Soda tends to be a fairly non-controversial topic, but on this day in 1985, the Coca-Cola company turned the entire carbonated beverages world on its ear when it debuted New Coke. Facing growing market competition, an expanding menu of options and the surge of Pepsi, Coke decided to reinvent its formula — one that it had been using for decades. New Coke (which actually didn't have an official name until the tail end of its run, when it was called Coke II for a brief time) was a slightly less carbonated, infinitely sweeter version of the old Coke. In fact, it tasted quite familiar to any regular soda drinkers out there.
It tasted almost exactly like Pepsi.
Never in the history of business marketing has the number one product rejiggered itself so that it could be more like the number two product. It was a staggering decision, though one that initially seemed like it would pay off. Early market testing was positive, though a backlash quickly replaced any sort of positive feelings people had about Coke. Apparently, people were quite attached to the old Coke flavor — especially people in the South, who felt Coke was a part of regional identity (not surprising, considering Coke was born in Atlanta). Since it was the pre-Internet era, the uprising was organic, as Coca-Cola fielded hundreds of thousands of angry phone calls and had to deal with letter-writing campaigns and even a handful of makeshift PR groups angling to get them to change back the formula.
And just like the "Betty White on 'SNL'" campaign, the angry mob got their wish. Only three months after the introduction of New Coke, the company announced the creation of Coca-Cola Classic, which reverted to the old formula and quickly became the best-selling soda on the market. Coke II stuck around for a few more years as a secondary product but was ultimately phased out by 1993. It joins the pantheon of high-profile failed soda experiments like Crystal Pepsi (a "clear cola" that was actually just birch beer), Pepsi A.M. (an extra-caffeinated version of the soda meant to be consumed in the morning instead of coffee), Surge (an "extreme soda" that probably arrived a few years ahead of its time) and 7-Up Gold (a bizarre apple-cinnamon flavored drink that was truly miserable). In a roundabout way, New Coke ended up breathing new life into the Coke brand by facilitating the introduction of Coca-Cola Classic (which is why the conspiracy theory is that New Coke was just an elaborate marketing ploy that was designed to fail), which is why we present Damageplan's "Breathing New Life."