The Return of ‘Original Coke’

Allow me to preface this letter by stating that Coca-Cola is miserable stuff. Left standing in a glass for a few days, “The Real Thing” (Old or New) will disintegrate a tenpenny nail. Imagine what Coke can do to teeth and a stomach.

Coke’s qualities are not, however, the major concern of this letter. I am concerned with how the Coca-Cola Co. played the consuming public for dupes.

Unlike the picture of consumer victory painted by The Times editorial (July 12), “Glug!,” Coca-Cola was not “forced” by outraged consumers into reintroducing Old Coke. The creation of New Coke was not a “marketing disaster” for the company. Instead, it was a duplicitous marketing bonanza that generated untold amounts of free advertising and kept the word Coke high in public discourse for much of the last three months. No doubt, Coca-Cola got exactly what it wanted in the public outrage that followed the artificial shortage of Old Coke. The company had no intention of replacing Old Coke with New Coke. They had only to create a temporary scarcity of Old Coke in order to get that product back into consumers’ minds.

CARL FOOTE

Pasadena