Diet Coke
From Freepedia
Image:Diet Coke.jpg Diet Coke is a sugar-free counterpart brand for Coca-Cola. In some countries the Diet Coke product is labeled Coca-Cola Light and is actually a different formulation. The product was introduced in the United States in July 1982, and was the first new brand since 1886 to use the Coca-Cola trademark. The product quickly overtook Tab, Coca-Cola's saccharin-sweetened product, in sales.
Initially sweetened with saccharin, Diet Coke was sweetened with aspartame as soon as it became available in the U.S., in 1983; however, to save money, this was originally in a blend with saccharin. After Diet Rite cola advertised its 100 percent use of aspartame, and the manufacturer of NutraSweet (then, G.D. Searle & Company) warned that the NutraSweet trademark would not be made available to a blend of sweeteners, Coca-Cola switched the formula to 100 percent NutraSweet, later switching back and doing without the NutraSweet trademark. Diet Coke from fountain dispensers still contains saccharin, however.
In other countries, where cyclamates were not banned, as they were in the U.S. and the United Kingdom in 1970, Diet Coke or Coca-Cola Light may be sweetened with a blend containing cyclamates, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium. Fans of the drink often express a strong preference for the continental European formula over the British-American version, as it tastes far closer to regular Coke. This is because the Diet Coke formula is based upon the New Coke formulation and Coca-Cola Light, now being sold in the U.S. as Coca-Cola Zero, is based on the Coca-Cola Classic formula. In Canada, however, Diet Coke uses a formula very close to its American counterpart, but with acesulfame potassium added.
Image:Dietcoke2005.jpg
In 2005, the company released a new formulation called "Diet Coke sweetened with Splenda". As indicated by the name, the sweetener Splenda (sucralose) replaces aspartame in this version.
According to the company's UK website as of 2004:
- Diet Coke is the third-largest brand at the company, and the fourth most-popular carbonated soft drink in the world;
- Diet Coke is sold in 149 countries; in 46 of them, where diet has undesirable connotations, it is known as Coca-Cola Light;
- The top five markets for the brand are the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Brazil.
Diet Coke does not utilize a modified form of the Coca-Cola recipe but is instead an entirely different formula. The controversial New Coke, introduced in 1985, used a version of the Diet Coke recipe that contained sugar and had a slightly different balance of ingredients. In 2004 Coca-Cola introduced Coca-Cola C2, which tastes much closer to Coca Cola but contains half the carbohydrates.
When Tab was released in 1963, the Coca-Cola Company refused to use the Coca-Cola brandname, fearing that its flagship brand might suffer by being used on another product, the long-term viability of which was uncertain. Its rival Pepsi had no such qualms, and after the long-term success of its sugar-free brand Diet Pepsi, launched in 1964, became clear, Coca-Cola decided to launch a new sugar-free brand under the Coca-Cola name to compete with Diet Pepsi. With the well-known name, it could be marketed more extensively than the more anonymously dubbed Tab.
Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi have capitalized on the markets of people who require low calorie regimens, such as diabetics and people with other health conditions, athletes, and people who want to lose weight. In the UK, a 330 ml can of Diet Coke contains around 1.3 calories (5 kilojoules) compared to 142 calories (595 kJ) for a regular can of Coca Cola.[1]
Variants
There have been several variants of Diet Coke:
- Diet Coke (the common kind) (1982)
- Caffeine-Free Diet Coke (1983)
- Diet Cherry Coke (1986)
- Diet Coke with Lemon (2001); in some countries, it's known as Coca-Cola Light Lemon.
- Diet Vanilla Coke (2002)
- Diet Coke with Lime (2004)
- Diet Coke Raspberry Flavour (currently only available in New Zealand).
- Diet Coke sweetened with Splenda (2005)
In Germany and nearby countries, the drink is referred to as "Cola Light", a usage the Coca-Cola Company has tried hard to discourage, as "cola" is a generic word that refers to any such drink; likewise, the company has fought a long battle against the use of "Cola" instead of "Coke". Commercials refer only to "Coke light" or "Coca-Cola light".
A new diet version of Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, sweetened with a blend of aspartame and acesulfame potassium, was released on June 13, 2005.
