Top 10 Failed Drinks Made by the Coca Cola Company
The Coca Cola Company is probably the biggest selling beverage company in the world. We have the classics like Coca Cola or Sprite, but these drinks were massive failures and didn't really do well in sales or with the public. Hi, I'm Pnut. And today I'll be telling you the Top 10 Failed Drinks Made by the Coca Cola Company.This one was a HUGE failure in the world of soda, and probably every drink ever. Coca-Cola is known for making different flavors of the original such as Cherry, Vanilla, Zero, and so on, but Coca-Cola BlāK was very different. It wasn't marketed as another flavor, but as an energy drink.
First released in France in 2006, its main selling point was its large dose of caffeine. Many people who tried this drink thought the flavor was terrible, and it received backlash from many. It couldn't keep up with other energy drinks such as Monster Energy or Red Bull, so it's not surprising it was discontinued in 2008.
Coke is very old, dating back to 1886, so sometimes it might be interesting to change its normal formula. In 1985, Coca-Cola started to lose sales due to other brands rising fast, so they introduced New Coke. However, it received much backlash, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, receiving around 40,000 angry calls about the change in taste.
There was even a man who started an organization for people who liked the original and threatened to send a lawsuit. After only three months, New Coke was disbanded, and they went back to the old formula due to the growing backlash.
Alright, we all know that soda isn't "healthy" since it contains a lot of sugar and calories. What if I told you there was a soda that was kind of healthy? We have C2, a soda made in the 2000s to hop onto the trend of low-carb diet sodas. It was first released in 2002 in Japan and wouldn't be released in the United States until 2004.
C2 was described as having half the carbs, calories, and sugar of a normal Coke bottle. The sales weren't as good as expected and people weren't really big fans of it. There was also Coke Zero released around the same time. It was pulled off the shelves in 2007.
It turns out Tab was actually Coca-Cola's first diet soda and is still being sold today. Since the original was starting to lose sales, they decided to make a new flavor, like other sodas such as Diet Coke or Coke Zero. Tab Clear was a different variation of the original, with a clear color but the original flavor.
Now let me tell you something strange. Coca-Cola knew it wouldn't be successful (they were right), so they paired the drink with Pepsi Crystal. It caused sales to drop, and Pepsi Crystal was discontinued in 1993. Tab Clear ended a year later.
Sprite Remix decided to hop on the trend of being relatable to the youth of the era. Enter Sprite Remix, which jumped onto the DJ and Remix trend. They released it in 3 flavors: Tropical, Berryclear, and Aruba Jam. They were a series of colorless Sprite drinks with no caffeine, and also had some powder that could be poured into normal Sprite. The soda was discontinued in 2005.
It sounds awesome, but the way it's executed isn't so awesome.
Does fruit-flavored carbonated milk sound disgusting to you? Well, they did that one time. Meet Vio, a drink that somehow made it through in 2009 and was released to the public. Vio was released in a limited market and failed rapidly in the United States. Not surprising.
Apparently, it was given a second chance in India, but I don't think it did well there either. Just think about being given a drink at a birthday party and this is what you get. I'm not trying to hate on it, but how did it get a thumbs up from the executives?!
Back in the early 2010s, the diet fad was in a weird place with people wanting to avoid carbs and sugar. Like nobody was surprised, Coca-Cola decided to jump on this trend, and in 2014, released Coca-Cola Life. It looked like a normal Coke but was sweetened with natural sources.
People didn't like the way it was made, with its factor having an unsavory backstory, so it was discontinued in 2017.
I tried this before and didn't know it was discontinued until now! No wonder I don't see it on the shelves of supermarkets anymore.
During the time when energy drinks were becoming popular, this drink was released to be a contender. Vault was basically Coca-Cola's answer to Mountain Dew, a popular energy drink at the time. Was it an energy drink? Eh, oh well. Despite having some moderate success, it didn't make much of an impact in the world of energy drinks, and the drink was pulled six years after its original release in 2005.
Oh, I remember this drink! I saw it in stores and in some restaurants where I lived. I can't believe it's been so long since the plug was pulled on this. I feel old now...
If you want to do something important for marketing, try to grab the audience's attention. They did just that in 1993 by making a soda for Generation X. The reason for its name was that "OK" was the most used word in the world at the time. The person behind this marketing was the same guy who marketed New Coke, so it was destined to fail anyway.
Finally, it was very different from a normal bottle of Coca-Cola, with the outside looking a bit somber and having a note from "The OK Manifesto." It was met with negativity and flopped, disappearing in 1995.
Since Coca-Cola releases different products around the world, countries come up with all sorts of crazy things. In Italy, an exclusive drink made by Coca-Cola called Beverly was sold from 1969 to 2009. It is a non-alcoholic aperitif drink usually consumed before a meal to "stimulate the appetite." The drink received negativity for its very disgusting taste.
Despite that, it lasted for 40 years. If you ever want to taste it, you can go to the World of Coca-Cola Museum, where you can taste drinks that aren't sold in your country.