Coke is hurting. With heightened nutritional awareness, sales of Coca-Cola have been steadily dwindling in Canada, now, the soft drink guru is aiming to fix that—by slashing calories and sweetness, which is great news in a nation with a serious obesity epidemic.
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Consumer input is the driving force for the changed recipe, as more of us are opting for bottled waters and teas to quench our thirst. On shelves this week, the new and improved pop has 8 per cent fewer calories and less concentrated syrup.
For some unexplained reason, Canada's version of Coke was sweeter than that of lines distributed in other parts of the world. So we may not even notice the "subtle" difference in taste. However, it's still a gamble because the last thing Canadians want when they crack open up a can of Coke is for it to taste like a diluted cousin. They want that classic sugar-rot goodness flooding their mouth. They count on it.
While it's nice to see Coke making changes, the cynic in me questions whether they will make a jot of difference in the grand scheme of things. Going from 260 calories to 240 (for a 591ml bottle) is hardly a staggering drop. An earlier move saw cans shrinking from 355ml (140 calories) to 310ml (120 calories) and the 591 ml bottle down to 500 ml.
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Coke is still pop and, let's face it, it's never going to be the healthy option.
Some people will continue to guzzle it like they've been caught in the desert. Some will treat it as an occasional indulgence, and countless others will boycott it completely. I fall somewhere in the middle. While I like the idea of having small cans on hand to use as a mixers, it wouldn't be a bad thing if that liquid crack never passed my son's lips.
Are Coke's days as a powerhouse brand numbered?
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