from the Martin-Seamus-"Marty"-McFly-Sr.-will-not-be-pleased dept.
Tab, Coca-Cola's Diet-Soda Pioneer and a '70s Icon, Is Going Away (Pay-walled; (archive link):
Coca-Cola Co. is canning Tab.
The soda giant's first diet cola was a pop-culture icon in the 1970s and early '80s, then faded after the launch of Diet Coke. Even after Tab's market share dwindled to almost nothing, the beverage company kept the brand going for decades to appease a fiercely devoted base known as Tabaholics.
But sentimental value doesn't go as far in 2020.
Coca-Cola said last month that it planned to slash its 500 brands by more than half, accelerating an ongoing culling effort in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The project is part of a restructuring that includes layoffs and a revamped marketing strategy. Already this year, the company has closed its Odwalla juice and smoothie business and has begun winding down its Zico coconut water.
(Score: 5, Funny) by krishnoid on Saturday October 17 2020, @04:50AM
Now what is that key on my keyboard [youtu.be] good for? A whole glass full of nothing, that's what.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @04:51AM
I'm old enough, but don't think I ever tried Tab. Not a big soft drinker anyway, and I was suspicious of artificial sweeteners from the start.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @04:54AM (1 child)
There is a free clone of the font used for the "Tab" logo. It's called Tabitha.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @02:27PM
Um, no.
Short version of the TaB logo story here (#2) https://beachpackagingdesign.com/boxvox/tag/typography [beachpackagingdesign.com]
and a fan page here https://web.archive.org/web/20071026045738/http://home.epix.net/~tjwagner/tab.html [archive.org] (seems to be gone now).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @05:04AM (14 children)
What the fuck is difference between, TAB, diet Coke, Coke Zero, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, etc.?
I just can't keep up.
You knuckleheads eating double cheeseburgers with bacon and chilli and cheese fries, but wash that down with jumbo diet coke because, well, you know, gotta watch your weight or something.
Just eat what you like and die when you gotta go.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @06:29AM
We didn't have virtue signaling back in the day. Girls used this shit instead.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by canopic jug on Saturday October 17 2020, @08:14AM (4 children)
That's about it. Tab is going away because Coca-cola has decided to stop marketing it and then as result of reduced markeing to stop producing it. They appear to be continuing to concetrate their marketing investments in the main product series. It make sense. With all the local bottlers shut down and eliminated by either Coke or Pepsi, there nothing left, especially flavorwise, to differentiate the different containers of colored sugar water except marketing. For marketing to work the money has to be concetrated on a single image.
With the regional flavors gone, there is nothing going for bottled, colored sugar water. Even if there were, the word is starting to get out about how unhealthy refined sugar is for the body. The sugar lobby has suppressed negative news [sciencealert.com] about sugars links to the formation of cancer and heart disease [businessinsider.in]. Then on top of that there are the recent developments with the job high-fructose corn syrup does on appetite and obesity [scientificamerican.com].
So it makes sense that Coca-cola will consolidate its product line. It faces a drastic reduction in market very soon and it may well come to pass shortly that colored sugar water investments will be consider stranded assets unless they start to ramp down slowly now.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Saturday October 17 2020, @10:00PM (3 children)
Yes.
But damn...REAL A&W rootbeer made with real sugar and real ingredients served in a frosted glass? Ahhhh... orgasm time.
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 18 2020, @12:51AM (1 child)
I miss their restaurants.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 19 2020, @01:22AM
I passed one twice today going to and from the river.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Sunday October 18 2020, @05:28AM
Yeah, I accidentially tasted a Tab once, but only once and didn't finish even the small glass of it. The artificial sweeteners have and leave a nasty taste in addition to whatever other characteristics they are missing. Same for the new formulas with corn syrup. The real drinks are all made with real sugar. Don't try a cuba libre with New Coke or any of the corn syrup variety.
But damn...REAL A&W rootbeer made with real sugar and real ingredients served in a frosted glass?
That was one of the best rootbeers, maybe the best. In contrast to what they sold in their restaurants, what the grocery stores sold in the cans labelled A&W was a rather nasty rootbeer-like fluid and pure disappointment. Part of it may have been the setting. Cars were rather comfortable, if also unsafe and having SUV-like fuel consumption, during A&W's time and you usually pulled into an A&W between or on the way from or to some summer fun so the mood was already set plus it was warm enough to keep the window(s) open comfortably so the tray(s) could hang. Heck, a lot of the time you had to roll the window up a little. The rootbeer was the chain's main selling point. You don't overstate how good it tasted on a hot day.
New car windows are not even the right shape to hang a tray and if you are still in the car more than a seond or two after the motor is off you are forcibly reminded how unpleasant and uncomfortable the new ones are. That is a big factor in the demise of all the drive-ins.
I've had some craft rootbeers at brew pubs since which were quite good, some were even excellent, but those are rather rare.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday October 17 2020, @11:51AM (2 children)
Tab had shitloads of caffeine and wouldn't rot your teeth or turn you into a diabetic by drinking too much of it. Some folks, many of them codemonkey types, grew to love the taste of it because of that and repeated exposure.
As for why anyone would get a diet coke instead of a regular coke with their fast food? Because high-fructose corn syrup fucking sucks. Both in taste and in what it does to your body.
Mind you, so do vegetable oils. That whole "saturated fats are bad" thing back in the day was the sugar companies actually paying the scientists to move the heat off of sugar. Turns out saturated fats are way better for you than unsaturated fats when nobody is paying off the folks doing the science. Who knew cooking your eggs in bacon grease like uid1 intended would turn out to be the healthy choice?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @02:37PM (1 child)
Back-in-the-day, TAB was a favorite of the MILF/Jazzercise types.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 18 2020, @03:53AM
That as well, yep.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @02:34PM
> What the fuck is difference between, TAB, diet Coke, Coke Zero, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, etc.?
Only the last two got free advertising from George Carlin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyBH5oNQOS0 [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @02:38PM (3 children)
And this has always been the purpose of the diet sodas (remember when they were actually called diet soda, every one of them).
It is to allow the uneducated to believe they are on a diet while allowing them to eat 10,000 calories per meal at the same time.
And why did the soda makers need this subterfuge? Because they discovered that one of the first items cut back upon when going on a diet was flavored sugar water. They couldn't have that happen (because, well, profit) so they dreamed up these diet sodas to allow the uneducated to think that "I'm on a diet, because I'm drinking diet soda".
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 18 2020, @03:58AM (2 children)
It ain't gonna lose them muchweight alone but if they cut the rest of the sugar out of their diet as well and change nothing else, they will lose weight. Especially the shitty sodas nowadays with HFCS instead of sugar. HFCS may be cheaper but they use it because it is chemically incapable of making your stomach feel full like regular old cane sugar does.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 18 2020, @03:47PM (1 child)
All very true. But esp. back in the days when the diet sodas were called diet it was easy to find far too many people doing this:
Saw it myself from a guy at work who should have known better (back when work was located near a McD within walking distance). He'd order a Quarter Pounder, a double cheese, a large fry, and a diet soda, five days a week, for his lunch. Then he'd complain at other times about how, try as he might, he just couldn't seem to lose weight (he was growing a nice pot-gut at the time). He never seemed to make the connection that ordering, and eating, 5,000+ calories of McD food, while saving 400 calories by ordering a "diet soda", was a large contributor to the pot-gut.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 19 2020, @01:20AM
Yeah, it looks silly. It's something I do every time I go out for a burger though. Except my order is a 1.5lb bacon cheese burger (No condiments. If your burger needs them to hide the flavor or keep them from being dry, I don't want your burger.) and tots. I won't be drinking a diet coke to save on calories, I'll be drinking it because I don't eat sugar at all unless it's in a rare occasion something that's totally worth it. Birthday cake, a chocolate bar when I'm really craving one, some baked goodie the neighbor lady made and shared with us, you get the idea.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday October 17 2020, @07:03AM (4 children)
Tab? Pfft. This pandemic has killed a lot more than a lame soft drink. Taco Bell has stopped offering their 7 layer burrito! And Chuck E. Cheese filed for bankruptcy.
When I emerge from my bunker, how many restaurant's corpses will I see littering the landscape?
Besides, I quit soft drinks 30 years ago.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @01:29PM
Too bad they weren’t smart enough to by pandemic insurance /s
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @04:02PM
That's because toilet paper got scarce and expensive.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday October 17 2020, @04:05PM
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Saturday October 17 2020, @04:22PM
Bean burrito, remove red sauce, make it supreme (gets you sour cream and tomatoes), add lettuce, add guac, add rice. Easiest is to order it through the app, and you can save it as a favorite.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @01:55PM (3 children)
til: coke has 500 brands. 499 of them i've never heard of.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @02:00PM (1 child)
This is the same as many of the beer brands. You might be surprised to find out how many "craft" beers are actually owned and produced by a major beer company like Anheuser-Busch.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @09:20PM
Most of them started as craft breweries. ABInbev, SABMiller, etc., have been snatching them up left and right. They play both sides by getting a piece of the craft market, which is growing at a healthy clip, and shitting on it from their big brand side [chicagotribune.com] as they're being non-pretentious.
It got confusing enough that, in the US at least, a seal was crated [brewersassociation.org] so that if you cared, you could tell the difference. Don't know if they use it outside the US.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday October 17 2020, @04:08PM
If you ever visit Atlanta, GA, take the Coke factory tour. It was about 20 years ago and I don't remember much of it, except the last room where you could sample various Coke products from around the world. There were many amazing flavors, based on fruits I'd never heard of, that were wonderful. Not sure why they don't offer them everywhere.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @01:56PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @02:05PM
Lou: You gonna order something, kid?
Marty McFly: Ah, yeah. Give me- Give me a Tab.
Lou: Tab? I can't give you a tab unless you order something.
Marty McFly: Right. Give me a Pepsi Free.
Lou: You want a Pepsi, pal, you're gonna pay for it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @02:30PM (4 children)
Coca-Cola's gonna go full-throttle retardo and begin selling nothing but seltzer.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @02:37PM (3 children)
And to suck up to the Prez, they will also sell Tonic with real quinine...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @07:11PM
No joke, see https://www.coca-cola.com.sg/brands/schweppes/schweppes-tonic-water [coca-cola.com.sg]
Coke owns the Schweppes brand (at least in some markets) and the ingredient list includes "Quinine added 67mg/litre".
Also, https://www.coca-colacompany.com/brands/schweppes [coca-colacompany.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 18 2020, @03:59AM (1 child)
All tonic water has quinine. If it doesn't it's not tonic water.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 18 2020, @04:36AM
Wiki suggests an easy test, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_water [wikipedia.org]
> The quinine in tonic water will fluoresce under ultraviolet light. In fact, the sensitivity of quinine to ultraviolet light is such that it will appear visibly fluorescent in direct sunlight against a dark background.
(Score: 3, Funny) by looorg on Saturday October 17 2020, @02:45PM (6 children)
Just wait a few years and they'll try and bring it back as Tab Classic!
(Score: 2) by Megahard on Saturday October 17 2020, @03:21PM (4 children)
Or it will be rebooted as Ctrl-Alt-Delete
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @04:12PM (3 children)
Na, it'll be called "8 Space".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @07:13PM (2 children)
Hey, no religious wars here please. Tabs are 4 spaces, full stop.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @09:07PM
Wordperfect used the fullstop as part of a tab too. Non-printing i thought.
(Score: 2) by srobert on Saturday October 17 2020, @11:25PM
In America there are no full stops, period! .. I mean period.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 17 2020, @04:41PM
First they'll try offering "New TAB" before they come out with "Classic TAB".
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday October 17 2020, @10:10PM
Try Cuke! It's heaven in a can!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 19 2020, @04:47PM
But they still sell Lime and Coconut caffeine free coke zero?
Even coke zero is apparently the same as diet coke, just marketed to a different microgroup.