The Mysteries of History (April 23 Edition)
Inscrutable CEO
NOTE TO READERS: Thank you for your patience while I caught up on all the posts that were only shells (titles and images) as I was working on getting “The Secret Lives of Kids” out. All of those posts from March and early April have now been completed, so if you want to go back and read “the rest of the story” about any of the major events that had their anniversary within the last three weeks or so, tap or click the search icon (magnifying glass) above and enter a date, such as “April 4”
1985 — New CEO Sabotages Coca-Cola
Photo by Martie Bloem on Unsplash
“No one after drinking old Coke wants new, for he says, ‘The old is nice.’” — paraphrase of Luke 5:39
Forty years ago today, a know-it-all made one of the most boneheaded mistakes of all time. Fortunately, it wasn’t of any significant consequence; nevertheless, it was definitely of the “What in the world was he thinking?!?” variety:
The CEO of Coca-Cola decided to change the recipe of the company’s flagship product to make it taste more like its sickeningly-sweet competitor Pepsi. There already was a Pepsi available for consumers with undiscerning taste, and Coke-drinkers drank Coke because they (sagely) preferred it over Pepsi, so why imitate an inferior soft drink?
Nobody died as a result of this jaw-droppingly dumb decision, but still … the numbskull that made it not only didn’t get defenestrated, but he made off with $millions in pay for ruining the company’s main product, causing it to lose an untold amount of revenue.
In less than three months it was “out with the new, and in with the old” as the tried-and-true “Classic Coke” returned to the store shelves and people’s refrigerators and pantries.
BUT WAIT!
Was the switcheroo a clever ruse to get Coke quaffers “up in arms” and then make up for the lost sales during the “fake Pepsi” interim by enticing them to stock up on the rehabilitated Coke once the original (“Classic”) recipe was re-instated?
Questions: What is your favorite soft drink? What is your favorite Cola (if different from your first answer)? What is your favorite Root Beer (if different from your first answer)? What is your favorite BRAND (manufacturer) of soft drinks (Coca-Cole, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Henry Weinhard, Sprecher, …)
Read about “The Secret Lives of Kids” here.
