I’ve gotten a LOT of e-mails about my coke rant, so I should offer up a small bit of clarification. First off, I don’t hate coke NEARLY as much as I shout about. I don’t like the taste of it, so that’s personal preference, but I’ll drink coke in a pinch if there’s no pepsi to be found. Or mountain dew. Or salt water. :) So while I said I hated coke, let’s just tone that down to “I hate the taste of coke, and don’t necessarily agree with their business practices, yet have no problem with the people who prefer coke over pepsi”. I think “hate” is shorter and more to the point, but either way. :)
Now, I KNOW that this size of can has been popular overseas for quite some time. A few years back, Adam went to the U.K., and brought me back a can of pepsi in the same size can. I’ve seen pictures of cans from Japan and the like in this shape for a long time now. That’s not where I take issue… the size of the can is immaterial to me. It’s the reasoning behind it. With the Pepsi can, it said in big-ass letters on the side, “Pepsi”. There was no doubt in my mind that it was simply pepsi, and nothing more. With this coke can, I was initially befuddled. I had to hunt for the actual Coke logo, as it doesn’t really have any. Because of this, the way it was packaged, it seemed VERY much to me like coke was trying to cash in on people thinking it was something it wasn’t. A few people who have e-mailed me thought perhaps it was concentrated Coke. Lots of people probably think this is coke’s stab at an energy drink – perhaps a more caffeinated coke, like Jolt. Basically, I figured they were betting on consumers being too stupid to know the difference. I’ve been e-mailed by a few store owners, and i’m told the cost per can of these new cokes are actually comparable to what it should be, i.e. they cost less than 12 oz. cans to the store owners. So that’s not the issue. It just feels sneaky to me.
And take a read at this, and you’ll get all the answers you need. I feel insulted by this kind of marketing.