May 25, 2004
Mid-Calorie Soda

The full force of Coke and Pepsi are being brought to bear on the idea of a "mid-calorie" cola:

On Tuesday, ads featuring the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" can be seen during the finals of Fox Television's "American Idol."

Apparently, I can't get what I want (or what I need for that matter) since Coke C2 will contain:

... 68 calories and 18 grams of carbohydrates, compared with 150 calories and 41 grams of carbohydrates with original Coke, according to company figures.

Even worse than 18 grams of carbohydrate (it's ludicrous to think people will opt for this instead of diet) is the fact that C2 will still contain Aspartame. Pepsi's product will contain high-fructose corn syrup, Acesulfame Potassium (Sunett) and Sucralose (Splenda). C2 will contain those things as well as Aspartame.

Aspartame, to me, doesn't taste like sugar, and worse yet, it makes me feel like my throat is on fire. As you might imagine, this is not the feeling I'm looking for in a cold carbonated beverage. In addition to my personal issues with Aspartame, anyone who's read Dr. Atkin's book (millions of people, based on sales) has been told that he recommends against Aspartame. Until his book came out, sales of Diet Rite were basically stagnant. It was practically a dead brand. With the attention the diet has shone on Sucralose, it now has triple the shelf space in my local grocery store (they carry the cola, tangerine, white grape and red raspberry flavors. oh, how I wish they carried black cherry and that Diet Rite hadn't discontinued the grapefruit flavor).

Since I find that Diet Rite tastes like Pepsi (gasp!), I tasted every cola offering I could find that contains Splenda. I settled on this:

It tastes more like Coke than Pepsi. I find that Pepsi lacks bite, and this soda does not. I also don't care for the particular bubbles in Pepsi, and I think these are more amenable to my requirements. Best of all, this soda costs $2 a 12-pack because this is the Dollar General store house brand.

I am Coke's dream consumer, if only they could manage to offer me something that didn't taste like ass and didn't have any calories. I hate Pepsi. I think Coke is superior in taste and in image. Yes, that's right, I think Pepsi is lower than Coke. I can't explain why I've gotten that impression, but I do have that impression, and frankly, it's a Coke marketer's dream. When I was willing to drink sugared beverages (I don't do that any more except on special occasions. My favorite venue for Coke consumption is, of course, the fountain at McDonald's. It's always calibrated right), I would choose to not consume one if the only cola available were Pepsi.

I'm not sure whether Pepsi and Coke just don't get it or whether they are encumbered by their contracts with the Nutrasweet folks. Perhaps they can't offer a zero calorie soda that doesn't contain Aspartame. I have no idea why they think this half-assed measure is a good idea. The PR-ish articles referenced here seem to indicate that even if the brand doesn't work out, it's an opportunity to have a huge advertizing blitz, and that is always a good investment. I'm not sure I agree with that, since it might cause confusion in the future. Of course, if they just decide to change their diet sodas to Sunett and Sucralose and drop the Aspartame altogether, that money will not have been entirely wasted.

Articles referenced for this blog include today's Washington Post and today's Chicago Tribune. Some of the information was gleaned from a table that appeared in the print version of the Post. This is not available online.

Posted by nicole at 12:37 PM