
The American Gustation Crisis of 1985 - ca98am79
http://www.damninteresting.com/the-american-gustation-crisis-of-1985/
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ggchappell
Interesting article.

Fun-but-little-known fact. Shortly after the New Coke episode, the formula for
Heinz 57 steak sauce was changed. The label was also redesigned. This was all
done very quietly. I imagine they had a marketing blitz planned, but, seeing
what happened with Coke, they decided not to say a word.

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elmin
Please consider making your site static if possible. It makes it much more
tolerant to the traffic which is taking it down now, faster and often more
accessible.

There's a write up here, but you can also just google 'static website':
[https://eager.io/blog/build-static-websites](https://eager.io/blog/build-
static-websites)

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frankydp
Note: This article was originally entitled "Bite the New Wax Tadpole," but a
number of readers pointed out that this was excessively obscure and/or lame.

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nkurz
For context, there is an "urban legend"[1] that when Coca Cola was first
introduced into China, a "marketing blunder" was made such that the name
translated as "Bite the Wax Tadpole". The parallel name for New Coke (under
the worst possible marketing plan possible) would thus be "Bite the New Wax
Tadpole". Amusing, but definitely obscure.

[1]
[http://www.bitethewaxtadpole.com/bitethewaxtadpole.htm](http://www.bitethewaxtadpole.com/bitethewaxtadpole.htm)

~~~
ezequiel-garzon
Thanks for the reference. The website, and the company behind it, are almost
as interesting as the Coca-Cola story! I guess they're still active and
offering hosting and web design, but definitely stuck in the year 2000.

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MBlume
> Some critics will say Coca-Cola made a marketing mistake. Some cynics will
> say we planned the whole thing. The truth is we are not that dumb and we are
> not that smart.

I'm never sure how to interpret this statement. What is the middle ground
between making a marketing mistake and planning the whole thing? If they were
not dumb enough to bring a product to market that everyone would soon hate,
_and_ not smart enough to predict that this would wind up making everyone love
them for bringing the original back, then...wouldn't they have not introduced
New Coke in the first place?

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chrisbennet
This crashes chrome on my iPad.

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fsk
I'm starting to hate sites that don't render anything unless you enable
Javascript. HN should ban them or have a setting where you can filter them
out.

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mrob
You can read the text of this page without enabling Javascript by disabling
CSS (View, Page Style, No Style on Firefox).

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raldi
> Despite outspending Pepsi by almost $100 million annually, Coke's market
> share fell from 60% to 22%.

Every source I can find contradicts this claim, e.g.:
[https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d968...](https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/35016/area14mp/3fhzg6zz-1384235525.jpg)

Can anyone find a citation for it?

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matwood
Maybe it was a US blip? Worldwide Pepsi really isn't in the same conversation
with Coke more than doubling Pepsi in marketshare.

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smegel
So are these funny green bottles of "coke life" I see everywhere a kind of
NewCoke3?

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Moto7451
No, they're Coke Classic with Stevia in place of some of the sugar.

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smegel
Well I'd give it a try, but I'm pretty much addicted to Coke Zero.

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mikerichards
This guy in my neighborhood was so freaked out by new coke, that he had his
parents buy years worth of cases of coke classic.

I can't remember how long new coke stayed around and I vaguely recall it
wasn't horrible, it just wasn't Coke.

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ghshephard
Stockpiling Coke because of taste is ironic as Coke starts to turn around 6
months, and is downright terrible by the end of the year.

