Coke in the News

I think Coke is out to get me. It looks like they've axed my two favorite flavors: C2 and Vanilla. I tried the black cherry vanilla, but it seemed barely distinguishable from cherry. Apparently they're out to get truckers too. The American Trucking Association is getting all sensitive about a Coke Super Bowl commercial. From an article in CNNMoney:

Truckers want Coca-Cola to slam the brakes on a planned Super Bowl ad for its Full Throttle energy drink. The American Trucking Associations has written a letter to Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO E. Neville Isdell urging that the ad be pulled or changed. Coke is the sponsor of the "Full Throttle Kick-Off Show" on ABC just before the Super Bowl, and the 60-second ad is the last one that will be shown on the broadcast. It includes the slogan "Let Your Man Out." But the trucking group says the ad reinforces what it says is an unfair negative image about truckers. A statement from ATA President and CEO Bill Graves says the ad shows a large truck full of Full Throttle forcing a small passenger car off the road. Trade publication Advertising Age says the ad also shows the Full Throttle truck tailgating and forcing a smaller vehicle -- adorned with the rival Red Bull logo -- off the main road. Graves' statement said the ad "will reinforce and help perpetuate a negative stereotype that the trucking industry and our professional drivers have fought long and hard to overcome."

And from an article in Fortune by Katrina Brooker called "How Pepsi outgunned Coke":

Pepsi beat Coke in December for the first time in their 108-year rivalry, surpassing its nemesis in market capitalization. The great irony of Pepsi's rise is this: It has never sold more soda than Coke, even today. "Pepsi's been on fire," notes Robert van Brugge, beverage analyst with Sanford Bernstein. Over the past five years its stock has risen more than a third, while Coke's has sunk 30 percent. "They were the first to recognize that the consumer was moving to noncarbonated products, and they innovated aggressively," observes Gary Hemphill of Beverage Marketing. PepsiCo embraced bottled water and sports drinks much earlier than its rival. Pepsi's Aquafina is the No. 1 water brand, with Coke's Dasani trailing; in sports drinks, Pepsi's Gatorade owns 80 percent of the market while Coke's Powerade has 15 percent. But Pepsi's strongest business lies outside drinks altogether. Over the past ten years, the Frito-Lay division -- which seems like it sells practically every chip in every store in the country -- has become a powerhouse, controlling 60 percent of the U.S. snack-food market. So strong is Pepsi in this arena, in fact, that many investors no longer judge it by how it stacks up against Coke.