Logo Temptation

[krpalmer]

By some accident of history I’d rather drink Coca-Cola than Pepsi. When I’m in a restaurant that only serves Pepsi-associated soft drinks, I choose something other than cola. I do know this is one more distinction with little meaning; I do once remember opening a can of Coke and a can of Pepsi and sampling both of them to impress on myself that there isn’t that much difference in flavour before I had to finish both of the cans, which was a lot of cola to drink.

I have found, though, that when I see a “retro” can of Pepsi that looks more or less like they did in the 1980s I’ve been tempted more than once to buy it. The way Pepsi can alter its trade dress while Coca-Cola relies on an impression of history does get my attention. It might have got my attention that much more when I was in the grocery store yesterday and I spotted Pepsi packages with new trade dress both current (an all-blue background) and old-fashioned (a logo restored to symmetry with the name in between the red and blue parts). I did hold back the thought of buying some at once, though.

Comments

[lovelyangel]

I've demonstrated that I can blind identify Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and RC Cola. (I don't know if RC Cola is even around anymore). I like Coke a lot; I don't like Pepsi, and RC Cola is OK. Oddly, I don't like Diet Coke at all and much prefer Diet Pepsi to that.

[krpalmer]

I haven't tried a blind taste test myself, although too-casual remarks how "it all tastes pretty much the same" might have to be weighed against having noticed that supermarkets around me now have "store brand" cola in both red and blue... I'm not sure I've ever seen RC Cola where I live. Tending to look for smaller-size cans these days is my minimal answer to not really trying the diet formulas, but I have sort of pondered how the black-label "zero sugar" variants now to be found fit in the middle there.