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Henriksson
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17 Jun 2009, 6:02 pm

Coca Cola is a carbonated beverage. Every day normal items like these aren't usually associated with the deeper meaning of life, but maybe it can tell us about how humans work.

Most importantly, it tells us something about the phrase 'common sense'.


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claire-333
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17 Jun 2009, 6:48 pm

I am not sure about common sense, but I remember the new coke thing. This article is going on about some subconscious attachment, which I guess could be true in part. However, the fact is when coke changed the flavor of their product to one that tasted like pepsi they ticked off all the people who were already drinking their product because they thought pepsi tasted like crap.



Henriksson
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17 Jun 2009, 6:53 pm

claire333 wrote:
I am not sure about common sense, but I remember the new coke thing. This article is going on about some subconscious attachment, which I guess could be true in part. However, the fact is when coke changed the flavor of their product to one that tasted like pepsi they ticked off all the people who were already drinking their product because they thought pepsi tasted like crap.

All the tasting tests that were performed happened to be done on subjects who didn't 'think pepsi tasted like crap'? I find that highly dubious.

What I think can be learnt is that humans don't like to change old habits, even though they will be better off for it, as well as the highly prejudiced nature of humans.


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claire-333
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17 Jun 2009, 7:03 pm

Henriksson wrote:
All the tasting tests that were performed happened to be done on subjects who didn't 'think pepsi tasted like crap'? I find that highly dubious.
I would wonder if they used people who already preferred coke for these taste tests. The pepsi challenge is what made pepsi popular during this time. It was a great marketing ploy, booths in every grocery store. I remember taking it a few times. If you picked coke you felt like you had failed the 'challenge'. :lol: Coke forgot about their loyal customers when they discontinued their original product. I was a sprite drinker myself.
Henriksson wrote:
What I think can be learnt is that humans don't like to change old habits, even though they will be better off for it, as well as the highly prejudiced nature of humans.
Well, I would have to give some credit to this. I am not very fond of change. I imagine pepsi would clean corrosion off a battery just as good as coke, so I am not sure about being better off...although I am sure that is not what you meant. :wink:



Henriksson
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17 Jun 2009, 7:09 pm

claire333 wrote:
Henriksson wrote:
All the tasting tests that were performed happened to be done on subjects who didn't 'think pepsi tasted like crap'? I find that highly dubious.
I would wonder if they used people who already preferred coke for these taste tests. The pepsi challenge is what made pepsi popular during this time. It was a great marketing ploy, booths in every grocery store. I remember taking it a few times. If you picked coke you felt like you had failed the 'challenge'. :lol: Coke forgot about their loyal customers when they discontinued their original product.

All right... I'm not going to challenge an old person like you about issues like that.

Quote:
I was a sprite drinker myself.

I cannot tell a lie; I'm addicted to Sprite.

Claire wrote:
Henriksson wrote:
What I think can be learnt is that humans don't like to change old habits, even though they will be better off for it, as well as the highly prejudiced nature of humans.
Well, I would have to give some credit to this. I am not very fond of change. I imagine pepsi would clean corrosion off a battery just as good as coke, so I am not sure about being better off...although I am sure that is not what you meant. :wink:

Maybe I'm a bit hypocritical about this, since I'm also quite unwilling to change habits many times...


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Last edited by Henriksson on 17 Jun 2009, 7:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

claire-333
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17 Jun 2009, 7:19 pm

Henriksson wrote:
All right... I'm not going to challenge an old person like you about issues like that.
:lol: I was just a kid at the time, so I may have just minunderstood the concept. I really thought the challenge was to see if you could pick which one was pepsi. Really though, it was quite the buzz topic at the time. Everyone was saying..Have you taken the pepsi challenge? Did you pick the pepsi? Those folks at pepsi were pretty crafty. It would seem they even convinced the people at coke that pepsi tasted better.



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17 Jun 2009, 8:11 pm

Henriksson wrote:
What I think can be learnt is that humans don't like to change old habits, even though they will be better off for it, as well as the highly prejudiced nature of humans.

I'm not sure that's the lesson I'd take away here. The flavor of the soda isn't that important at that point (indeed :eew:). The point is that human society and culture organizes itself around some thing; because people don't drink Coke for the flavor, they wouldn't be better off for it, they'd get used to it and I daresay scarcely taste it (in much the same way as Americans don't taste Budweiser :eew:). The social function of Coca-Cola has been dissociated from the act of enjoying a beverage.


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willa
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17 Jun 2009, 8:22 pm

I miss pepsi clear ='/


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pandd
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17 Jun 2009, 9:34 pm

Henriksson wrote:
l the people who were already drinking their product because they thought pepsi tasted like crap.
All the tasting tests that were performed happened to be done on subjects who didn't 'think pepsi tasted like crap'? I find that highly dubious.

I think I have read something about this before.
wikipeadia wrote:
In talks, and his book Blink, author Malcolm Gladwell relates his conversations with market researchers in the food industry who put most of the blame for the failure of New Coke on the flawed nature of taste tests. They claim most are subject to systematic biases.

Tests such as the Pepsi Challenge were what are called in the industry "sip tests", meaning that drinkers were given small samples (less than a can or bottle's worth) to try out. Gladwell contends that what people say they like in these tests may not reflect what they will actually buy to sit at home and drink over a week or so.[55] Carol Dollard, who once worked in new product development for Pepsi, told Gladwell, "I've seen many times where the sip test will give you one result and the home-use test will give you the exact opposite."[56] For example, although many consumers react positively to the sweeter taste of Pepsi when drinking it in small volumes, it may become unattractively sickly when drunk in quantity. Coke, on the other hand, may be more attractive for drinking in volume, precisely because it is less sweet. A more comprehensive testing regimen could possibly have revealed this, Gladwell's sources believe.



techstepgenr8tion
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17 Jun 2009, 10:23 pm

willa wrote:
I miss pepsi clear ='/


It could have been psychological on my part, I thought idea of it was neat but for whatever reason it always tasted like diet to me.