Coke's Winter Whiteout



"We're lost on an island, running from boars
and monsters...freakin' polar bears!" - Hurley


Winter 2011. Man walks into his local convenience store and heads to the coolers. He thirsts for a Diet Coke. He's watching his figure. He grabs the light can from the cooler shelf and walks to the checkout to pay and then out the door. He cracks the can in the car and after his first sip he realizes he's been duped. He bought a regular Coke.

How did this happen? Why did this happen? Coke can confusion was a serious issue for us "afficionados" this past winter due to a change in the color of regular Coke cans to all white. Why the change? Well, it was for a very good reason. Coke introduced new white polar bear cans in order to raise awareness for the species, which is a seasonal mascot for the company. Coke also donated $2 million to the World Wildlife Fund and matched consumer donations up to $1 million. A big kudos to Coke as I am a fan of both soda and animals.



Despite this great deed, blowback from loyal customers who were confused by the switch, buying regular Coke when they wanted diet, resulted in Coke quickly redesigning the can and reverting back to the traditional red, this time with white polar bears (instead of white with silver bears). For me, the whole can fiasco struck twice. On one visit, my first encounter with the white can, I looked up at the top shelf of the cooler and saw only what I considered diet cans. I grabbed a different soda instead. The second time, even knowing the existence of white regular cans, I walked into a store and reached for the slot next to the diet, thinking it was a white can, only to realize in the parking lot that it was diet. I couldn't help but laugh.

Did this happen to you? Don't be ashamed, comment below! If you want more info about Coca-Cola's efforts to help the polar bears, click here.