When Will Coke Learn - Don't Mess with The Real Thing

      Coca Cola is recalling it's special holiday cans.  Have you seen them?  They are white and silver and have polar bears on them.  It probably seemed like a new idea.  Someone in marketing was probably trying to find a new way to breath some life into Coca Cola sales.  Why didn't they just stick with the traditional ones that had Santa smiling and a coke in his hand?  But they wanted to do something different.  I wonder if during all the test marketing there wasn't some executive within the company or just an employee who thought - hey those cans look a lot like the diet coke cans.

   But Coca Cola unveiled the newly designed Coke cans and there was an immediate uproar from the public.  It seems diet coke fans mistakenly bought regular coke because the cans looked so similar.  So now Coca Cola has got some negative publicity over it.  You have to wonder if any publicity is good publicity.  At least Coca Cola is getting its name and product in the news during the holiday season.  It's free advertising even if the news stories don't paint executives and marketing executives at the company as too bright.

   I have to wonder why Coca Cola bothers messing with The Real Thing.  I mean come on-- don't we all love the old holiday commercial where the folks join hands and sing - I'd like to buy the world a Coke"?  Don't we love the polar bears sliding on ice this time of year?  We don't need the polar bears on our cans of Coke.  We who love the regular Coke - just want to keep our Coke the same.  We hated the "new Coke" and we all remember what a fiasco that was.  What Coca Cola does not seem to understand about its die hard regular Coke drinkers is -- we are somewhat nostalgic.  We love tradition.  We don't like a lot of change.  We want The Real Thing to just remain the same.  We love our red and white cans.  We love the sugary, carbonated drink that goes down so smoothly on a hot Georgia summer day.   I love the way it mixes with my Jim Beam during the holiday season.   I love the traditional Coca Cola commercials during this holiday season.  So Coca Cola don't give me some new fancy white and silver can with a polar bear on it.  I have nothing against polar bears -- but just keep my regular coke formula the same and keep serving it to me in those lovely red and white cans.  Don't mess with success.   Why do those folks at Coca Cola still think they need to change what's been a staple of the company from day one?  Can't we just stick with the old philosophy of - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Stop trying to "fix" regular Coke.  It's just fine the way it is and your devoted fans would love it if you would just leave it be.