In a bid to entice sugar spurning customers back into the soft drink fold, Coca-Cola is replacing Coke Zero with a completely new formula. The rebranded ‘Coca-Cola No Sugar’ purports to have a taste profile that’s nearly indistinguishable from the “real thing”. Here are the details.
Coke Zero, which launched back in 2006, will soon disappear from supermarket shelves to make way for a new cola product: Coca-Cola No Sugar. (We hate to think how much Coke’s marketing boffins were paid to come up with that one.) Like Coke Zero before it, Coca-Cola No Sugar uses the artificial sweetener Aspartame.
However, it purports to taste a lot more like regular Coke, as evidenced by the launch tagline: “Tastes More Like Coke, Looks More Like Coke.” If Coke’s marketing spiel can be believed, the new taste is the result of five years of experimentation and research.
“We think it’s the closest we have ever come to the classic taste of Coca-Cola,” Roberto Mercadé, President of Coca-Cola in Australia said.
Over the coming weeks, the company plans to give away more than two million free samples to Australians. Presumably, this will occur in high-density areas – so keep an eye out for shiny, happy people hocking cans of the stuff outside CBD train stations and the like. There will also be downloadable vouchers and voice-activated outdoor advertising panels during the freebie period.
Initially, Coke Zero will still be available to purchase alongside Coca-Cola No Sugar – but the plan is to quietly retire the former in the months to come. If you’re married to the taste of Coke Zero, we suggest you stock up now!
Coca-Cola No Sugar will be available nationwide from June 16. We’ll be running a comprehensive taste test later in the day. Watch this space!
Comments
25 responses to “Coke Zero Is Dead. Long Live ‘Coca-Cola No Sugar’”
Aspartame and Acesulphame potassium (Ace K) are still used as sweeteners instead of sugar. The only ingredient missing in Coke No Sugar, according to the label, is the preservative sodium benzoate.
I haven’t even clicked the link and I know this is a Simpsons joke, and I like you for it.
So its a case of same shit different channel. I am amazed that people havent sued Coke ove the toxic side effects of aspartame. Its really nasty stuff
There is no credible evidence that aspartame is dangerous or deadly in any form.
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/aspartame.html
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/the-truth-about-aspartame.aspx
You linked a 2 year old and 1 year old article. Aspartame was recently linked unquestionably to dementia. And is also now well know to cause weight gain.
Well, that’s brought out all the frightened folks.
Latest review of the quoted research says the evidence is weak:
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2017/04April/Pages/Reported-link-between-diet-drinks-and-dementia-and-stroke-is-weak.aspx
Get it?
Wasn’t that the entire sales pitch of Coke Zero when it launched to differentiate it from Diet Coke?
Yep. “Real Coca-Cola taste with zero calories”. Plus years of taste tests and tweaking the formula.
Feels like we’ve seen all this before. History is repeating itself.
Sugar-free Coca Cola is another fad as was butter, potatoes, bacon, Tang, french fries, oats, doughnuts and more in the past.
Sugar, in the forms of fructose, sucrose, glucose and lactose are found in most foods and drinks including wine, beer and spirits.
The human body needs sugar and singleing out Coca Cola as a poisonous concoction is ridiculous, even milk has sugar.
Diet Coka Cola with pizza, with burgers, with fish and chips, with other foods, with rum, with bourbon is pointless, drink normal Coca Cola, lots of the other processed food and drinks contain unhealthy ingredients, unlike sugar, a natural ingredient.
There is nothing natural about sugar at all. Soft drink with sugar is the largest source of sugar in diets and the largest single contributor to diabetes and all other sugar caused issues like heart disease and obesity.
Your body does not need a single bit of sugar or even carbs. Like your body does need fat and protein, it can’t make these, but your body is perfectly capable of either running on fat as an energy source (ketosis) or converting protein to glucose (gluconeogenesis).
Where do you even think you learnt these things? Have you even done the most basic research on how your body works?
1) Naturally occuring sugars such as fructose in fruit and lactose in milk are entirely different from processed sugars found in soft drinks and sweets.
2) While your body normally uses glucose, especially your brain, it is not required – it is quite possible to shift your body into consuming alternatives instead of sugars, such as ketones on a ketogenic (high fat, near zero carb/sugar)
3) The extreme quantities of sugar contained in a normal coca cola compared to a diet/sugarfree version is as bad or worse than oils and fats contained in burgers and fries etc (especially for diabetics).
This is hands down the dumbest comment i have ever heard.
I don’t drink Zero because it has no sugar, I drink it because I prefer the taste to regular Coke. This is terrible news for me 🙁
Yep same. Have drank coke zero since it came out. Really hope the new one is similar. The real coke makes my teeth feel weird for some reason.
Looking forward to run out specials of coke zero. Might stock up massively.
I concur. I like that the taste of Zero is less sweet than regular, and it’s also why I prefer it over Pepsi Max (which is super sweet).
enough diet coke can make people a little loopy
If it contains phenylalanine I won’t touch it, not just in drinks but in anything that has this chemical can cause mental retardation, brain damage, seizures and other problems in people with PKU. … The artificial sweetener aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet), which is added to many medications, diet foods and diet sodas, contains phenylalanine.
I’m the only person in my circle that actually liked Coke Life as the sweeteners used in that product are a natural product, so I always make sure if any medication has sweeteners in it that it is stevia based.
As I noted above, there is no credible evidence that aspartame has any dangerous or deadly side affects, in any form. While it may break down into various substances, there is still no evidence that ingestion from aspartame is likely to cause any problems. Anything that tells you otherwise is based on FUD.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-653-phenylalanine.aspx?activeingredientid=653&activeingredientname=phenylalanine
“L-phenylalanine is LIKELY SAFE for most people when consumed in amounts commonly found in foods.”
Aspartame is harmful to people with phenylketonuria (the “PKU” mentioned in the above post).
But that’s only for people with that true metabolic disorder (i.e. deficient phenylalanine hydroxylase). And they don’t just have to regulate their aspartame intake but also that of eggs, soy and many other foods.
To everyone else, it’s pretty much harmless. In fact it’s a valuable precursor for the body’s synthesis of dopamine and adrenaline.
And to be clear, PKU is a rare genetic disorder with an incidence rate among caucasians (the highest risk group) of 1 in 10000 births. So 0.01%.
And as you say, aspartame is the least of their issues.
Coke Zero also lessens the soporific effects of SSRIs (because of the caffeine, no doubt–didn’t know that about the dopamine and adrenaline; maybe that also plays a role), which I have found very helpful.
Lucky for you, if you don’t have PKU then phenylalanine will have zero effect on you whatsoever.
What about the other Zeros (Sprite Zero and Fanta Zero)? Hope they are not getting rid of them.
I actually like Coke Zero, 100 times more than the sickly sweet full sugar stuff. And now they will take it off the market for something that tastes more like baby sick green stuff?
What is it with Americans and their continued “new improved vomit flavour” fetish
Leave my god damned Coke Zero alone you heathens.
Does anyone else find the new “Zero Sugar” coca cola watery and grossly over-sweetened?
I guess the coca cola company has finally solved my coca cola (zero) addiction …..)