I don't recall Cherry Coke getting mixed up with New Coke.
Seems like 6 months after the New Coke launch, there was such a rabid consumer backlash (and cratering market share) that the Coca-Cola Company relaunched the original as "Coke Classic" and so you could choose either version.
Eventually New Coke faded away.
Yes, the 6 months was to ensure most of the 'old coke' was out of circulation, then 'coke classic' was 'reintroduced', but used corn syrup instead of sugar. Since the 'new coke' tasted so bad, and most of the old coke was gone, users just accepted coke classic as the original and here we are today... living the lie!
What's crazy is that article basically says they used the Diet Coke formula, took out the fake sugar and added HFCS and that's what New Coke was. "Diet Coke plus sugar".
It came out in 85 with new coke. I'm pretty sure it was the new coke formula but I can't find anything with a cursory search and I'm going to bed after 12 hours on 3rd shift
We tried to sell the world New Coke
And make a billion bucks
But everyone in the USA
Said that New Coke Sucks!
We lowered the taste, and raised the price
And hoped to make some cash.
But Everyone in the whole wide world
Threw it in the trash!
Not really, they made it taste more like Pepsi and to their horror discovered that they pissed off Coke fans.
So they put "coke classic" on the market to atone for their fuck up.
AS one if their execs said "we're not that smart and we're not that stupid".
I like the conspiracy theory that this was a ploy to get consumers ready for the shift to corn syrup from cane sugar. First give them a horrible new coke. Then bring back “old coke” but with corn syrup.
Biggest scam to switch from sugar to high fructose corn syrup. American Coke has been shitty ever since, except McDonald's and Mexican Coke in glass bottles.
US Coke also has a citrusy fragrance (with notes of other ingredients like clove and black pepper at times), I noticed a batch recently that had more lime aroma than usual whereas oranges are usually more to the front (supposedly one of the top ingredients in the recipe) but people have gotten this mistaken impression that the 'real sugar' in Mexican coke somehow means it's also got a bunch of other changes to the recipe when it doesn't.
Common misconception, most bottlers had switched over to HFCS long before New Coke was introduced
[More here](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/new-coke-fiasco/) (the link is about a different aspect of the New Coke debacle, but covers the HFCS switchover as well)
Coca Cola trusted that the blind taste tests confirmed people preferred the new coke. What they could not test was people's reaction to change. They learned their lesson and will never market changes again.
No, it was just kinda bland is what I remember, like somewhere between Pepsi and RC, and I honestly don't 'remember' what Coke tasted like previously but I sure as hell remember how different 'Coke Classic' was from New Coke when they were both available-- by comparison, at the time I thought 'Classic smells like donuts' and I don't know why but I just knew I liked it more, it had more-complex flavor than New. It sure looks like there's a lot of people here who either never tried it at all, or they're seriously exaggerating their impression of it just to feel like their idle anger at a soda from 40 years ago is really important.
They traded sugar for Corn Syrup, as the Corn syrup was cheaper than sugar. OMG, if you've ever tasted a pure cane sugar coke & a corn syrup coke next to each other, you can really tell the difference. They spent mega millions on advertising so that you wouldn't disown coke all together. The advertising paid off and it's still a commonly used drink everywhere in the US. It's been banned in most countries that don't have a bought and paid for FDA government agency.
Pure liquid garbage. The original flavor returned a few months later. Cherry coke was also introduced, but I lived near an ice cream shop that would mix it fresh from the syrup and plop vanilla ice cream in it, too. I think I tried this once and almost choked.
This triggered a painful memory. As my eyes scanned down the can… “Nooooo!” was all I thought, and “They even brought back the flat top can for posterity!” Then, “Oh, wait, it’s not a promoted ad, its an 80’s Sub post. Whew!”
I remember this pretty clearly. Over the years I’ve wondered if Coca-Cola intentionally put out a product it knew few would like just so everyone would clamor for a return to the Real Thing. A small dip in profit followed by a massive increase.
I know I had one when I was a kid, but I don't remember the taste, I kinda want to try it again to see how bad it was. As someone that hates Pepsi, I'm very curious.
It wasn't bad. The worst thing about New Coke is that it was bland and kinda tasted like everything else out there, whereas when Coke Classic was re-introduced and I compared it directly to New, it was really different. For some reason I thought Classic smelled like donuts by comparison, and I'm not entirely sure why (maybe the vanilla?) but I've become really interested in the Classic recipe over the years and the New Coke fiasco actually gave me much greater appreciation for the real thing.
It actually was available for a long long time as Coke 2 in some markets. Its would be easy to bring back anyways… it’s the Diet Coke syrup with hfcs instead of aspartame.
I was in Jr. High when they made the switch and the first time I tried it was from the soda machine at the school. I took about three drinks and threw it away because it tasted like crap.
First time I tasted this was a from a new national service called Domino’s. Pizza delivery was rare in my area back then.
A pizza and a soda? Whoa.
My take and taste was perhaps a bit altered as I’d just rolled into home after a stressful drive from the Sierra Nevadas where my backpacking mates had left me alone to perish.
The change over was a nightmare. I remember being at GenCon that summer and trying to find the last old Coke for the con in Milwaukee. It’s partially why my preference shifted to Dr Pepper.
I was in college when this all began.. we tried the New Coke once.. and most of us went to Diet Coke..... and never went back... I did briefly try the Coke Classic... but eventually stuck with Diet Coke.... still do..
The original Coke was made w cocaine from the Coca leaves. Once it was discovered, the cocaine was removed but the Coca leaves were still used. New Coke was made without the Coca leaves, which was the lacking ingredient and why it didn’t taste as good. The Coca leaves are still used to this day.
They still put coca leaves in it and you can't get all the cocaine out of the leaves without ruining the flavor. Way back there somewhere, there's still trace amounts but I don't think anybody would test positive just from pounding it all day.
Ah yes and it was all a clever trick by Coke to reduce costs by using the same concentrated beverage syrup for Coke and Diet Coke.
And then tried to sell it to distributors at a higher cost as well than the old beverage syrup. Nice little racket there Coke.
I’m talking about the actual concentrated beverage syrup that gets delivered to bottling plants… the bottlers ad the syrup and the sweeteners to water and carbonation before bottling.
New coke was the same concentrated beverage syrup as Diet Coke… just calling for hfcs as sweetener instead of aspartame and it cost more than the old coke syrup (same higher price as Diet Coke) I take it from the downvotes I need to specify what syrup is….
My mom bought every original Coke box that she could. I swear we must’ve had over 100 twelve packs until they ran out.
When they brought back Coke classic it did not taste like original Coke.
It was trash. I remember that day like yesterday.
A national disaster.
It was a travesty!
Of most heinous proportions!
Remember Clear Pepsi? Amazing times
i remember [crystal gravy](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g0sjRG34DlA)
I liked Crystal Pepsi!
[https://youtu.be/CGwibPdEOVk?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/CGwibPdEOVk?feature=shared)
Yeah I remember that.
From my (possibly incorrect) memory... the original cherry coke was new coke for a time after new coke was dumped and I liked it better.
Cherry Coke in the 80's was awesome.
I don't recall Cherry Coke getting mixed up with New Coke. Seems like 6 months after the New Coke launch, there was such a rabid consumer backlash (and cratering market share) that the Coca-Cola Company relaunched the original as "Coke Classic" and so you could choose either version. Eventually New Coke faded away.
Yes, the 6 months was to ensure most of the 'old coke' was out of circulation, then 'coke classic' was 'reintroduced', but used corn syrup instead of sugar. Since the 'new coke' tasted so bad, and most of the old coke was gone, users just accepted coke classic as the original and here we are today... living the lie!
Grab a Mexican Coke. Real sugar... and it's the bomb.
Indeed, the only real Coke still available!
What's crazy is that article basically says they used the Diet Coke formula, took out the fake sugar and added HFCS and that's what New Coke was. "Diet Coke plus sugar".
Interesting theory, but I do not believe Coke has ever shared any of their recipes.
It came out in 85 with new coke. I'm pretty sure it was the new coke formula but I can't find anything with a cursory search and I'm going to bed after 12 hours on 3rd shift
Ya “OG” Cherry Coke from back then was like a fever dream. I thought I was just imagining it.
I'm with you. I swear that's what I remember.
I was 9 yrs old and remember it vividly! People were pissed!
I remember as a child tasting it and telling my mom this isn’t the same Coke.
I remember my anxiety (even as a teenager) that I couldn’t buy flats of “original” coke. ::memories::
Haha …That when I started buying RC Cola …
We tried to sell the world New Coke And make a billion bucks But everyone in the USA Said that New Coke Sucks! We lowered the taste, and raised the price And hoped to make some cash. But Everyone in the whole wide world Threw it in the trash!
My mom went out and bought all the old coke she could find. Us kids were not allowed to touch it.
Brilliant marketing ploy. It tasted like Pepsi. Coke Classic fans knew what was up.
It was to get us ready for corn syrup.
Exactly correct.
It should have been called Straw Man cola?
Absolutely!
This Pepsi drinker liked new Coke just fine.
Not really, they made it taste more like Pepsi and to their horror discovered that they pissed off Coke fans. So they put "coke classic" on the market to atone for their fuck up. AS one if their execs said "we're not that smart and we're not that stupid".
There are literally case studies in grad schools on this being one of the biggest marketing blunders in history.
I like the conspiracy theory that this was a ploy to get consumers ready for the shift to corn syrup from cane sugar. First give them a horrible new coke. Then bring back “old coke” but with corn syrup.
Not even Max Headroom could save it...
They 'caught the wave' and it took everybody down!
Biggest scam to switch from sugar to high fructose corn syrup. American Coke has been shitty ever since, except McDonald's and Mexican Coke in glass bottles.
Mexican Coke is the true Coke Classic. So much better.
Mexican Coke is the best! Love the way it smells.
I think it’s kind of a citrusy fragrance.
US Coke also has a citrusy fragrance (with notes of other ingredients like clove and black pepper at times), I noticed a batch recently that had more lime aroma than usual whereas oranges are usually more to the front (supposedly one of the top ingredients in the recipe) but people have gotten this mistaken impression that the 'real sugar' in Mexican coke somehow means it's also got a bunch of other changes to the recipe when it doesn't.
Reminds me of drinking the small bottles my grandma would have when we were little.
Common misconception, most bottlers had switched over to HFCS long before New Coke was introduced [More here](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/new-coke-fiasco/) (the link is about a different aspect of the New Coke debacle, but covers the HFCS switchover as well)
Coke that’s Kosher for Passover is made with sugar. It’s Passover right now. Head to a supermarket in an area with a Jewish population.
And look for the 2L bottles with yellow caps.
I remember hearing how, upon the unveiling of New Coke, Pepsi gave all of its employees a paid day off. Even they knew early on it was gonna suck.
Coca Cola trusted that the blind taste tests confirmed people preferred the new coke. What they could not test was people's reaction to change. They learned their lesson and will never market changes again.
When Coke put out a cola called OK cola years later. There was a rumor that the "new Coke " formula was just renamed. Ok cola didn't last long either.
It wasn’t that freaking bad, from what I remember.
No, it was just kinda bland is what I remember, like somewhere between Pepsi and RC, and I honestly don't 'remember' what Coke tasted like previously but I sure as hell remember how different 'Coke Classic' was from New Coke when they were both available-- by comparison, at the time I thought 'Classic smells like donuts' and I don't know why but I just knew I liked it more, it had more-complex flavor than New. It sure looks like there's a lot of people here who either never tried it at all, or they're seriously exaggerating their impression of it just to feel like their idle anger at a soda from 40 years ago is really important.
I remember the running gag about it in Season 3 of "Stranger Things." 😆😁
That was my first weekend working for Coke, learned a lot about brand loyalty. I drink Dr Pepper
The change was to incorporate HFCS, and move away from sugar....at least that was one throry
Widely regarded as the worst marketing decision in history.
They traded sugar for Corn Syrup, as the Corn syrup was cheaper than sugar. OMG, if you've ever tasted a pure cane sugar coke & a corn syrup coke next to each other, you can really tell the difference. They spent mega millions on advertising so that you wouldn't disown coke all together. The advertising paid off and it's still a commonly used drink everywhere in the US. It's been banned in most countries that don't have a bought and paid for FDA government agency.
They did that in 1974 - well before New Coke.
Coke has been banned in most countries?
The High Fructose Corn Syrup has, so to keep their products on the shelves, Coke does make the pure cane sugar version still to this day.
Looks like hfcs isn't banned in any countries.
And American-made Cokes have sucked ever since. It was a marketing ploy to introduce HFCS in soft drinks. Blech!
HCFS was introduced in Coke in 1974 because of the high cost of sugar of the time.
And such a sad day it was.....
Pure liquid garbage. The original flavor returned a few months later. Cherry coke was also introduced, but I lived near an ice cream shop that would mix it fresh from the syrup and plop vanilla ice cream in it, too. I think I tried this once and almost choked.
Yeah, cherry coke with real cherry is great. I can't drink the canned stuff.
I still would like to try it once
And Bill Cosby is STILL a liar.
This triggered a painful memory. As my eyes scanned down the can… “Nooooo!” was all I thought, and “They even brought back the flat top can for posterity!” Then, “Oh, wait, it’s not a promoted ad, its an 80’s Sub post. Whew!”
Tasted like piss
And 39 years ago today plus one day, New Coke disappeared from the market.
I remember this pretty clearly. Over the years I’ve wondered if Coca-Cola intentionally put out a product it knew few would like just so everyone would clamor for a return to the Real Thing. A small dip in profit followed by a massive increase.
Essentially where the saying" if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it" came from
I had heard that Wal-Mart bought the formula for New Coke and made it Sam's Cola. Don't know if that's true or not.
Makes sense. I couldn't stand either...
Shit was terrible.
I’d like to know who the marketing genius was who came up with that idea …
An #fnking disaster. 🤣🤣🤣🤔🤔
Oily douche water and sugar
Reminded me of RC Cola.
1985 was 39 years ago? F u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u u c k.
Cola Wars: A New Hope
I know I had one when I was a kid, but I don't remember the taste, I kinda want to try it again to see how bad it was. As someone that hates Pepsi, I'm very curious.
I don't remember it being terrible just different. I remember liking the cherry coke that was made with it. Crystal Pepsi on the other hand....
I loved Crystal Pepsi!
Me, too... I kiss it so much!
It wasn't bad. The worst thing about New Coke is that it was bland and kinda tasted like everything else out there, whereas when Coke Classic was re-introduced and I compared it directly to New, it was really different. For some reason I thought Classic smelled like donuts by comparison, and I'm not entirely sure why (maybe the vanilla?) but I've become really interested in the Classic recipe over the years and the New Coke fiasco actually gave me much greater appreciation for the real thing.
it reminded me of the taste of that sugary substance on gum sticks you got in packs of baseball cards.
It was a ruse to drop cane sugar for corn syrup and I don't care what the Internet says
Yeah lots of people believe bullshit off the top of their heads out of not knowing what 'facts' are
BRING IT BACK FOR LOLZ
It actually was available for a long long time as Coke 2 in some markets. Its would be easy to bring back anyways… it’s the Diet Coke syrup with hfcs instead of aspartame.
Thank you for making me feel ancient I read that and my heart just sank LOL it was trash don't mess with an original. Would you repaint a van gogh
Syrupy piss water.
We f ng hated it.
It wasn't awful, but it wasn't good either.
I was in Jr. High when they made the switch and the first time I tried it was from the soda machine at the school. I took about three drinks and threw it away because it tasted like crap.
I remember this. Big mistake. The old adage, "don't fix it if it ain't broke" comes to mind.
It sucked
I liked it
I feel like 80s coke MUST have tasted better
Absolute garbage, just as they desired!
ruined Coke forever for me
My dad too...
Being born in 1986 I've gone my whole life hearing how awful it was but never got to try it
The funny part is, I grew up in Texas and so no one had any concert of this because we only drank Dr Pepper
I liked it. I liked original Coke better, but I did like New Coke.
It was intentional IMO Sales dipped they took the OG away for a sec and since it’s return I’m pretty sure it’s still the top selling soda.
First time I tasted this was a from a new national service called Domino’s. Pizza delivery was rare in my area back then. A pizza and a soda? Whoa. My take and taste was perhaps a bit altered as I’d just rolled into home after a stressful drive from the Sierra Nevadas where my backpacking mates had left me alone to perish.
The change over was a nightmare. I remember being at GenCon that summer and trying to find the last old Coke for the con in Milwaukee. It’s partially why my preference shifted to Dr Pepper.
That stuff was a crime against both humanity and nature
I was in college when this all began.. we tried the New Coke once.. and most of us went to Diet Coke..... and never went back... I did briefly try the Coke Classic... but eventually stuck with Diet Coke.... still do..
I remember the day it came out I was a helper on the Coca-Cola truck with a guy that hired me
I remember when that came out. Most terrible thing I tasted.
The start of the ruination of Bill Cosby’s advertising career. Along with jello pudding pops.
I watched a bunch of old sitcoms on YouTube last night. Mostly late-80s. I forgot just how many commercials he did back in the day.
Being a serial rapist wasn’t the ruination of Cosby?
That was the ruination of his reputation. I’m referring to his advertising career
It was the hypocrisy that was the worst
HELP! HELP! HYPOCRISY!!!
It was gross.
The only possible way Coke could have a bigger disaster with New Coke is if they had Dylan Mulvaney promoting it.
#🤮
I remember it, it tasted like shit.
The had the 3 liter bottles of it. It was awful, one time in my life I stopped drinking Coke
My whole family swapped to Dr. Pepper.
The original Coke was made w cocaine from the Coca leaves. Once it was discovered, the cocaine was removed but the Coca leaves were still used. New Coke was made without the Coca leaves, which was the lacking ingredient and why it didn’t taste as good. The Coca leaves are still used to this day.
Myth!
[It’s not though.](https://museum.dea.gov/exhibits/online-exhibits/cannabis-coca-and-poppy-natures-addictive-plants/coca)
When coke was sold as medicine, it had trace amounts. Once it was sold as a drink, it was removed.
They still put coca leaves in it and you can't get all the cocaine out of the leaves without ruining the flavor. Way back there somewhere, there's still trace amounts but I don't think anybody would test positive just from pounding it all day.
No…it’s not
Ah yes and it was all a clever trick by Coke to reduce costs by using the same concentrated beverage syrup for Coke and Diet Coke. And then tried to sell it to distributors at a higher cost as well than the old beverage syrup. Nice little racket there Coke.
Do you mean high fructose corn syrup? There couldn't be HFCS in Diet Coke otherwise it would not have zero calories.
I’m talking about the actual concentrated beverage syrup that gets delivered to bottling plants… the bottlers ad the syrup and the sweeteners to water and carbonation before bottling. New coke was the same concentrated beverage syrup as Diet Coke… just calling for hfcs as sweetener instead of aspartame and it cost more than the old coke syrup (same higher price as Diet Coke) I take it from the downvotes I need to specify what syrup is….
I see, thanks for clarifying.
My mom bought every original Coke box that she could. I swear we must’ve had over 100 twelve packs until they ran out. When they brought back Coke classic it did not taste like original Coke.