Tab Clear and kamikaze marketing (1 Viewer)

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tomwaits

tomwaits

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Coca-Cola released a clear version of their "Tab" soda in 1992 after Pepsi had released Crystal Pepsi.
Did Coke release this drink to sabotage Crystal Pepsi?

The thinking is that the people would see Crystal Pepsi as a diet drink because it is competing with Tab, and diet drinks were not nearly as popular in the early 90's so Pepsi's investment on Crystal Pepsi would have been a waste of resources.

Can you think of any other examples of this type of product development?

www.mentalfloss.com

Fizzled Out: Why Coca-Cola Purposely Designed a Soft Drink to Fail

The company's Tab Clear wasn't supposed to compete with Crystal Pepsi in 1993. It was supposed to destroy them both.
www.mentalfloss.com www.mentalfloss.com
 
No i cant think of other examples, i just came here to say that even though I haven’t seen or tasted a regular Tab in over 30 years, i can still vividly recall the pink can it came in and, worse, i can easily recall the, ahem, “distinctive” flavor.. to me, it tasted like cancer in a can, if cancer had a gross aftertaste.
 
tomwaits said:
Coca-Cola released a clear version of their "Tab" soda in 1992 after Pepsi had released Crystal Pepsi.
Did Coke release this drink to sabotage Crystal Pepsi?

The thinking is that the people would see Crystal Pepsi as a diet drink because it is competing with Tab, and diet drinks were not nearly as popular in the early 90's so Pepsi's investment on Crystal Pepsi would have been a waste of resources.

Can you think of any other examples of this type of product development?

www.mentalfloss.com

Fizzled Out: Why Coca-Cola Purposely Designed a Soft Drink to Fail

The company's Tab Clear wasn't supposed to compete with Crystal Pepsi in 1993. It was supposed to destroy them both.
www.mentalfloss.com www.mentalfloss.com
Click to expand...
There was no need to kamikaze one with the other. Both sucked and would have died on their own.
 
Tab used saccharin as its sweetener.

saccharin causes cancer and is not allowed by the FDA since the 90’s

they knew it was dying so the killed it and took a competitor with it.

Corporate espionage and sabotage happens all day every day. There are thousands of examples in the US today but the easiest to bring up is patents. Tech that is innovative is squashed before it can affect the current leader in the market. Petrol burning vehicles are the best example as much better motors exist today than the archiac internal combustion.

I filed for a patent for my invention that my company had been making in 2014. I paid $25,000 to a patent attorney to expedite and usher my claim. One and a half years later I was told I was “approved” through the office and now was Patent Pending -needing the peer review of the PHIGS (patent holders in good standing) to complete the application. You never know who is reviewing, only that they are in your industry and their Corp hold a patent. You literally let them look up your skirt for free.

That was 5 years ago, and I have not received any update or timeline. My lawyer said that they aren’t reviewing anything right now, and they won’t even tell you where in the queue you are. Meanwhile I have seen facsimiles of my invention show up. One is being used by a large engineering firm as their answer to Covid clinics. I worked with their director in the past and he was aware of my design.
 
CoolBrees said:
Tab used saccharin as its sweetener.

saccharin causes cancer and is not allowed by the FDA since the 90’s

they knew it was dying so the killed it and took a competitor with it.

Corporate espionage and sabotage happens all day every day. There are thousands of examples in the US today but the easiest to bring up is patents. Tech that is innovative is squashed before it can affect the current leader in the market. Petrol burning vehicles are the best example as much better motors exist today than the archiac internal combustion.

I filed for a patent for my invention that my company had been making in 2014. I paid $25,000 to a patent attorney to expedite and usher my claim. One and a half years later I was told I was “approved” through the office and now was Patent Pending -needing the peer review of the PHIGS (patent holders in good standing) to complete the application. You never know who is reviewing, only that they are in your industry and their Corp hold a patent. You literally let them look up your skirt for free.

That was 5 years ago, and I have not received any update or timeline. My lawyer said that they aren’t reviewing anything right now, and they won’t even tell you where in the queue you are. Meanwhile I have seen facsimiles of my invention show up. One is being used by a large engineering firm as their answer to Covid clinics. I worked with their director in the past and he was aware of my design.
Click to expand...

It's calculated decision on their part... they believe you do not have the resources to pursue them. UNLESS, they've slightly modified their approach compared to yours and have determined the new version to be outside of the scope of your claims. You can look on USPTO.gov to see if they've filed anything 'recently' (>1yr).

Very good patents that strongly prohibit others from tweaking/copying are quite difficult to craft.
 
I had a great aunt that drank probably 20 Tabs a day. I would go collect her cans for money at the recycle. It was insane. She had cases all over the kitchen. she had a weight problem so I am guessing she thought it was healthy. Pretty sad in retrospect.
 
CoolBrees said:
Tab used saccharin as its sweetener.

saccharin causes cancer and is not allowed by the FDA since the 90’s

they knew it was dying so the killed it and took a competitor with it.

[Cut the rest that was all threadjack and a topic for another show]
Click to expand...

So Tab was not killed off and remarkably is still produced now. Tab clear is rumored to have been made, not to steal Pepsi's formula, but to make the public think, "All clear colas are diet, and I hate diet cola so I hate clear cola"
 
Zack Lee said:
I had a great aunt that drank probably 20 Tabs a day. I would go collect her cans for money at the recycle. It was insane. She had cases all over the kitchen. she had a weight problem so I am guessing she thought it was healthy. Pretty sad in retrospect.
Click to expand...




TaB was (is?) definitely an ‘aunt’ drink.. the only person i remember ever drinking it was my aunt, when i was really little back in the late 1970s/early 80s.. in fact, I’m pretty sure that , by law, you had to be someone’s aunt in order to purchase it.. i could be wrong.
 
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As a Type 1 diabetic for over 30 years, I've definitely had more than my fair share of Tab and regret every bit of it. I remember rejoicing in the release of Diet Coke when it came out (coincidentally, I can't stand Diet Coke now).

Then they changed Tab's composition to compete with Jolt Cola and everything went to hell a second time.
 
I didn't even know Crystal Tab was a thing, but as an 11 year old, I thought Crystal Pepsi was awesome. It was probably the commercial.



I think my parents bought it once.

As for Tab, I also had an aunt who drank it.
 
I loved crystal Pepsi

Don't remember Tab Clear at all

Cutthroat move though
 
This thread made me remember the Bill Parcels press conference where he said "no disrespect to the orientals" when talking about "Jap" plays.

 

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