And like anything that's free, you get what you pay for.
Posted on 12/10/2012 4:46:10 AM PST by New Jersey Realist
Growing up in the South means that you were raised on Coca-Cola. We don’t just call Coke, “Coke,” we call every soda made “Coke.” We believe Coke tastes better in a glass bottle than it does in a can. Every true Southerner has tried the unique concoction of drinking Coke with peanuts (in the bottle). We love Coca-Cola.
However, in the early 1980’s, Pepsi starting outselling Coke. After a few years of hand wringing and worry, on April 23, 1985, the Coca Cola Company—and this is still emotionally straining as I write this–abandoned its century old formula and introduced—sigh—“New Coke.” Oh sure, the consultants said it would be a great idea. The experts believed Coke needed to make a change to compete with Pepsi. Even the polling of focus groups told Coke executives that America would overwhelmingly prefer that new, sweeter mixture. It flopped.
(Excerpt) Read more at redstate.com ...
Except that the heart of the analogy is Coke versus the new Coke - the pepsi part of the analogy is mostly irrelevant.
The Pepsi part is *not* irrelevant.When given the choice between free Pepsi and not-free Coke,regardless of how it's formulated,many,*many* people will choose the Pepsi.
Have you ever been to Detroit? Or the Bronx? I have...recently.Lots and lots of "Pepsi" drinkers there.
An even more fitting analogy to describe our current dilemma would be one featuring Santa Claus.
Back then, my dad drove a Pepsi truck. Naturally, we were a Pepsi family. The rivalry was intense, right down to how many aisles you got on the supermarket shelves. Pepsi, in the 10 oz. bottle and Coke in the 6 1/2 oz. both cost a nickel. The 16 oz. Pepsi sold for a dime.
Summers during high school, I worked with my dad, hauling those heavy wooden crates and metal cartons for 12 hours a day, got me in shape.
My problem with the analogy is, unlike Coke and Pepsi, what we are seeing isthe suicide of the Whigs rather than a well-thought out plan. Sure, New Coke failed, but there waws a busines decision involved. With the Whigs, it’s “Can’t we all just get along”.
And like anything that's free, you get what you pay for.
When I was in college there was vending machine outside of a gas station that vended Coke in glass bottles. Apparently some genius had figured out how to set the machine to keep the Coke at 32.50 degrees. It was the best soda I have ever had. That first swig was breathtaking.
I miss that.
I have a fairly old-school bottle machine, dates from about 1981 or ‘82. I mostly keep beer in it, with one row of cokes.
It holds 34F pretty nicely.
You are too invested in proving the imperfection of the analogy to realize the validity of it in part. The article was mainly about the coke-new coke part of the equation from the POV of the coke fans. On that point, the analogy does hold.
Now, whether either will overtake the “free” pepsi is a related topic, but not the point of the article. That won’t be the main issue until first the “coke v new coke” discussion is settled. So the analogy isn’t perfect, but again, on the main point, the immediate point, it is valid.
You make an interesting point about admired Presidents, but I am not sure it is relevant.
Conservatives are far less likely to admire any politician for any reason, because basically we want to be left alone by them. Libs and Democrats will admire politicians they vote for because they are consumed by government to their very core. Thus, I don’t think in the end it is a meaningful comparison that you have made, though it is interesting.
I think back there is only two that I can say I still admire.
Two in 70+ years?............................ There can only be 2 in 70+ years, Ike and Reagan come to mind.
I think that you are wrong. The real need that we didn’t fulfill for the electorate was that we did not provide a charismatic individual as a candidate. Facts no longer suffice and we will have to work a bit harder to bring those individuals to the fore who have the ability to inspire people to greatness. Romney did not do that.
Some insight might be gained by reading “The Fourth Great Awakening”. It is one of the best American history books ever written and the last chapter deals with this very issue.
I grew up in the mountains of NC,and the thrill of putting a “peanut chew” in a Pepsi bottle was akin to a small volcanic reaction! Sprayed the girls over 10 feet away ; ).
And every swig of Pepsi thereafter was flat.
Would you be referring to Ron, Ike and Abe? On the rat side the only one I had any respect for is Truman. He left the white house hardly a rich man, packed his own things and lived off an Army pension. But perhaps I like him more because most rats hated him.
It would have to get cheaper than that if they expect me to drink it.
Nothing like an icy cold bottle of Coke. I sure miss that too! A can just doesn’t do it! Thank God beer still comes in bottles.
You are correct. Getting along is not what makes this country great. We have a two party system for a reason. If we all agree like the pubbies want to do now it just turns off the conservatives which is the real heart of the GOP - OR at least it used to be that way.
But just like the best bad decision Coke ever made eventually brought Coke to #1 again could happen to the GOP. We just have to get rid of people like Rove, Coulter and the rest of the middle of the roaders! When people finally realise that even government cannot spend more than it takes in we’ll begin to see a turnaround. Even the dumbest person I know knows that you can’t kill the golden goose and expect success in the future. This is the message the GOP has to say every minute of every day. Until then I will stay home on election day like millions of us did a few weeks ago.
I haven’t had a Pepsi in over 30 years. Pepsi is about the only American pop one could buy in Saudi Arabia; Faygo showed up just before my tour ended. Vernon’s ginger ale was always my favorite pop. Coca-Cola was on the Saudi’s boycott list because Coke operated a bottling plant in Israel.
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