New Coke, 35 years on: Inside the recipe tweak that sparked nationwide backlash and almost ruined Coca-Cola

It's been 35 years since Coca-Cola committed 'one of the most memorable marketing blunders ever' with launch of 'New Coke'

It's been 35 years since Coca-Cola released New Coke (Getty)

They say you cannot progress without change, but that lesson doesn't necessarily apply to products - especially if you’re in the beverage industry.

On 23 April 1985, Coca-Cola learned this the hard way when it committed what it admits was one of “the most memorable marketing blunders ever” when it launched a product that was met with near-instantaneous backlash.

The infamous error, which is still remembered 35 years later as a spectacular failure, was the release of “New Coke” - which saw the formula of what was and is still the most popular soda in the world changed for the first time in 99 years.

According to Coca-Cola, the launch of the product, which was pushed aside for the return of the original recipe just 79 days later, “spawned consumer angst the likes of which no business has ever seen”.

However, to fully understand the scope of the mistake, the soda company insists that one must first take into context the factors that “shaped the launch decision” - mainly its ongoing competition with Pepsi.

“In 1985, The Coca-Cola Company's share lead over its chief competitor, in its flagship market, with its flagship product, had been slowly slipping for 15 consecutive years,” the company explains in a section on its website dedicated to the New Coke mishap. “The cola category in general was lethargic. Consumer preference for Coca-Cola was dipping, as was consumer awareness.”

Two years before the release of New Coke, Pepsi had struck a deal with Michael Jackson for a $5m partnership. In 1984, likely due to the success of Jackson’s commercials, Pepsi reported $7.7bn in sales and an increase in market share, while Coca-Cola’s dropped.

In an effort to revive its position in the cola market, Coca-Cola decided to make a sweeter version of its beloved soda, which, according to 200,000 consumers who conducted taste tests at the time, was actually preferable.

But, what Coke failed to realise was “the bond consumers felt with their Coca-Cola,” according to the soft drink company. The overwhelming sweetness of the drink when consumed in large quantities has also been blamed for its failure.

Whether it was the sheer fact that they wanted the old flavour or that the new flavour was too sweet, the release of New Coke was met with widespread outrage across the United States.

“Calls flooded in not just to the 800-GET-COKE phone line, but to Coca-Cola offices across the United States,” the company recalls. “By June 1985, The Coca-Cola Company was getting 1,500 calls a day on its consumer hotline, compared with 400 a day before the taste change.

“People seemed to hold any Coca-Cola employee - from security officers at our headquarters building to their neighbours who worked for Coke - personally responsible for the change.”

When calling the company to complain proved futile, customers took their disapproval even further. One man, Gay Mullins, reportedly went as far as spending $30,000 of his own money and three weeks of his time attempting to force Coca-Cola to bring back its original recipe.

According to Mullins, the issue was not just the new taste, but that the company had done something “un-American” - taken away his “freedom of choice”.

“How can they do this? They were guarding a sacred trust!” he told a reporter for People at the time. “Coca-Cola has tied this drink to the very fabric of America - apple pie, baseball, the Statue of Liberty. And now they replace it with a new formula, and they tell us just to forget it.

“They have taken away my freedom of choice. It’s un-American!”

Others, according to Coca-Cola, hoarded bottles of the original, with one consumer from San Antonio, Texas, purchasing $1,000 worth of Coke from a local bottler.

On 11 July 1985, once the extent of the soda brand’s mistake had become evident, Coca-Cola relaunched the original recipe, rebranded as Coca-Cola Classic.

According to the beverage corporation, the news of the drink’s long-awaited return “made the front page of virtually every major newspaper”.

Despite the undeniable failure that was New Coke, the Coca-Cola Company prefers to view the 79-day blunder as “testimony to the power of taking intelligent risks, even when they don't quite work as intended”.

“We set out to change the dynamics of sugar colas in the United States, and we did exactly that - albeit not in the way we had planned," then-chairman and chief executive officer Roberto Goizueta said in 1995 at an event honouring the 10-year anniversary of New Coke.

New Coke was eventually removed from shelves altogether in the US. However, for those curious to taste the drink that made the brand risk it all, it is possible to purchase a Stranger Things collectors pack that includes two cans of New Coke on Amazon for $39.99.