Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, also called Coke Zero Sugar, is a diet cola produced by The Coca-Cola Company.^[1] In some countries it is sold as Coca-Cola No Sugar.^[2]

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar replaced an earlier drink, known as Coca-Cola Zero and Coke Zero, which was similarly a no-calorie cola.^[3] Many fans of Coke Zero were furious about the change.^[4][5][6]

History

Coca-Cola Zero was Coca-Cola's largest product launch in 22 years. The global campaign was done by creative agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.^[7] It was marketed as having a taste that is indistinguishable from standard Coca-Cola, as opposed to Diet Coke, which has a different flavor profile.^[8][9]

2017 reformulation

In 2017, despite increasing sales in the United States, the Coca-Cola Company announced that Coca-Cola Zero would be replaced by Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, intended to taste more like standard Coca-Cola.^[10][11][12] Coca-Cola Zero Sugar was first tested in the United Kingdom in June 2016, with plans to roll it out in other countries in the following months.^[13][14][11] Many fans of Coke Zero were outraged and discouraged about the new flavor.^[15][6][4] The Washington Post noted Coke Zero is very popular, and that fans compared the change to the launch of New Coke in 1985.^[5] In Australia, it was launched as "Coca-Cola No Sugar" in 2017 but has had trouble gaining acceptance.^[16]

Logo

The original Coca-Cola Zero logo generally featured the Coca-Cola logo in red script with white trim, with the word "zero" underneath in lower case in the geometric typeface Avenir (or a customized version of it). These words appeared on a black background. Some details varied from country to country. Later packagings swapped the colors of the "Coca-Cola" script and "Zero", leaving the former in white and the latter in red.

The Coca-Cola Zero Sugar logo features the Coca-Cola logo in white script, with the words "zero sugar" in black underneath. The word "zero" is in lower case in the geometric typeface Avenir (or a customized version of it); the word "sugar" is in upper case. These words appear in a red disc on a black background.

Ingredients

All versions of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar sold in various countries are based on the same flavoring formula, and all are carbonated. One liter of Coca-Cola Zero contains 96 mg caffeine.^[17] Additionally, artificial sweeteners are used. In the U.S., this includes aspartame and acesulfame potassium.^[18] However, the exact combination of sweeteners and preservatives used varies from market to market.

Sweeteners and health concerns

Sodium cyclamate, a relatively inexpensive artificial sweetener banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 1969 and once believed to be a carcinogen, has been used in the Coca-Cola Zero versions produced in Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Venezuela, Chile, and some Central American countries. It was used for a time in Mexico, before a consumer campaign led to its removal from the drink in 2008.^[19] In June 2009, Venezuela ordered Coca-Cola to withdraw its Coca-Cola Zero product, as it contained more than the legal levels of sodium cyclamate.^[19]

Marketing

Coke Zero was originally specifically marketed to men, who are shown to associate "diet" drinks with women.^[20] It was primarily marketed towards young adult males^[21][22] and it has been nicknamed "Bloke Coke" in the UK.^[7] In the U.S., advertising has been tailored to its targeted market by describing the drink as "calorie-free" rather than "diet", since young adult males are said to associate diet drinks with women.^[22] U.S. marketing also emphasized its similarity in taste to sugared Coca-Cola; an advertising campaign for the beverage focused on Coca-Cola executives who were so angry over the drinks' similarities, they were considering suing their co-workers for "taste infringement".^[22] Continuing the theme, a Coca-Cola Zero ad aired during Super Bowl XLIII parodied Coke's iconic "Hey Kid, Catch!" commercial, which is interrupted by two Coca-Cola "brand managers" accusing Troy Polamalu of "stealing" their commercial.^[23][24]

In Australia, the product's launch was promoted by a fake front group; the campaign included outdoor graffiti and online spamming that mentioned a fake blog.^[25][26] Once exposed, consumer advocates assailed the campaign as misleading and established the Zero Coke Movement^[27] to comment on the ethics of Coke's activities.^[28]

Coca-Cola Zero sponsors Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway in July, and also the Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan, a motorcycle endurance race.^[29]

In 2013, Coca-Cola swapped the logo on Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero bottles and cans in many European countries with 150 of the most popular local names for a summer-long "Share a Coke" campaign.^[30] The same campaign was used in North America the following summer.

For Christmas 2013, Coke Zero launched an interactive website that allowed people to customize the designs of their Christmas sweater,^[31] which have a significant role in United Kingdom Christmas traditions.^[32] On the website, people could detail the cut, pattern, and icons for their sweater, ^[33] and join a popularity contest.^[34] Users could choose from Christmas trees and Santa’s head, to reindeer, sleighs, and turkeys.^[35] This initiative was tied to a social media campaign,^[36] where the top 100 sweater designs with the most votes were manufactured and shipped to the contest winners.^[37] According to the Coca-Cola Company, the website generated nearly 42,000 sweater designs in its first four days.^[38]

Variants

• A US can of Coca-Cola Vanilla Zero

• US Coca-Cola Cherry Zero cans

• A French can of caffeine free Coca-Cola Zero next to a US Coca-Cola Zero can

The Coca-Cola company has stated that despite the change from Coca-Cola Zero to Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, these variant flavors will be changing neither their names nor their formulas.

Distribution

Coke Zero and Coke Zero Sugar have been sold in:

• Austrian website
• United States website