Coke’s new fizzy milk seems sure to fizzle
| July 27, 2009 | 11:28 AM
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When I was a kid, I really, really liked Laverne & Shirley. Two independent gals just trying to make it after all. And that Squiggy — hilarious!
What I couldn’t understand, though, was Laverne’s fascination with milk and Pepsi, her signature drink. This sounds absolutely nasty and, for some reason, reminds me of when soda accidentally goes up the back of your throat and into your nose . . . yikes!
Coca-Cola, however, wants to put a similar concoction in a store near you. Coke is test-marketing fizzy milk drinks in New York under the brand name Vio. The ingredients: skim milk, carbonated water, fruit and sugar. It’s available in four flavors — Tropical Colada, Citrus Burst, Peach Mango and Very Berry.
Insert your own New Coke joke here. Go ahead — I’ll wait. . . . Good one!
Billed as “the world’s first vibrancy drink,” Vio’s other marketing taglines include “It kinda tastes like a birthday party for a polar bear” and “It kinda tastes like it should be wrong, but it’s oh so right.” Yeah. Makes me want to run right out and buy it, too.
Health-wise, the drink’s touted nutritrion value (calcium, vitamin C, “no artificial flavors”) is negated by its sugar content, which is roughly the same as a regular Coke soda.
Carbonated milk drinks are popular in Asian markets, so Coke seems to be trying to bring a little of that cash cow to the West. Some also have speculated that Vio might be a way for Coke to get back into schools that have banned soft drinks.
But I’m not really sure it will fly here in the U.S. Especially because the drinks don’t need to be chilled. The concept of milk and soda is strange enough, but ROOM TEMPERATURE milk and soda? Eek.
I don’t think you hit it out of the park this time, Coke.
Business, Cindy House, Journals
coca-cola, milk, pepsi, soda, vio
