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The Cult of Mexican Coca-Cola

Taqueria Nacional, on N. Capital Street, sells Coke from Mexico. The difference between corn syrup and sugar isn’t huge, but I prefer the sugary variety.

The Coca-Cola Company is by now quite familiar with the Mexican Coke cult. It is true, acknowledges a Coke spokesman, Scott Williamson, that different sweeteners are used by the company’s bottling partners in different parts of the world, for reasons having to do with price and availability. But, he says, “all of our consumer research indicates that from a taste standpoint, the difference is imperceptible.”

Coca-Cola "Happiness Machine"

Timeline of Pepsi and Coca-Cola Logos

See Pepsi and Coca-Cola’s logos over the years. The chart is a little unfair in that Coke changes its can design just as often as Pepsi, but not its logo. Still, does anyone prefer the new Pepsi logo?

Update: Brand New fact-checks the image, showing that Coca-Cola really has changed over the years.

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What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.

Andy Warhol (via Daring Fireball)

I read an article recently (which I can’t seem to find now) about how class in America is becoming harder to define because their aren’t any key products that most people can’t afford. You used to be able to separate lower from middle class by whether or not a family had a telephone, or a TV, or air conditioning, etc. Even internet access and cell phones are becoming ubiquitous.

collision detection: Grand Theft Coca Cola

Good little piece on the parody ad.

How much would Pepsi pay to get Coke's secret formula?

Steven Levitt argues that, if such a thing as the secret formula still exists/is relevant, Pepsi shouldn’t care.

Has anyone else noticed that Cherry Coke has been renamed “Coca-Cola Cherry”? The flavor is in every way the same, but the name suddenly changed on me. It seems like they’re trying to rebrand everything under the name “Coca-Cola”, and exorcise “coke” from their product titles. Oddly, their press release dated December 15 still refers to a number of “coke”s, including the new Coke Blak, a premium, coffee flavored beverage, diet Cherry Coke, Coke Light Lime, and Coke Light Sango, so either it’s just a can redesign, or their entire PR team hasn’t gotten word of the change yet. Personally I don’t like it. I like the simple name of Cherry Coke, a sweeter companion to the mainstay Coca-Cola Classic. “Coca-Cola Cherry” sounds more like an expansion rather than its own item, even though it’s been around for over 20 years. It sounds like it’s a temporary flavor-of-the-month, to be discarded in time à la Vanilla Coke (which I rather liked). Kottke today links to a great archive of photos of soda cans over the years, which includes this selection on Coke 2 and other flavors. If you scroll down to the Coca-Cola Cherry née Cherry Coke section, you can see how the drink has been rebranded over the years. The earlier cans incorporate some white (now associated with Diet Coke) and feature a gradiant to red and a big cherry. The late 80’s and early 90’s cans play up the “fountain style” of the drink, going back to the drink’s soda fountain-era incarnation where a cherry Coke was created by a soda jerk who’d mix in cherry syrup on the spot. 1996 brought the purple “rain of cherries” can, which sticks in my head even though it seems to have been around for two years before being replaced by 1998’s “eXtreme Cherry Coke to the max!” branding, which would last four years until it was replaced by the red and maroon version. The [new design][5] is, well, exactly like the standard Coca-Cola Classic packaging, but with a cherry under the italic word “Cherry”, the swoosh tinted redder, and with pink top and bottom borders instead of white. It says “there’s nothing distinctive about me, I’m just Coca-Cola Classic with some cherry syrup added in,” which, I guess, it is, but I’d like to see a little more love put into the design of a variety that’s stuck around for so long, and is one of my favorites. Edit: Looking more closely at the bottle, on the back, next to the barcode, are the words “Coke Cherry”. Curiouser and curiouser.

Has anyone else noticed that Cherry Coke has been renamed “Coca-Cola Cherry”? The flavor is in every way the same, but the name suddenly changed on me. It seems like they’re trying to rebrand everything under the name “Coca-Cola”, and exorcise “coke” from their product titles. Oddly, their press release dated December 15 still refers to a number of “coke”s, including the new Coke Blak, a premium, coffee flavored beverage, diet Cherry Coke, Coke Light Lime, and Coke Light Sango, so either it’s just a can redesign, or their entire PR team hasn’t gotten word of the change yet.

Personally I don’t like it. I like the simple name of Cherry Coke, a sweeter companion to the mainstay Coca-Cola Classic. “Coca-Cola Cherry” sounds more like an expansion rather than its own item, even though it’s been around for over 20 years. It sounds like it’s a temporary flavor-of-the-month, to be discarded in time à la Vanilla Coke (which I rather liked).

Kottke today links to a great archive of photos of soda cans over the years, which includes this selection on Coke 2 and other flavors. If you scroll down to the Coca-Cola Cherry née Cherry Coke section, you can see how the drink has been rebranded over the years. The earlier cans incorporate some white (now associated with Diet Coke) and feature a gradiant to red and a big cherry. The late 80’s and early 90’s cans play up the “fountain style” of the drink, going back to the drink’s soda fountain-era incarnation where a cherry Coke was created by a soda jerk who’d mix in cherry syrup on the spot. 1996 brought the purple “rain of cherries” can, which sticks in my head even though it seems to have been around for two years before being replaced by 1998’s “eXtreme Cherry Coke to the max!” branding, which would last four years until it was replaced by the red and maroon version.

The [new design][5] is, well, exactly like the standard Coca-Cola Classic packaging, but with a cherry under the italic word “Cherry”, the swoosh tinted redder, and with pink top and bottom borders instead of white. It says “there’s nothing distinctive about me, I’m just Coca-Cola Classic with some cherry syrup added in,” which, I guess, it is, but I’d like to see a little more love put into the design of a variety that’s stuck around for so long, and is one of my favorites.

Edit: Looking more closely at the bottle, on the back, next to the barcode, are the words “Coke Cherry”. Curiouser and curiouser.

Demystifying Diet Coke(s)

Hmm, Diet Coke is actually New Coke with aspartme.

Chinese Coke/World of Warcraft Commercial

Great stuff.

Coca-Cola has always been, to my tastes, far superior to Pepsi-Cola. True, Pepsi has a hipper, music-oriented image, so I understand why Apple partnered up with it to give away free songs, but it’s just too damn sweet. When I went to the dentist two weeks ago, my hygenist said that my teeth looked great. And while I don’t like Pepsi nearly as much as Coke, if I’m going to spend my dollar on a bottle of sugar water I may as well have a one-in-three chance of winnig a free download. Turns out I’d rather have free music than a Coke and my smile.

Word from Katherine’s friend in dental school: don’t brush your teeth immediately after drinking soda. Rinse with some water first, or the brush will grate the sugar against your teeth because the sugar softens your enamel and the brush could damage it.

Vanilla Coke

I think that the Coca-Cola wizards have changed the flavor to Vanilla Coke a little bit since last summer. I can’t decide if I like it better this way.