ah, the New Coke Gambit

Ah New Coke… Oddly I liked new coke better. My most 80s possession is a new coke can with max headroom on it.

They had both new and “classic” for a while co existing.

> Oddly I liked new coke better.

Fun fact: so did most focus groups and (I think?) blind taste tests when it was just presented as a new drink, but they tended to be horrified by the idea of it actually replacing classic Coke. The problem with that switch was mostly psychological / cultural, not chemical.

Also, Diet Coke, which remains quite popular, is still based on the New Coke formula except with the sweetener swapped out. The no-calorie version of classic Coke is Coke Zero. The Coca-Cola Company has been working to increase Coke Zero's popularity, and it is now much more popular than it used to be, but I think Diet Coke continues to be more popular than Coke Zero even now.

> The Coca-Cola Company has been working to increase Coke Zero's popularity, and it is now much more popular than it used to be, but I think Diet Coke continues to be more popular than Coke Zero even now.

This might be a per-country thing -- Coke Zero has always been more popular in Australia ever since it came out (it can be hard to find Diet Coke in vending machines and for single-bottle sales here). Of course, Coke (and Pepsi) can taste different in different countries but I would say the Aussie one tastes pretty similar to the American one.

ahhh, Max Headroom. Classic memory

reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_signal_hijacking