Binary Cola

Tried a bottle of Coke Zero the other day. It's a diet version of Coke in a black bottle. I had to wonder why they bothered. If anything, it's worse than regular Diet Coke. I'm not sure, side by side, whether I could tell the diference between them.

Then today I tried a Pepsi One. This is a diet Pepsi sweetened with sucralose. Also in a black bottle. It's really pretty good.

The reason for Coke Zero is obvious now. People will taste the awful stuff, think Pepsi One is the same, and avoid it. Coke will torpedo Pepsi's better, new product. If it works, that is. I doubt it will.

It reminds me of how Chevrolet used to market pickup trucks. The mid-range Cheyenne and high-end Silverado had kind of ugly front ends-- I know, I owned one. It was a fine truck, but I never did like how the front end looked. Squinty headlights, about a foot long or more, and three or four inches high. Huge chrome eggcrate grill, in two pieces with a bar between. And so on.

The cheapest Chevy pickup actually looked better- a grille with fewer bars, normal headlights of approximately conventional proportions.

In other words, the cheapest Chevy looked just like a Ford. :D