"I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke"

We've all sipped on either a Pepsi, or a Coca-Cola. By now, the majority of the U.S. have consumed enough to where your quite familiar between each beverage and can differentiate between Coke and Pepsi. In 1985, Coca-Cola changed the formula to their very recognizable flagship soft drink.

These two soft drink corporations have had a very heated rivalry, and they're always trying to think of new ways to out do one another, but Coca-Cola generally was ahead in sales. In 1985 Coca-Cola realized that Pepsi was catching up in sales, so they attempted switching formulas, and devoted millions and millions of dollars to advertise their modification. This was one of the riskiest and possibly one of the biggest marketing blunders in history. Coca Cola's sales dropped substantially in the short amount of time that they introduced the new and "improved" product. Consumers reported the taste as being better than Pepsi. . . But drinking the whole can turned out to be a real chore. "It was good at first, but the flavor was very rich and way too sweet to drink a whole can".

Soon After Coke realized what they had done to their beloved and loyal customers, they changed their formula back to the original, thus the current name of Coke Classic.

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/cokelore_newcoke.html

http://www.sodamuseum.com/Coke/posters.html

Interview from Mary Lehman