Today in History: New Coke

On this day (April 23) in 1985, Coca Cola released New Coke—a public relations disaster that let Pepsi, at least for the time being, win the Cola Wars. (One commercial asked: “If Coca Cola is the real thing, why did they change it?”) I remember just how crazy it was. People were hoarding Coke in preparation for it disappearing, and despite all the hype it seems that nobody actually liked the new Coke. (How did the company manage to miss that little problem in their market testing?) I was a huge Coca Cola fan and I had to give up on the colas altogether for a while in favor of Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew. Fortunately, Coca Cola soon figured out their error and came out with Coca Cola Classic.