In 1985, Coca-Cola angered the world by changing the flavour of their drink. Now the company is doing it again, risking a public backlash. This time, it is altering the flavour and appearance of one of its most popular soft drinks: Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, often known as Coke Zero, the sugar-free version of “classic” Coke.
Officials from the company stated on Tuesday that the goal is to make the drink %u201Cdeliver an even more iconic Coke taste.%u201D
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Dread and trepidation already greeted the imminent change on social media. Some consumers promised to move to other beverages, such as Diet Dr Pepper, or threatened to switch to Coca-Cola%u2019s archrival, Pepsi.
Others recalled Coca-Cola’s marketing disaster in 1985, when the company introduced “New Coke,” a sweeter variant of the original soft drink that was widely rejected by customers.
That modification was made in an attempt to counteract Pepsi’s rising popularity, which was beginning to eat into Coca-Cola’s market share. Consumers, on the other hand, despised New Coke. In June 1985, the company’s customer hotline was receiving 1,500 calls each day.
After barely three months, the corporation stated that the original Coca-Cola, newly renamed as “Coca-Cola Classic,” will be brought back to store shelves.
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Consumers have acclimatised to beverage producers altering and modifying popular beverages.
Coca-Cola even released a limited quantity of %u201CNew Coke%u201D in 2019 as part of a campaign tied to the supernatural thriller %u201CStranger Things,%u201D set in the 1980s. According to him, the new Coke Zero’s touted modifications are minor in contrast.
The flavour of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, which was introduced in 2005, has been modified previously. In 2017, the company said that the drink has been “reformulated” to taste more like regular Coca-Cola.
The company stated in a statement that the new modification %u201Coptimizes existing Coca-Cola Zero Sugar flavors and existing ingredients.%u201D
Though the company did not specify how that procedure would work, it did vow on social media that the contents, which include carbonated water, caramel colour, phosphoric acid, aspartame, caffeine, and potassium benzoate, would remain unchanged.
