Observation: Coca-Cola, What Were You Thinking?
The worst Coke ever?
From its introduction in 2005, Coke Zero became my favorite soda. Back in the pre-Coke Zero days, I used to favor Diet Pepsi because I couldn’t stand the sharp artificial aftertaste of Diet Coke. Then along came Coke Zero, and it was the best choice for diet cola. Why? Because it had a great spicy touch — cinnamon or nutmeg or cloves or something, I don’t know what — that really made it taste like Coca-Cola Classic (which I would drink all the time if not for the sugar). Coke Zero was rebranded as Coke Zero Sugar in 2017 and supposedly slightly reformulated, but the essential spicy taste didn’t change, and I stuck with it.
But now the Coca-Cola Company has decided to make a much bigger change in Coke Zero Sugar’s formula, evidently to conform it to the version of the product sold in Europe and Latin America, and they relaunched it in September 2021 in the U.S. market with fresh branding and advertising. What did they change inside the can? They eliminated just what I loved about the soda — that wonderful spicy taste. The new U.S. version of Coke Zero is sweeter, blander, duller. What a disappointment!
I’m sure Coca-Cola did plenty of expensive taste testing that suggested they might attract a new generation or demographic of U.S. consumers with the formula change. But why alienate your most ardent and loyal fans in your home market? I’m no marketing expert, but I can’t believe that’s ever a winning formula. You’d think they’d learned that fundamental lesson when they made perhaps the biggest blunder in the history of consumer goods, the 79-day debacle of New Coke in 1985. Unfortunately, this time, I really think they’ve done it again.
