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How Diet Coke Became the World's Liquid Crack of Choice
Jezebel.com ^ | AUG 8, 2012 1:30 PM | Katie J.M. Baker

Posted on 08/11/2012 1:09:41 PM PDT by thecodont

Diet Coke turns 30 this year, and despite health concerns and an rocky advertising trajectory (remember Paula Abdul dancing with dead celebrities?), the Thank-God-It's-Not-Sugar-But-Hopefully-Aspartame-Won't-Kill-You beverage is doing better than ever. Diet Coke has held the title of second most popular soda in the world (after regular Coke) for two years running — 40% of colas currently sold are either Diet Coke or Coke Zero — and it seems like more people are now drinking it for the taste instead of as a diet aid. But it wasn't always this way.

When Diet Coke was introduced in 1982, "it was too new to be cool," Zoe Williams recalls. "So it was very uncool not to drink it, but it wasn't totally cool to drink it either." While most people in the 80s were busy making horrible decisions regarding leg warmers and cocaine, the brand made headway with two genius moves. The first was buying Columbia Pictures as champions of product placement, guaranteeing that actors would be chugging Diet Coke for decades to come. Second, it differentiated itself from TaB, a title so associated with "diet" drinks that even literally putting Diet in its new moniker made the beverage more successful.

The brand has tried to experiment over the past decade with little success; the public knows what it wants, and it wants its Diet Coke. There was 2005's Coke Zero, which was practically the same as Diet Coke but meant to appeal to men who were too embarrassed to drink a sissy weight loss beverage like all those weight-obsessed ladies out there. Apparently, though, those men don't actually exist, because no one bought Coke Zero, despite its sleek packaging and uber-manly, throw-caution-to-the-wind "Enjoy everything" tagline. Oops.

(Excerpt) Read more at jezebel.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food
KEYWORDS: cocacola; dietcoke; tab
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To: thecodont

Cool. And always nice to see Coke kicking Pepsi’s ass.


21 posted on 08/11/2012 2:04:07 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: ansel12

How old is that bottle?


22 posted on 08/11/2012 2:04:32 PM PDT by POWERSBOOTHEFAN (Vic Morrow is my new heartthrob :))
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To: a fool in paradise
Coke Zero tastes better. it is the first soda to run out in the cafeteria or machines. The only one that sells out faster is Cherry Coke Zero. Our building holds 8000 people.
23 posted on 08/11/2012 2:04:46 PM PDT by bmwcyle (Corollary - Electing the same person over and over and expecting a different outcome is insanity)
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To: thecodont
+ =
24 posted on 08/11/2012 2:10:09 PM PDT by South40 ("Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance." Hussein Obama, Cairo, Egypt, June 4, 2009)
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To: ansel12

Used to love that Hires.. We had it back in Cleveland. My other 2 favorites from back then were Dads Root Beer and Frosty Root Beer.

As for Diet Coke, I despise the stuff. DC tastes like chemicals to me.

I do however like Diet Dr Pepper, as someone said above. That is actually quite good to these taste buds.


25 posted on 08/11/2012 2:12:20 PM PDT by Chuzzlewit
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To: South40

26 posted on 08/11/2012 2:17:29 PM PDT by John W (Viva Cristo Rey!)
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To: thecodont

Diet Coke, ick! Tasts like carbonated tree sap.


27 posted on 08/11/2012 2:20:57 PM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: John W

We drink zero cal flavored seltzer...much healthier, or Martinis.


28 posted on 08/11/2012 2:21:45 PM PDT by Shady (The Tea Party is the Party of the American People, Working and creating wealth in SPITE of OBAMA!)
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

I agree. Coke Zero always leaves an ugly aftertaste that I don’t get with Diet Coke. It also seems less fizzy, but that might just be my own taste buds.


29 posted on 08/11/2012 2:27:19 PM PDT by PuzzledInTX
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To: ansel12

We used to drink Hires all the time. Do you know if it is still sold?


30 posted on 08/11/2012 2:28:07 PM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS (It is a shame that when these people give a riot)
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To: Sawdring
[EXPOLSIVES 40] At a workbench, combine:

1 bottle Nuka-Cola Quantum

Tin can

Turpentine

Abraxo cleaner

A potent cocktail of carbonation and detonation, the Nuka-grenade makes plasma look like a bubble bath.

http://www.deviantart.com/download/149658100/FO3___Schematic___Nuka_Grenade_by_Toan76.png

http://www.deviantart.com/download/165244285/PIP_BOY_by_Samupipboy.jpg

31 posted on 08/11/2012 2:33:17 PM PDT by KC_Lion (Normalcy results in the creation of life, Sodomy results in AIDS)
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To: KC_Lion

Without a doubt the best game ever (well maybe a tie with Skyrim).


32 posted on 08/11/2012 2:39:08 PM PDT by 11Bush
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To: 11Bush
http://img3.joyreactor.cc/pics/post/%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0-Skyrim-Oblivion-fallout-79043.png

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/fallout+skyrim_c54b55_3362341.jpg

Fus Ra Yay!

33 posted on 08/11/2012 2:47:09 PM PDT by KC_Lion (Normalcy results in the creation of life, Sodomy results in AIDS)
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To: Vince Ferrer

All I drink these days is soda water. No flavorings. Wilkinson usually. I don’t even put sugar in my coffee.

Oh, once a month or so, I might have a canned soda, or take a coke with a meal at a fast food place, but that’s pretty much it.


34 posted on 08/11/2012 2:47:41 PM PDT by Ronin (Dumb, dependent and Democrat is no way to go through life - Rep. L. Gohmert, Tex)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Pepsi lime has me hooked. When it’s not available, I mix cola with Minute Maid limeade.


35 posted on 08/11/2012 2:55:04 PM PDT by Squawk 8888 (Tories in- now the REAL work begins!)
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To: SVTCobra03

In Canada there’s a product called Pepsi Throwback that’s made with cane sugar. Regular Coke and Pepsi here are a mix of can sugar and corn syrup.

One product available on both sides of the border that you might like is Jones Soda- their entire line is sweetened with cane sugar.


36 posted on 08/11/2012 2:59:07 PM PDT by Squawk 8888 (Tories in- now the REAL work begins!)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear; All

I stopped drinking Diet Coke when I finally read the ingredients. All it took was the first one, phosphoric acid. We used a process to keep heavy metals from being able to leach from an aggregate product we produced from the residue from municipal waste incinerators. What we sprayed onto the aggregate was phosphoric acid. It had the properties to “weld” heavy netals to the aggregate. How yummy does that sound?


37 posted on 08/11/2012 3:00:07 PM PDT by mazda77 ("Defeating the Totalitarian Lie" By: Hilmar von Campe. Everybody should read it.)
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To: Mike Darancette

Coke makes a diet version sweetened with Splenda. I haven’t seen a caffeine-free version. There are a few other sugar-free soft drinks without Nutrasweet.


38 posted on 08/11/2012 3:01:08 PM PDT by unlearner (You will never come to know that which you do not know until you first know that you do not know it.)
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To: mazda77
The ingredients of Nuka-Cola are: carbonated water, caramel color, aspartame, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate (to protect taste), natural flavors, citric acid, and caffeine. What gives it the unique flavor is the essence of seventeen different fruits mixed in just the right proportion to give the beverage its trademark taste. Some versions of the drink also include vitaminerals and health tonics. During the Great Passion Fruit Famine of 2044, people actually noticed the taste difference when the recipe was change

http://images.wikia.com/fallout/images/d/d9/Fallout_3_Nuka_Cola_Poster.jpg

Whats a Little Radiation between Friends?

39 posted on 08/11/2012 3:05:50 PM PDT by KC_Lion (Normalcy results in the creation of life, Sodomy results in AIDS)
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To: thecodont

I drink maybe five Cokes a year, and when I do, I drink regular Coke. Don’t think it is going to kill me or make me fat.


40 posted on 08/11/2012 3:06:37 PM PDT by La Lydia
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