Episode
Business Blooper: New Coke: The Blunder That Was Maybe Intentional?
- Podcast
- bsnsHistory
- Published
- Jul 3, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1290
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.bsnsDailypodcasts.com
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Summary
Some business mistakes are famous. This one is famous and still unresolved forty years later. On April 23, 1985, The Coca-Cola Company announced it was replacing its 99-year-old formula with a sweeter, reformulated version that had beaten both original Coke and Pepsi in nearly 200,000 blind taste tests. The public reaction was immediate and volcanic. Complaint calls flooded Coca-Cola's Atlanta headquarters at 8,000 per day. Forty thousand letters arrived. Cases of original Coke were hoarded and sold at a premium. Within 79 days, Coca-Cola reversed course, brought back the original formula as Coca-Cola Classic, and watched it surge back to the top of the sugar cola market. The word Classic then appeared on every Coca-Cola can and bottle sold in America for the next 24 years. Most people agree on what happened. The why has never been officially settled, and in this episode of bsnsBloopers, we lay out everything and let you decide. bsnsBloopers is part of the bsnsDAILYpodcasts lineup from bsnsBasics, hosted by Ron Trucks. Find more at www.bsnsDAILYpodcasts.com