"pop" news and stories

If you had put money on the fact that Coke Zero would have fallen flat by now, as so many other remakes of favorite colas have in the past, there is a good chance that you would have lost your bet. Coca-Cola is planning to give the zero-calorie brand a big push this year to raise its profile and to try and make the brand a standard choice for cola drinkers ("[build] it into the next mega-brand," according to a company memo), not just an alternative to Coca Cola Classic.

The first part o the strategy is to sink a lot of money into the advertising budget. Coke is planning to spend $13 million on advertising during, and at, NCAA games alone, since its target audience is men up to age 45 or so who want a zero-calorie drink without the perceived girliness of Diet Coke. The company is also planning black packaging, football sponsorships and TV ads on "24" and MTV. To show exacty how serious they are about the brand, Coke is also actively recruiting restaurants to make Coke Zero a part of their soda fountain lineup. Wendy's and White Castle are two that have already agreed.

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This may be the oddest article I've posted here, but hear me out.

I was a Pepsi drinker for years and years and years. Nothing really against Coke, it's just that I thought that Pepsi tastes differently, better, than Coke, so I always got Pepsi. Then, about five or six years ago, when I switched to drinking diet soda, I started drinking Coke. I don't know why. I think one night I went to the store to get some Pepsi, they were out of Diet, so I sent with Diet Coke instead. And for the past several years, out of taste and habit, I've bought Diet Coke.

Now I find myself going back and forth between the two. Yeah, yeah, I know, in America you're supposed to be a "Pepsi person" or a "Coke person," just like you're supposed to be a "Mac person" or a "PC person." (For the record, I'm a Mac guy.) It's not that I find that they taste the same. They don't. They taste very different, but I've learned to like them both.

Which is my very longwinded way of asking this question: I've noticed that Pepsi bottles often get some sort of film inside the bottle. Either condensation or some other scientific process I'd probably know if I paid attention in 7th grade science class. But I've noticed that Coke never gets this.

Anyone know why?

Today, the American Beverage Association and its members agreed to voluntarily remove sugary sodas from public schools across the country. Companies including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Cadbury Schweppes are all members of the ABA. Public high schools that still permit diet sodas will still be able to buy them for their campuses, and they will also be sold drinks that are considered have some nutritional value, juice, sports drinks and low-fat milk, though whole milk will no longer be offered because of its calorie content. Elementary and middle schools will only be sold unsweetened juice, low-fat milk and water. Part of the reason that the soda companies have agreed to this deal, which was made in conjunction with the William J. Clinton Foundation, is that on-campus soda sales make up a very small percentage of their overall sales, not to mention that a voluntary withdrawal looks better, from a PR perspective, than being banned.

 

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That infamous snap, crackle and pop that Rice Krispies make comes from air escaping from the tiny puffed grains of rice, according to a brief article posted yesterday on LiveScience.com. When the rice grains are toasted at high temperatures, they expand, creating lots of little air-filled pockets. When the milk hits the cereal, it puts pressure on the puffed rice, thus forcing the air out. At least, that's the theory. Surprisingly, no one has ever actually funded a study. The cereal science buffs out there may also remember a post about why Cheerios floating in milk tend to cling to one another. LiveScience covered that one as well.

The popular "un-cola," 7-Up, is now one hundred percent natural. Cadbury Schweppes put the beverage through a slight reformulation to remove an artificial preservative in the drink. A spokesperson for the company said that they expect sales to increase once the ad campaign publicizing the change kicks off next month, as consumers are more interested than ever in healthy products. The TV spots will show cans of 7-Up as fruits and vegetables, being picked from trees or dug from the ground, but the company will not claim that the drink has any specific health benefits.

[Image USA Today]

 

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