linusvanpelt

Whose idea was it in the Nineties (and now) to put out soda brand variations? Back in the eighties, you basically had coke, diet coke, pepsi, diet pepsi, 7up, sprite, and dr. pepper as the "A List" sodas (I am from NJ--we don't call it "pop"). Sure, there were B-List sodas (sort of like George Segal was to Burt Reynolds) like Nehi and RC, but basically that was it.

I guess this trend sorta started around the launch of New Coke (which apparently still exists in parts of the country and world under the moniker "Coke II"--which begs the question of how could a soft drink leave enough unanswered questions to merit a sequel?). Once New Coke went the way of the Edsel, the big soda companies (are they known as Big Soda, like Big Oil?) realized you could have variations of the classics. Most of these didn't have a chance of long term success, but many of them at least granted some publicity.

In the nineties, there was Crystal Pepsi (which was apparently the same flavor as Pepsi--but many consumers claimed to taste lemon--which was some sort of mental thing because there was no lemon flavor in it). There was also 7Up Gold, Pepsi Blue, Vanilla Coke (which I was addicted to the diet version of--and no, coke vanilla zero aint the same), Dr. Pepper Red, and about a gazillion different Mountain Dews (all of them rather unpleasant--at least to me). In other countries, there were even more odd launches, such as a cucumber Pepsi sold only in Japan. Oh, and Coke Blak, which was basically what coffee might taste like if you used coke instead of water to brew it.

My guess is the best selling sodas remain coke, diet coke, and pepsi and diet pepsi. If it aint broke, don't fix it.

I have no idea why I just wrote the above, but it felt like it needed to be spoken. Must be the caffeine of the four or five diet cokes I have quaffed today...

Tomorrow's topic: cartoon character-shaped macaroni and cheese. Did the world really need pasta shaped like Scrappy Doo?