

In the 80's when its management decided to go head-on competing with Pepsi on the drink's taste (remember the Pepsi Taste Challenge?) and came up with a new flavour of Coke. Many people opposed. Sales plummet. And I suspect in some places, riots.

Anyway, they retracted the new flavour, put the old Coke back on market and called it Coke Classic. And Coke lovers everywhere rejoiced and happily gulped down tons of of that familiar taste.

However, since then, Coke has sneakily put other flavours onto the market. 1982 - Diet Coke, 1986 - Diet Cherry Coke, 2001 - Diet Coke with Lemon. There's even a caffeine-free version of Coke, why?! That's like taking panadol without paracetamol in it!

And now there's Diet Coke Plus - with added vitamins and minerals. Since when was Coke known for it's health and therapeutic properties? oooo I wanna get healthy, start exercising and drinking Coke Plus. Doesn't sound quite right to me. I mean it's a soft drink, it's unhealthy and I accept that. I take full responsibility when I decide to "poison" my system with stuff that supposedly can clean toilet bowls and old coins. Just don't try to make sound more healthy than it is. That's kinda pushing it a bit too far.

I wonder how sales for those are doing.

Coca-Cola trivia: did you know that the present day Santa who is clad in his jolly red and white suit is a result of a super effective marketing campaign from Coca-cola? Though some may dispute that Santa was depicted in red & white before Coca-Cola's famous version. But I believe that perhaps only Coke co. has the power and influence in the past to popularise the jolly old Santa in his red and white suit, and is how we imagine Santa to look like today.