A Taste Negation

<p><strong>APRIL 22: A Taste Negation&nbsp;</strong></p><p><em>Profile America </em>— Friday, April 22nd. On this date 37 years ago, executives at one of&nbsp;America’s and the world’s most famous consumer brands were expecting good news on&nbsp;the morrow about a new and improved product. After research, experimentation and&nbsp;extensive taste testing, a reformulated Coca-Cola was launched in 1985. The company&nbsp;was surprised by the negative, noisy consumer reaction, and New Coke became&nbsp;something of a synonym for product failure. The original Coca-Cola was rushed back to&nbsp;retailers by the summer. New Coke staggered on for a time alongside “the Real Thing,”&nbsp;but is no longer available in America. Five-hundred 88 American establishments engage&nbsp;in soft drink manufacturing, employing some 65,000 people in the $37.6 billion a year&nbsp;business. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online&nbsp;at <a href="https://www.census.gov/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.census.gov</a>.</p><h2>Sources:</h2><p><a href="https://www.history.com/news/the-new-coke-flop-30-years-ago" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">New Coke story, accessed 8/27/2021</a></p><p><a href="http://www.statista.com/statistics/225464/market-share-of-leading-soft-drink-companies-in-the-us-since-2004/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Recent market share, accessed 8/27/2021</a></p><p><a href="https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=312111&amp;tid=CBP2019.CB1900CBP" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Soft drink manufacturers and employment, County Business Patterns, NAICS 312111</a></p><p><a href="https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=312111&amp;tid=ASMAREA2017.AM1831BASIC01" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Receipts, Annual Survey of Manufacturers, NAICS 312111</a></p>