Anyone else remember New Coke? If you don’t know about New Coke then you are probably younger than me. Not that I am 40-mumble-something or anything. New Coke came out while I was in college.
To backtrack as a teenager in England having a Coke was a treat. By treat I mean I only had it at restaurants — picture a tiny glass of tepid Coke filled to the brim without ice. Nice! I don’t recall seeing a Coke vending machine until I was a freshman at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. The only vending machine Cokes sold in England were inferior quality no-name brands.
We never had room in our tiny fridge at home for Coke or really much of anything. The freezer in our little fridge fit a bag of frozen peas — and that is all! Can you imagine a family of 4 existing with a fridge just slightly bigger than a dorm fridge. My mother shopped every day — we had milk and other items delivered every day. Anyone else have their milk delivered by a milk man? The house we lived in was by no means small — a 4-bedroom detached house with 2 1/2 bathrooms — but all appliance were tiny. We had a washing machine, but no dryer.
New Coke was introduced to terrible reviews in the early to mid-80s. It was withdrawn soon after since the taste change from original Coke was a complete dud. Coke was reintroduced as “Original Coke.” I remember drinking it. Very sweet.
Now I’m Diet Coke all the way with a break now and then for Diet Pepsi. For the last two weeks I have been on a caffeine free binge. Caffeine free Diet Coke, wretched Sanka, weak Folgers decaff. It’s not…going that well.
And about Sanka…really didn’t Sanka die in the 80s. This weak-willed caffeine alternative is quite simply sludge in a cup…ugghh. I asked my husband to buy a jar of decaf coffee. He came home with Sanka complete with a rubberized lid for ease of opening. People, I am 40-mumble-something not 80-mumble-something!
I was part of the advertising team (from McCann Erickson) that introduced the New Coke. I remember the big presentation they gave us in Atlanta to explain WHY? I knew right then it was a mistake and had the thankless task of traveling to all the bottlers in the state of Texas to explain the new ad campaign that featured this great new product! The bottlers hated it, it was a marketing disaster and of course, the advertising couldn’t succeed in that environment. Quite a interesting bit of history to have on a resume isn’t it??