🔒 🧃 What Were They Drinking?! (Part 2 ++)
Secret Subscriber Only Edition to Part Two of 'Oops, We Made It Worse' (Part 2 of 7 Part Series)
Top of the Series: 🧯 Oops, We Made It Worse (Part 1)
Previous: 🧃 What Were They Drinking?! (Part 2)
🔒🧃 Welcome to the Secret Bar: For Subscribers Only
You found it. Tucked behind the soda fountain of corporate history lies this subscribers-only secret pour—a fizzy collection of insane beverage branding decisions that made it past focus groups, marketing VPs, and, somehow, common sense.
In this hidden chapter of Oops, We Made It Worse, we’re cracking open the stories of drinks that fizzled, flopped, and in some cases, fueled full-on chaos. From New Coke’s identity crisis to Four Loko’s blackouts in a can, this is your backroom pass to the most legendary beverage branding disasters ever bottled.
So grab a seat, pour something that won’t land you on a watchlist, and let’s toast to the marketers who said:
“You know what would really shake things up?”
🥤 New Coke: The Taste of Overconfidence (and Awkward Endorsements)
Tagline: When you replace an icon, maybe don’t have Bill Cosby vouch for it.
In 1985, Coca-Cola made what is now considered one of the most baffling decisions in corporate history: they killed their own best-seller. Not because it was failing. But because they were afraid Pepsi’s “taste test” marketing was working too well.
So they launched New Coke, a sweeter, smoother formula designed to beat Pepsi in lab conditions. And to help the public fall in love with it, they turned to the man America still (then) trusted: Bill Cosby.
Yes. That Bill Cosby.
Decked out in Coke’s signature red, Cosby appeared in TV spots assuring the country that the new formula was better than the original. That it was “smoother.” That it had “a better aftertaste.” That we should trust him.
🚨 Cue 1985 consumer response: pure meltdown.
😡 The Backlash Was Instant—and Wild
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