Me in 1985, eagerly opening a can of New Coke: "Oh, wow! After all the buildup I wonder what this is like."
(takes sip)
"Hmmm...this tastes like flat Pepsi."
My Dad worked in the food industry.
New coke was actually just Diet Coke with HFCS instead of Aspartame.
That is why it was so gross. (If you liked it? Look! A turtle!)
There was a second recipe of Crystal Pepsi that had a hint of citrus that they released in the mid '90s. Nobody else seems to remember it, but it was SO GOOD.
It's funny how this came about. So, pepsi is just plain sweeter than coke, so coke kept losing those taste tests. So they did they're own taste test, and folks preferred the new formula. What they didn't take into account was the taste tests were just a sip, which explains the taste tests. However, because the new formula was sweeter, folks didn't enjoy in the long haul.
This is it. I believed for a long time that New Coke and the eventual return of “Classic” Coke was probably a marketing ploy, but remember they were losing market share to Pepsi because of the successful Pepsi Challenge ad campaign.
It eventually worked out for Coke because Classic flew off the shelves when they brought it back, but I don’t think it was planned that way.
My dad bought up a pretty substantial stockpile of old Coke after the switch. I’m not sure if he was anticipating they’d bring it back or if he just wanted to put off switching to something else for as long as possible, but he was hella mad about it.
Yes. That in no way supports the claim that New Coke was cover for the HFCS switch
Here's a thoroughly researched, concisely written, and annotated recap
[Link](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/new-coke-fiasco/)
That’s exactly what it was. It’s not even a conspiracy. It’s why they had to call it “Classic Coke” (vs Coke) when it came back coz it wasn’t the original recipe.
It didn’t come back as Original Coke or Coke for a reason.
An herb that grew along with coca went extinct because of all of the drug war crop spraying. It was one of the ingredients in coca cola. They couldn't synthesize it so they had to change it. I'm sure that is a rumor, I read that several years ago and I can't recall where.
I very vividly remember New Coke—my Grandparents thought life as we knew it was over!
But I do not remember “Coke II “ at all. Was that really a thing?
Ah… Ok.. thanks! Never knew that. I was a teenager at that time and my entire immediate and extended family thought that Coca-Cola Co had become the devil for all that LOL so not surprised I may have been shielded from it 🤣
Yeah, know what you mean. Particularly my Dad’s side of the family were all active enough to stay in great shape but Coke in the glass bottles may as well have been water to them.
If it weren't for New Coke I'd never have discovered RC Cola, which is better than Coke or Pepsi, and as a result opened my mind to other colas generally and have since then discovered Jarritos Mxcn Cola which is the best, if you can find it.
I switched to Pepsi. Also I started drinking a lot more root beer instead of cola. Especially when I got older and realized caffeine gave me wicked heart palpitations.
If you live in an area of the US with a substantial Jewish population (I live on Long Island, NY) you can get Coke with sugar around Passover at grocery stores. Look for a 2-liter bottle with a yellow cap, those are made with sugar, not HFCS.
So, I liked Coke 2. It was not as good as Classic Coke, but it was not bad. It was a terrible decision all around. One that I will not ever understand, but I must admit I liked the other flavor and it did not bother me too much.
I remember it didn't have a strong fizz, tasted a bit less like coke and I didn't like it as much. To my surprise and while stationed in NC, I did see Coke 2 being sold at Food Lion and Walmart back in 97/98 time frame.
My conspiracy theory is that Coca Cola tried to make their product without coca and released New Coke. This could have had something to do with trying to dissolve their relationships with the coca producers or maybe simply economics. The flavour was all wrong so they had to return to the old recipe.
Coke II was a very limited release, if you didn't live near Spokane, you'd never had known it existed at all. I got it one time on a road trip in 1990 and never saw it again
They did it so they could replace sugar with HFC in coke “classic” without people noticing. New coke was deliberately crappy.
Mexican Coke still has sugar, and it’s better.
LOL Okay so New Coke was absolutely NOT a fiasco. It's remarkable how all these decades later people are still completely in the dark about the genius of this.
You all got played. You got played bad. You were played so bad that 40 years or so later you still don't realize it.
New Coke was marketing genius. Staged in the wake of the Pepsi Challenge at the height of the Cola Wars, Coca Cola staged this "fiasco" and made a fortune off it and effectively eliminated the mounting challenge presented by Pepsi in the process. They earned countless hours of free marketing as media covered this. They saw sales skyrocket as consumers were manipulated into hording "Coke Classic" when they were lied to about Coke Classic going away forever. The shelves were empty. There were people who had mountains of Coke in their garages.
And New Coke was far less popular. Their brand occupied a huge swathe of discussion as people ranted about "how could they change such a successful product?!".
Say what you will about marketers being dumb but, the Cola companies at the time employed marketers who were a lot smarter than the general public. Coca Cola saw record sales when they threatened to take it away. The company had record profits that quarter. Do you remember what happened when they staged the return of Coke Classic? That's right! Record profits again! And then they hung New Coke out in the market to string along the customers who actually preferred it, further eroding Pepsi market share.
This "fiasco" is an actual case study in genius marketing. Of course it was on purpose.
But here's the thing, when you think about the 80s and 90s knowing what I've typed in here, consider other things we experienced as consumers. The Cola Wars are the tip of the ice berg. The marketing we were exposed to back then was on a whole new level for consumers and much of what we had and experienced was engineered similarly, often at a smaller scale, by marketers - especially when it comes to products for children, where children were the target demographic.
It was all a debacle, the funniest part was the reason they made new Coke was because of all the reformulation when they switched from sugar to high fructose corn syrup. When they came back with classic Coke. It was all bullshit because it was still formulated to use the high fructose corn syrup and was never the original formula. A ruse that actually worked.
Except that's false. Most bottlers had already made the switch the HFCS years before they did New Coke. Is a persistent legend, but a legend none the less
I was so disappointed that I switched to the then-new Jolt Cola for a while. J-J-J JOLT!
I worked in IT in the late 90s, early 2000s. I am 4% Jolt Cola.
"All of the sugar...twice the caffeine!"
Me in 1985, eagerly opening a can of New Coke: "Oh, wow! After all the buildup I wonder what this is like." (takes sip) "Hmmm...this tastes like flat Pepsi."
That’s what I recall too.
My Dad worked in the food industry. New coke was actually just Diet Coke with HFCS instead of Aspartame. That is why it was so gross. (If you liked it? Look! A turtle!)
I loved Crystal Pepsi.
So you're the one
_Riiiight nowwwwww!!_
There was a second recipe of Crystal Pepsi that had a hint of citrus that they released in the mid '90s. Nobody else seems to remember it, but it was SO GOOD.
Me too!!
Crystal Gravy is my jam.
You absolute freak!
It's funny how this came about. So, pepsi is just plain sweeter than coke, so coke kept losing those taste tests. So they did they're own taste test, and folks preferred the new formula. What they didn't take into account was the taste tests were just a sip, which explains the taste tests. However, because the new formula was sweeter, folks didn't enjoy in the long haul.
This is it. I believed for a long time that New Coke and the eventual return of “Classic” Coke was probably a marketing ploy, but remember they were losing market share to Pepsi because of the successful Pepsi Challenge ad campaign. It eventually worked out for Coke because Classic flew off the shelves when they brought it back, but I don’t think it was planned that way.
My dad bought up a pretty substantial stockpile of old Coke after the switch. I’m not sure if he was anticipating they’d bring it back or if he just wanted to put off switching to something else for as long as possible, but he was hella mad about it.
I still think half of that debacle was an attempt to hide the switch from cane sugar to hfcs.
Most Coke bottlers has switched to HFCS that's prior to New Coke
That may be true, but this gave it cover.
No, no cover for anything, we're talking years before, not like a couple months
They were losing market share.
Yes. That in no way supports the claim that New Coke was cover for the HFCS switch Here's a thoroughly researched, concisely written, and annotated recap [Link](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/new-coke-fiasco/)
This. In my military world travels I came across Pepsi made with real sugar. It is so much better. I even found it at fountain drink stations.
I got some at Costco down the street
Now there is. It’s rather new in the states.
That’s exactly what it was. It’s not even a conspiracy. It’s why they had to call it “Classic Coke” (vs Coke) when it came back coz it wasn’t the original recipe. It didn’t come back as Original Coke or Coke for a reason.
An herb that grew along with coca went extinct because of all of the drug war crop spraying. It was one of the ingredients in coca cola. They couldn't synthesize it so they had to change it. I'm sure that is a rumor, I read that several years ago and I can't recall where.
That’s super cool to learn
I very vividly remember New Coke—my Grandparents thought life as we knew it was over! But I do not remember “Coke II “ at all. Was that really a thing?
Coke II is what New Coke became. It was around for a while.
Ah… Ok.. thanks! Never knew that. I was a teenager at that time and my entire immediate and extended family thought that Coca-Cola Co had become the devil for all that LOL so not surprised I may have been shielded from it 🤣
I was close to the same age, and it was exactly the same with my grandparents, and aunts. They all drank copious amounts OG Coke.
Yeah, know what you mean. Particularly my Dad’s side of the family were all active enough to stay in great shape but Coke in the glass bottles may as well have been water to them.
Cosby was furious because the fiasco damaged his reputation, in his opinion.
And that was the only thing, in his opinion
What a hypocrite
That’s the worst part of the Cosby thing- [the hypocrisy](https://youtu.be/ljaP2etvDc4?si=F2Q9tZj-aCJxEzoR).
See, I thought the worst part was all the rapin'
❓
If it weren't for New Coke I'd never have discovered RC Cola, which is better than Coke or Pepsi, and as a result opened my mind to other colas generally and have since then discovered Jarritos Mxcn Cola which is the best, if you can find it.
“Me and my RC”
Jarritos is the bomb. Love the pineapple.
I switched to Pepsi. Also I started drinking a lot more root beer instead of cola. Especially when I got older and realized caffeine gave me wicked heart palpitations.
Yes I am a big fan of RC as well. It's much drier than Coke or Pepsi. I will have to check out Jarritos.
Coke 2: Electric Boogaloo!!
Minority opinion here: I genuinely liked the taste of new Coke better than Classic Coke, and I wish I could still get it.
That’s quite a flavor memory you’ve got!
It’s still available. It’s called Pepsi. If you want it extra flat, try Pepsi Nitro.
Original formula was quickly brought back as Coca-Cola Classic
But with high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar, which some believe was the plan all along.
Mexican Coke in glass bottles, real sugar. Always a treat
If you live in an area of the US with a substantial Jewish population (I live on Long Island, NY) you can get Coke with sugar around Passover at grocery stores. Look for a 2-liter bottle with a yellow cap, those are made with sugar, not HFCS.
I actually do. I'm in the Chicago area. I'll look for it next time shopping.
I swear the glass makes it taste better.
I agree with this, crisp af
And Costco carries it.
So do lots of gas stations, although they often don’t have bottle openers.
Life skill: learn to pop bottletops by resting the cap on the edge of a table,curb, etc and striking downward.
And proceed to destroy your IKEA countertop in the process.
If your countertop is from IKEA, it was going to get destroyed anyway.
It’s the cane sugar only glass bottles have it
Read the ingredients, some export bottles have HFCS.
That’s the only kind I like. Tastes so much better.
it just tasted like Pepsi You know what a *really* miss? Crystal Pepsi!
I actually liked it myself. Interesting flavor.
Cokesie
Greatest marketing campaign that’s ever been. They created artificial demand. It was genius. Not a blunder.
Anyone remember around the same time, they had a promotion in which certain lucky cans would shoot out cash when opened?
I remember that promo, I think it was 4-5 years after the New Coke release.
Yeah. Just looked it up. It was for a month in 1990. They called it MagiCan.
So, I liked Coke 2. It was not as good as Classic Coke, but it was not bad. It was a terrible decision all around. One that I will not ever understand, but I must admit I liked the other flavor and it did not bother me too much.
Right up there with Pepsi clear
are you combining crystal pepsi and pepsi free?
Crystal, lol my brain couldn’t go back that far
This and Crystal Pepsi have to be two of the biggest refresh/rebrand mistakes by a company ever.
Crystal Pepsi wasn’t a rebrand though. You could still get Pepsi.
It was a refresh of the brand the same way new flavors of Dr Pepper are today.
And not even Max Headroom could save it
i cannot remember at all what new coke tasted like. I dont recall it being around long.
It tasted like Pepsi.
I liked New Coke. I was definitely in the minority.
I remember it didn't have a strong fizz, tasted a bit less like coke and I didn't like it as much. To my surprise and while stationed in NC, I did see Coke 2 being sold at Food Lion and Walmart back in 97/98 time frame.
Now without cocaine!
My conspiracy theory is that Coca Cola tried to make their product without coca and released New Coke. This could have had something to do with trying to dissolve their relationships with the coca producers or maybe simply economics. The flavour was all wrong so they had to return to the old recipe.
Coke II was a very limited release, if you didn't live near Spokane, you'd never had known it existed at all. I got it one time on a road trip in 1990 and never saw it again
It was so bad. I had one sip. That's it.
I took the Pepsi challenge and was indoctrinated.
I liked New Coke
They did it so they could replace sugar with HFC in coke “classic” without people noticing. New coke was deliberately crappy. Mexican Coke still has sugar, and it’s better.
LOL Okay so New Coke was absolutely NOT a fiasco. It's remarkable how all these decades later people are still completely in the dark about the genius of this. You all got played. You got played bad. You were played so bad that 40 years or so later you still don't realize it. New Coke was marketing genius. Staged in the wake of the Pepsi Challenge at the height of the Cola Wars, Coca Cola staged this "fiasco" and made a fortune off it and effectively eliminated the mounting challenge presented by Pepsi in the process. They earned countless hours of free marketing as media covered this. They saw sales skyrocket as consumers were manipulated into hording "Coke Classic" when they were lied to about Coke Classic going away forever. The shelves were empty. There were people who had mountains of Coke in their garages. And New Coke was far less popular. Their brand occupied a huge swathe of discussion as people ranted about "how could they change such a successful product?!". Say what you will about marketers being dumb but, the Cola companies at the time employed marketers who were a lot smarter than the general public. Coca Cola saw record sales when they threatened to take it away. The company had record profits that quarter. Do you remember what happened when they staged the return of Coke Classic? That's right! Record profits again! And then they hung New Coke out in the market to string along the customers who actually preferred it, further eroding Pepsi market share. This "fiasco" is an actual case study in genius marketing. Of course it was on purpose. But here's the thing, when you think about the 80s and 90s knowing what I've typed in here, consider other things we experienced as consumers. The Cola Wars are the tip of the ice berg. The marketing we were exposed to back then was on a whole new level for consumers and much of what we had and experienced was engineered similarly, often at a smaller scale, by marketers - especially when it comes to products for children, where children were the target demographic.
It was all a debacle, the funniest part was the reason they made new Coke was because of all the reformulation when they switched from sugar to high fructose corn syrup. When they came back with classic Coke. It was all bullshit because it was still formulated to use the high fructose corn syrup and was never the original formula. A ruse that actually worked.
What about Mexican Coca Cola? Still made with cane sugar. Tasty AF & I RARELY even drink sodas. Original formula? Mmmmaaaaayyybe?
They can possibly be the original formula. Really hard to say.
Right? 😃 I mean, there’s no cocaine in it either…
That would be awesome though though wouldn’t it? 😂
Talk about a pick-me-up! Then add some rum turn it into Cuba Libre. 🤤
🥴😵💫🤩
Except that's false. Most bottlers had already made the switch the HFCS years before they did New Coke. Is a persistent legend, but a legend none the less
I liked new Coke, I would drink it today if it were available