The Fascinating Conspiracy Behind The Origins Of 'New Coke'

In 1985, Coca-Cola lost out for the 15th consecutive year to rivals Pepsi in their respective flagship sugary sodas, according to Vox. Pepsi's formulation held a slight edge in sweetness over Coca-Cola, so in an attempt to claw back its market share, Coca-Cola introduced 'New Coke.' According to History, in the process of developing its artificially sweetened Diet Coke — which was introduced in 1982 — Coca-Cola had conducted top-secret taste tests, which found that "a sweeter version of the [Diet Coke] concoction beat not only Pepsi but the classic version of Coke."

And so it was that on April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola introduced New Coke, the sweet cola that had been reverse-engineered from Diet Coke. Roberto Goizueta, then chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, introduced the new soda by touting it as "smoother, rounder, yet bolder — a more harmonious flavor," (per History.) But in the court of public opinion, there was a simpler general review of New Coke: It was sweeter, and therefore more of a Pepsi clone, explains Groovy History. So why exactly did Coca-Cola change its formula, and why was it the success they hoped for?

Interestingly, the Diet Coke upon which New Coke was based likely was a factor in Coca-Cola's problems. Within a year of its 1982 introduction, Diet Coke was the top-selling diet soft drink in the country, and by 1984, it was the third-ranked soft drink overall in the United States, according to Coke Solutions, behind only regular Coke and Pepsi. The bad news for Coca-Cola was that the larger the pool of Diet Coke drinkers became, the fewer people were attracted to New Coke as it went head-to-head with Pepsi. Facing a massive public outcry for the original Coca-Cola, the company brought it back less than three months after introducing New Coke.

But that wasn't the end of the story. Incredulous that a company like Coca-Cola could so badly blunder through the rollout of a new soft drink, some wondered whether the company had purposefully botched things to boost sales of its original formula against Pepsi. However, Snopes.com, a fact-checking website, concluded the New Coke fiasco wasn't a convoluted attempt to get people to buy more of the well-loved original formula. Moreover, Donald Keough, the company's president at the time, said, "Some critics will say Coca-Cola made a marketing mistake. Some cynics will say that we planned the whole thing. The truth is we are not that dumb, and we are not that smart."