Coke Cancels Global Warming-Themed Cans After Outcry & Confusion
- Posted on December 1, 2011 at 4:43pm by
Becket Adams
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Every year around this time, Coca-Cola spruces up its products with Christmas-themed imagery to create a little consumer excitement and–let’s be honest–cash in on the festive Christmas spirit.
Coke products roll out of the factory adorned with images of Santa Claus, snowflakes, Christmas tree ornaments, and/or the Coca-Cola polar bears (who have become a regular, albeit rather corny, staple of Coke’s seasonal marketing campaign).
However, this year Coke thought it would try something different. Instead of placing various Christmas-themed images all over Coca-Cola Classic products, they decided to recolor Coke Classic from red to white.
Why in the world would they do that? The red Coca-Cola Classic packaging is instantly recognizable all over the world. Why disrupt their successful branding?
Two words: global warming.
Coke’s “white can” ad campaign was initiated as a part of Coke’s joint effort with the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness for global warming and its “threat to the polar bears and their Arctic habitat,” writes the Wall Street Journal. Along with changing the Coca-Cola Classic cans from red to white, the company also pledged to contribute up to $3 million to conservation efforts.
In the words of Glenn Beck: “Bullcrap.” Watch Glenn’s take on the whole ordeal:
“The white can resonated with us because it was bold, attention-grabbing” and “reinforced” the campaign theme, says Scott Williamson, a spokesman for the beverage company. Coke’s marketing executives wanted a “disruptive” campaign to get consumers’ attention, he says.
Well, it certainly got consumer’s attention all right. It got it so much attention, in fact, that Coke decided to kill the campaign altogether.
“Our long national nightmare of coke cans looking different than usual has ended: Coca Cola has announced that it will scrap this year’s white holiday-designed cans, and return to ‘time-honored red’ next week. Why? ‘Sacrilege,’” Reports Gawker.
To put it simply, the people who buy and drink Coke hated the “white can” marketing campaign.
Why did customers hate it? Well, they did not dislike it so much for the fact that it attempted to mix political issues with Christmas (or is it the “holidays”?) but because:
1. Some consumers were confusing the packaging with Diet Coke’s extremely similar silver cans
2. Some customers swore that the drink tasted different when in a white can
3. Coke’s most ardent fans decried the change in color “blasphemous” (recall what happened in the 1985 when Coke thought it was a good idea to change the flavor of Coke Classic with New Coke?)
“Coke says it hasn’t tweaked the taste of its cola and that protecting polar bears is a worthwhile initiative,” reports the Journal.
“It recently added a ‘fact sheet’ on its website highlighting how white Coke cans are distinct from silver Diet Coke cans. Among the differences: Regular Coke is labeled ‘Coca-Cola’ and states the calories at the front of the can, while Diet Coke’s holiday can—silver as always—is labeled ‘Diet Coke’ and features snowflakes.” 
Ah, yes. Clearly different.
“If you put the cans side by side and blink, you might have to take a second look,” said Mr. Rice, who loaded his first Coke truck in 1945. “But I think there’s a distinct difference.”
Here’s a tip for Coca-Cola: don’t mess with a good thing.
(h/t Business Insider)
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Comments (141)
BannedByHuffpo
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:30pmWTF??? Somehow I got my Coors Silver Bullet confused with the X-mas Coke can. Didn’t matter after 4 of 5 though. hic!
Report Post »Scott Archer
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 6:51pmAdvertising is for the weak minded. A product should stand on its own. When companies start using the profit they get from me to support causes instead of their product, it’s time for me to stop contributing to their profits.
Report Post »toplengr
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 6:52pmMy kids dressed up their new cans with Sharpie’s: harpoons in mama bear and leg hold traps on the cubs. Lots of blood and a few **** sapien spear-chuckers. The cans were very, very red. Me, I prefer three fingers of Bushmills! WWF is the absolute worst of the worst post-human Envirotheists!
Report Post »chazman
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 7:05pm… there are not that many Liberal marxist’ out here in America, Coca Cola. You and the rest of corporate America are now well advised to remember that.
Report Post »Ethical Atheist
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 8:48pmThat was really funny!!
Report Post »BenInNY
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 9:23pm@toplengr “Lots of blood and a few **** sapien spear-chuckers.” It always amuses me what gets auto-censored on this site :)
Report Post »And I remember doing similar things as a kid, good times.
Quagaar Warrior
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 11:19pm~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Report Post »It still beats the heII out of the Obama/Pepsi look-alike logos.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
kcares
Posted on December 2, 2011 at 7:07amCute, I prefer Natural Like over Coors.
Report Post »ltb
Posted on December 2, 2011 at 12:02pm“Why did customers hate it? Well, they did not dislike it so much for the fact that it attempted to mix political issues with Christmas (or is it the “holidays”?) but because:
…2. Some customers swore that the drink tasted different when in a white can”
—–
There is no hope for this country if we don’t start regulating who is allowed into voting booths.
Report Post »VoteBushIn12
Posted on December 2, 2011 at 1:16pm@ltb
I agree!
Lets start with the people that think someone can be Socialist, Communist, AND Islamic at the same time. If you want me to get into why these are not possible just ask – I would be glad to educate you.
Report Post »TX_45_ACP
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:29pmI stopped drinking Coke and I feel so much better. Water never tasted so good.
Report Post »wheels
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:48pmLOL me too man, I LOVED coke forever & WAY too much but dropped em like a rock when this BS came out, I thought I was only doing a 1-man boycott, it appears I have some like-minded friends across this great nation :)
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 6:41pmI picked up a case of coke today, then set it back on the shelf cuz i thought it was diet…. Then picked it back up…. Coke cans should be RED !!!!
Report Post »Oh, God!
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 11:40pm@WHEELS: I’m with you. Heard Rush talking about this a couple of weeks ago. Stopped buying them just because of the BS of the campaign and Coke partnering with WWF. I have been going through withdrawals ever since.
Report Post »BloodSweatandTears
Posted on December 2, 2011 at 1:17amWhy are 19 thousand scientists against global warming? And the polar bear population as reported by hunters on the ground is going up, not down as reported by the scientists who fly in helicopters to count them…WWF traces to the British monarchy, George Bush’s thirteenth cousin. Their hand is in every pocket.
Report Post »BernieKittyCat
Posted on December 2, 2011 at 8:20amI sent a message to Coke that it would be Pepsi for me until they decided to stop supporting the WWF. Nice to know I wasn’t the only one offended.
Report Post »Fillup
Posted on December 2, 2011 at 9:50amCoke is lame. Pepsi‘s logo resembles Obama’s too much. Guess I’ll drink Shasta. Keep politics out of my products!!!
Report Post »Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:27pmIf Coke was THAT concerned over global warming,they would just fire every employees,shut down all production, and murder every Bio Unit..I Mean Person that works in their offices and Management to reduce their carbon footprint.
Report Post »REV19-11-16
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:32pmI agree! libs need to adhere to their own stupid morals and go all out. don’t use electricity or anything that supposedly harms the environment then you morons.
Report Post »Attila
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:24pmIf coke came out supporting Global warming I would never drink another coke in my Life.
Report Post »When a company producing flavored water starts to tell us how to live ,we are being Bamboozled.
rogue operator
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:44pmI bought a 2 liter of Coke today for the first time in years. The reason is quite ironic, I had a delivery order I had to get over $10 and I tacked a 2 liter on because I wanted to get one thing that didn’t cost very much. Now I read this and I wish I canceled my order. Global warming is a scam and I don’t want my money going to can artists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z6hvmWDYiCY
Report Post »Tofu
Posted on December 2, 2011 at 11:01pmIf you really think that by donating a portion of their proceeds to environmental causes, they are telling you how to live, you are most definitely being bamboozled. But not by Coca-Cola.
Report Post »NOT A CRAZY
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:23pmThe people were stupid enough to buy Obummer. The people are stupid enough to buy into the Global Warming Communist Scam. So, I can see how they would be stupid to figure out a Coke can.
Report Post »Coke is too stupid to figure out that people like me won’t even spend the money on their propoganda just to take it to the shooting range. Is Coke too stupid to understand that CO2 is a target of the EPA and the Commie Green movement or are they just useful idiots?
John Morton
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 6:56pmOh Golly Geeezz, what do you think makes the soda fizz anyway?
Water + CO2 = Carbonated Water
Report Post »TEXASGRANNY73
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 7:28pmRead the link I posted: read the speech, read the bio (dual citizenshipTurkey-US) president of Coke and their mission values. In the speech words “fundamentally change the world”. Read mission values 2010-2020.
Report Post »southerngal
Posted on December 2, 2011 at 8:55am2 liters of CO2 in every 12 oz can and they want to save us from global warming? Ask the next progressive which brand soda they like and ask them if they will stop drinking it to save humanity.
Report Post »nomark
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:21pmWhen I drink soda, I drink RC and always have. Not only do I prefer the taste (probably because I’ve been drinking it since they sponsored the 1969 Miracle Mets) but I don’t want to lose my choices. If you don’t support the 3rd party option, someday you’ll end up with really only one choice because two always seems to turn into one.
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:21pmWe’ll all be drinking “Dr Obama” if we don’t can his company.
Report Post »America First
Posted on December 2, 2011 at 1:00pmLove this comment!
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:20pmAs my next door neighbor’s 2 year old said;
Dummy, dummy poopoohead
I guess the Marketing Department forgot “New Coke”. Maybe the new Marketing Department will remember it.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:15pmI hate Political Correctness. Corporations that pander to The Left DO NOT GET my business! But I do love polar bears…..
Report Post »Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:29pmPolar bears are tasty?
Report Post »ROMANS 10-9
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:14pmCHRISTmas can????
I see the Islam one,
Report Post »but not the one for Christians
at CHRISTmas!!!
NOT A CRAZY
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:18pmThat does look like Mosque’s on the black one? Black can with Muslim Mosque’s….Hmmmmm.
Report Post »SerikFox
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:30pmSeriously? You’re attacking the can decorated with Christmas ornaments as an “islam can”?
Report Post »Tofu
Posted on December 2, 2011 at 11:10pmDude…it’s pop. It doesn’t have a religion.
Report Post »SerikFox
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:11pm1. Some consumers were confusing the packaging with Diet Coke’s extremely similar silver cans
I tasted diet coke for the first time in years because of this. There was one sitting right next to my can. Didn’t see the difference in time. I will forever hold that against the white can.
2. Some customers swore that the drink tasted different when in a white can
It totally does. It doesn’t taste anything like the normal cans. That was my biggest issue. If I hadn’t started drinking Coke when I was like 2, I’d be a pepsi drinker after this. As it is, I’m a Coke drinker with some mildly harsh criticisms of Coke. Only mildly because I love the stuff so much I really can’t get mad at it.
3. Coke’s most ardent fans decried the change in color “blasphemous” (recall what happened in the 1985 when Coke thought it was a good idea to change the flavor of Coke Classic with New Coke?)
You just can’t change the pure awesomeness of the red cans…. white can heretics.
Global warming is total crap…. but, I didn’t really care. I was too upset over the fact that the can got changed to white and that it tasted different then normal coke. I still don’t care about the gw part. It would take a lot to make me stop buying coke (say if they did what levi’s did. However, I did discover Ariat because of them – and Ariat is a billion times better.). I’m definitely a fan of Coke.
Report Post »followthelamb
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 12:43amYeah, I ingested a couple of ounces of Diet coke, too. Ughhh.
Coke is tha bomb. Diet Coke is as disgusting as every other diet drink I’ve had the misfortune to try.
Also, I can’t count the times I sat my Coke on the counter at work, then lost it because I was looking for the familiar red can. Seriously, I would look right past my open can and say, “Where did I put my Coke?”
I thought it tasted kinda weird in the white can, but I assume it was all in my head. Coke’s not dumb enough to change the formula again.
Report Post »ROMANS 10-9
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:09pmWhere is the CHRISTmas coke can????
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:16pmChrist was not born on Dec 25th. A Cristmas tree is of pagan origin. See Jer10:1-5
Report Post »NOT A CRAZY
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:25pmWhere is the can with the Nativity scene?
Report Post »Tofu
Posted on December 2, 2011 at 11:13pmWhere is Coke’s disappearing customer base?
Oh, wait. Perhaps they’d like to keep that.
Report Post »Sleazy Hippo
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:07pmOK, Brainiacs. Tell us why you became confused.
Report Post »REV19-11-16
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:06pmWe are done as a country if we can’t tell the difference between a regular coke can and a diet coke can. IT SAYS DIET ON IT!!!!
Does anyone know how difficult it is to get a Polar Bear license to hunt one?
Report Post »WhiteFang
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:09pmWhaat? They still hunt Polar Bears? Noooooooo……
Report Post »REV19-11-16
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:18pmI am sure eskimos do, but i want to too. They are being regulated now because supposedly their numbers are dwindling. So once we get that settled under the wonderful management of maybe the U.N. or our savior Obama maybe i can get a license then.
Report Post »Alky
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 7:06pm@REV19-11-16
Report Post »The Libs will tell you the Polar Bear numbers are dwindling and the ice is receding, but the exact opposite is true. But that’s the liberal for ya, they always say the exact opposite of whatever is true.
smackdown33
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:05pmThe days of political correctness are coming to a close.
Report Post »RightUnite
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:04pmWow! Sounds like there are a lot of Moochelle followers out there. Who care what anyone drinks or not? How about minding your own business?? If someone wants to kill themselves drinking this crap, let them.
Report Post »Mil Mom
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 6:54pmDid you ever look at a drop of coke under a microscope? I was telling my 13 yr old budding scientist what happened when my brother dropped a bolt into a bottle of coke and left it there for 2 days, so he made up a slide; NO ONE IN MY FAMILY HAS EVER DRANK IT SINCE!
Report Post »RightUnite
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 7:02pm@MIL MOM…. Funny…. I’ve never, ever, ever heard of anyone’s gut dissolving from drinking coke… Have you???
Report Post »THX-1138
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:04pmThey learned nothing from “New Coke”?
Report Post »creativeogre
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:01pmDoes anyone else see the irony in this… A can of CO2 laden sugar water wrapped with a global warming message?
Stopped drinking Coke when they changed the formula to high fructose corn syrup years ago.. still grab one of those glass cokes (Bottled in mexico) that is still based on the old formula.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:29pmWhy stop there? How about the fact that the “scientist” who claimed the polar bears were dying off thanks to global warming/climate change/global climate disruption/insert climate brand name here- Charles Monnett, an Anchorage-based scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE- was told that he was being put on leave, pending results of an investigation into “integrity issues.” Let me make that even simpler…Monnett LIED about the polar bears and he’s now under investigation for it. Coca Cola has an entire campaign based on one man’s proven lies. Unbloodybelievable!!!!
Report Post »SerikFox
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:32pmThe glass bottles are def the best. I drink the cans to though. It’d be really hard for them to lose my business.
Report Post »wolverine
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 4:59pmWhy do you think I buy 7up, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper, if somebody looked real close Coke is probably providing soft drinks to OWS
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:14pmIf we are guillable enough to buy bottled water…….Our society is being socially engineered.
Report Post »SerikFox
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:28pmAre you kidding? Coke is all about making money; they’re not going to give that away like that. The only reason they were looking into these white cans is because they thought it could bring them more than the $3mil they pledged to donate.
@Bomustgo You can’t drink the water out of the facet where I live. Yes, I buy bottled water. And you know what? I’ve gained a liking for the flavor of it. Specifically dasani. Even given clean water out of a facet I would still buy dasani to drink if I could afford it.
Report Post »Tom
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 4:58pmI‘m shocked they haven’t made a GREEN can for all the simpletons.
Report Post »Wyratt
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 4:58pmPolar Bear tags are still sold.. I wonder if they taste as rare as their population supposedly is..
Report Post »WhiteFang
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:12pmPeople; Do not buy Polar Bear tags. Okay?, Okay, thank you.
Report Post »TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 4:57pmYes, stop buying COKE and PEPSI…It’s a treat you should only have once every visit to a fast-food joint which should be 3x’s a year at most. Drink water, add a little lime or lemon–no sugar. Mmmmm!
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 4:55pmCola’s are not good for you at all. They have phosphoric acid which robs your bones of calcium.Liquid candy.
Report Post »SerikFox
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:01pmDelicious liquid candy. You can’t forget that first part.
Report Post »Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:32pmNext these Michelle Obama Lovers will tell us to give up beer!
Report Post »68Truthseeker
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 4:54pmNewt Gingrich : Obama’s Radical Ideology Will Be An Issue If I Am The GOP Nominee – 11/30/11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDHmguOpgY8
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 4:47pmSTOP buying this “crap”!
Report Post »msweeney
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:40pmDidn’t Coke learn its lesson back in the 80s about messing with the brand?!?!? Sheesh!
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