The Coca-Cola Company, despite their signature product Coca-Cola Classic, whose flavor is well-received around the world, did not stop being trendy and creative with their beverages. Following the global on-going trend of minimalizing sugar intake, Coca-Cola was called out as one of the culprits behind obesity. As it contains massive amount of sweetener, Coca-Cola was proven to result in blood sugar spike in consumers, making them crave for more sweets after the drink. Facing the new healthy-living market, Coca-Cola released three new brands of Coke: Coke Diet and/or Coca-Cola Light (1982), and Coca-Cola Zero (2005).
Notice that ‘and/or’ was used when we mentioned Coke Diet and Coca-Cola Light. As cited from the official Diet Coke wiki, Coke Diet is essentially the exact same product as Coca-Cola Light – the Coca-Cola experience without any sugar, with a different label. The reason behind such naming scheme was answered by Dan Stifter, former Brand Director at Coca-Cola (1994-2000) as followed: Outside of the U.S (and perhaps the U.K), the word ‘diet’ (at the time) had a rather negative connotation. People associated ‘diet’ with being fat, so it was believed naming the drink Diet Coke would not sell. In many European and Asian countries, the drink is branded Coca-Cola Light.
However, there is one small issue that has not been resolved among the Coca-Cola fandom. A lot of Coke consumers noticed that Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Light have completely different flavor. Some would defend their favorite sugar-free Coke as the better of the two, and others would go as far as ordering imported Coke, provided that there is no local supplier. Such phenomenon has a lot to do with the recipe. While the Coke flavor mix is the same, a wide variety of sweeteners are used in different regions. The original Diet Coke used to have aspartame mixed with saccharin, before the company switched to 100% aspartame in their beverage. Outside of the U.S, the sweetener mix also contains cyclamates and acesulfame potassium, such as in France or Germany. In further areas, the mix is, quoted, “is formulated for each country based on consumer preference”.
The market got even more diverse when Coca-Cola introduced Coca-Cola Zero (which was then renamed Coca-Cola Zero Sugar in 2017). Tossed around the Internet are two equally plausible explanations. There are sources that claim the new drink is just a new marketing movement from Coca-Cola, advertising a zero-sugar Coke to men. Since men often associate ‘diet’ and ‘light’ with women’s products, Coca-Cola Zero became a much more preferable name with its black outlook instead of bright silver.
However, the ingredient lists on these two products may tell a different story. While other ingredients are exactly the same in volume, there are two of them that are missing from Coca-Cola Zero: potassium citrate and acesulfame potassium. This led to another group of people who insist that Coca-Cola Zero has a different flavor profile compared to Diet Coke. What’s even more interesting is how people believe the naming scheme has something to do with all of this. According to these Cocaholics, Diet Coke is mixed using the same recipe as the ‘New’ Coke, which was a commercial failure on behalf of Coca-Cola. While the New Coke eventually died out, the Diet Coke has still been popular among Coke drinkers. On the other hand, Coca-Cola Zero is produced using the classing recipe, intended to taste more like standard Coca-Cola while emphasizing the lack of sugar content.
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