I Don't Believe Many People Prefer Coke or Pepsi

[Guest]

Notice I said "prefer", not "like".  I'm sure many people think Colas are fine drinks.  And they'd drink it if offered.  But I don't believe many people prefer it.  Why is that?

I've noticed an interesting statistic at five separate social gatherings of gentiles.  There is often an ice chest full of colas and an ice chest full of other soft drinks.  Sometimes, it's just Sprite and nothing else.  Sometimes, it is a mix of other stuff.  But everyone assumes that people will want their caffeine fix.  But at each time, they were wrong.

The second chest gets emptied fairly early on in the event. Then, slowly, the cola chest is diminished; but never emptied.  All five events.

I decided to put this to an extreme test.  At my martial arts studio, we have a pot luck BBQ during our promotion ceremony.  Last time, the host only brought one bottle of Coke and one bottle of Sprite.  And there were many units of bottled water.  The Sprite emptied.  The bottled water went almost gone.  Then the Coke finally emptied.  And then the last six or seven small bottles of water were used up.

This time, I went and bought two bottles of Sprite, one bottle of root beer, one bottle of orange soda, one bottle of ginger ale, and a 32-pack of bottled water.  Good thing too.  The host only had one bottle of Coke and about six small bottles of water.

The Coke wasn't even opened until several bottles of water were gone, the first Sprite bottle was emptied, the Orange and ginger ale were half empty and the root beer had opened a bit.  Soon the ginger ale went empty. But I'll have to admit that the ginger ale was a ringer.  Most of my kids prefer ginger ale.  i should have gotten Vernor's.  But this was an experiment. So, I couldn't stack the deck too much.

Finally the Coke went empty after most of the water, all of the other bottles of soda except for about 1/3 of the second Sprite bottle.  No, I don't believe many people really want to drink colas when given a choice.  But they are the #1 soda (they still are, right?) simply because people assume it is.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't think it was about caffeine.  If I had bought a bottle of Mtn Dew, I'm pretty sure that would have disappeared faster than anything.

[mrmarklin]

I have no idea where you live. But a lot of this is regional. 

 

Cola drinks are top sellers in the US. 

[zil]

1 minute ago, mrmarklin said:

Cola drinks are top sellers in the US. 

But is that because people buy this on the assumption that they're what everyone else wants (and then everyone drinks it because it's all that's available)?  Or is it because even if they had several other choices, people would choose the cola?

If the former, the marketeers have done well.  If the latter, then the stats match tastes.

[mrmarklin]

People have wide choices when they dine out. Cola drinks outsell them all. 

[anatess2]

Are you in a predominantly LDS area?

When I host parties (which is at least monthly, especially now with football season), Colas always empty first.  Root beer empties next.  Ginger ale is the least favorite and my Korean friend and I are the only ones that drink Ginger beer so I only buy those for the both of us.

[estradling75]

Hmm  interesting..    In my house I am the non cola drinker.  But my wife is the cola person.  So we never fight over who gets the last soda. (the type of soda determines that.)  My kids seem to be non cola (3) to cola (1). 

When my works office manager gets in I'll ask her about the work soda machine and which type gets replaced/refilled most often.

 

[anatess2]

10 minutes ago, estradling75 said:

Hmm  interesting..    In my house I am the non cola drinker.  But my wife is the cola person.  So we never fight over who gets the last soda. (the type of soda determines that.)  My kids seem to be non cola (3) to cola (1). 

When my works office manager gets in I'll ask her about the work soda machine and which type gets replaced/refilled most often.

 

So, we go to the theater a lot.  And Zaxby's.  Both those places have the super high tech soda machine with 100 flavors or something.  My husband gets Coke Zero, I get Ginger Ale mixed with a little Sprite with vanilla, my kids mix at least 10 seemingly-random flavors into their cup.

[estradling75]

47 minutes ago, estradling75 said:

When my works office manager gets in I'll ask her about the work soda machine and which type gets replaced/refilled most often.

So I asked...

Diet Coke is the hands down winner...  With Regular Coke and Root beer being in a fight for second place.

[NeuroTypical]

We have a fridge of free sodas in my secular Colorado workplace.  It is 80% diet coke, diet pepsi, diet Dr Pepper, diet Mtn Dew.  Then equal portions of Sprite and the sugared versions of the former.  The diet coke/pepsi goes first, then the diet DrP and Dew.  The last things to go are sugared DrP and Dew.

[Guest MormonGator]

Obviously some people care enough about Coke and Pepsi to spend their money on it. 

Someone (surprisingly not @mirkwood) once said to me "No one likes Kiss." I said, "They've sold over 100 million records. Someone does." 

[JohnsonJones]

3 hours ago, MormonGator said:

Obviously some people care enough about Coke and Pepsi to spend their money on it. 

Someone (surprisingly not @mirkwood) once said to me "No one likes Kiss." I said, "They've sold over 100 million records. Someone does." 

You and Mirkwood must have had a lot more money than I thought to buy that many copies!

[MarginOfError]

There are enough sodas out there that colas could make up 18% of sales and still be the largest seller by volume by more than twice the next leading flavor.

[Guest MormonGator]

52 minutes ago, JohnsonJones said:

You and Mirkwood must have had a lot more money than I thought to buy that many copies!

That's awesome. lol!!! 

 

[Grunt]

I can't believe people drink soda.  

[Guest]

11 hours ago, anatess2 said:

Are you in a predominantly LDS area?

Hello.  I live in Texas, remember?

11 hours ago, anatess2 said:

When I host parties (which is at least monthly, especially now with football season), Colas always empty first.  Root beer empties next.  Ginger ale is the least favorite and my Korean friend and I are the only ones that drink Ginger beer so I only buy those for the both of us.

Do you have multiple groups of people which form your sample size?  I noticed this at five different functions with no overlap other than myself.  Each function had at least 100 people there.

[Guest]

20 hours ago, mrmarklin said:

People have wide choices when they dine out. Cola drinks outsell them all. 

Source for that statistic?

Edited September 1, 2018 by Guest

[Guest]

8 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

We have a fridge of free sodas in my secular Colorado workplace.  It is 80% diet coke, diet pepsi, diet Dr Pepper, diet Mtn Dew.  Then equal portions of Sprite and the sugared versions of the former.  The diet coke/pepsi goes first, then the diet DrP and Dew.  The last things to go are sugared DrP and Dew.

I think I see a flaw in your sample statistic.

That's at work.  Coffee is drunk more than any other beverage at a place of employment because CAFFEINE helps them stay awake.  I gave examples of social gatherings where there is no other purpose other than refreshment and taste.

10 hours ago, estradling75 said:

So I asked...

Diet Coke is the hands down winner...  With Regular Coke and Root beer being in a fight for second place.

Ditto, above.

Edited September 1, 2018 by Guest

[Iggy]

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

That's at work.  Coffee is drunk more than any other beverage at a place of employment because CAFFEINE helps them stay awake.  [so they think - it actually makes them more jittery]

At every place I worked the boss only offered Coffee for employees & clients, and the chilled water & chilled soda/soft drinks were for the clients ONLY. Where my sisters worked, Soft drinks were in a vending machine for $0.75 then it went up to $1.00 each. Coffee on the other hand was free. Their co-workers who didn't drink coffee, brought their own soft drinks.

My sisters found that drinking 4 to 6 oz of Apple juice or eating a medium apple, and walking down two flights of step and back up again during their 15 min. breaks, kept them awake longer then those who guzzled coffee all day. As for the soft drink people - the sugary sodas, 12 oz of orange /grape/grapefruit juices put them to sleep shortly after the 15 min break was over.

When I have to wake up & stay awake long enough to eat breakfast and get on the road within 30 minutes - I drink 6oz of Apple juice, 8 oz of filtered tap water, eat then get moving. Works better than the iced coffee I used to drink. 32 oz of that did NOTHING except make me jittery.

So @Carborendum I agree with you.

Edited September 1, 2018 by Iggy

[estradling75]

On 8/31/2018 at 6:55 PM, Carborendum said:

I think I see a flaw in your sample statistic.

That's at work.  Coffee is drunk more than any other beverage at a place of employment because CAFFEINE helps them stay awake.  I gave examples of social gatherings where there is no other purpose other than refreshment and taste.

I think yours is a distinction without relevance to the question at hand.  People make the choices they do because of two things..  personal preference and addiction  (aka caffeine).  While those can very much be established in a work environment, they don't just switch off because they are now in a social environment.  In the case of addiction that is like saying an alcoholic is only an alcoholic while they are in a bar.

Someone pounding through colas to get through the work day isn't going to suddenly stop that set of habits when the environment changes... because they will have an addiction and an acquired taste.

I would further wager that your social group that avoided... also avoid it in work related settings.  Because again... acquired tastes and habits. 

[Anddenex]

On 8/30/2018 at 10:28 PM, Carborendum said:

If I had bought a bottle of Mtn Dew, I'm pretty sure that would have disappeared faster than anything.

Guilty as charged

[Guest]

1 hour ago, estradling75 said:

I think yours is a distinction without relevance to the question at hand.  People make the choices they do because of two things..  personal preference and addiction  (aka caffeine).  While those can very much be established in a work environment, they don't just switch off because they are now in a social environment.  In the case of addiction that is like saying an alcoholic is only an alcoholic while they are in a bar.

Someone pounding through colas to get through the work day isn't going to suddenly stop that set of habits when the environment changes... because they will have an addiction and an acquired taste.

I would further wager that your social group that avoided... also avoid it in work related settings.  Because again... acquired tastes and habits. 

Not exactly. I wasn't saying that people want the caffeine because of addiction.  I think it is often calculated. They need a pick me up.

My OP about "prefer" meant just that.  Do they like they taste and refreshment from this drink vs that one.

[estradling75]

1 minute ago, Carborendum said:

Not exactly. I wasn't saying that people want the caffeine because of addiction.  I think it is often calculated. They need a pick me up.

My OP about "prefer" meant just that.  Do they like they taste and refreshment from this drink vs that one.

And I said there were two things..  If they need a 'pick me up'  and they constantly get one from the same source, then the taste of that 'pick me up' becomes desirable..  That taste preference doesn't suddenly change.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, estradling75 said:

And I said there were two things..  If they need a 'pick me up'  and they constantly get one from the same source, then the taste of that 'pick me up' becomes desirable..  That taste preference doesn't suddenly change.

Ok.  I hear that argument.  I don't share that perspective.

I'll eat foods I don't like (read:prefer) because I see a need (medicine, sone vegetables, etc.).  But I doubt anyone would use the term "prefer" to describe the basis of that decision.

You can continue to argue the semantics here. But I don't think you've made a case against my original meaning and intent.

[unixknight]

Mid Atlantic region here...  the Pepsi goes first, then Coke, then whatever people settle for when they can't get the cola they wanted.

Me, I have a crippling Pepsi addiction.  I guzzle that stuff like it's keeping me alive.

Yes, I know how profoundly bad for you it is, and I did manage to throttle back my intake when I was flirting with Type II Diabetes.  My blood sugar is normal now, but I still have my occasional fix of that awful, unhealthy, delicious sweet, sweet nectar of the gods...

Edited September 5, 2018 by unixknight

[Traveler]

Many years ago I worked on a military base as a civilian consultant.  Each year there would be this big family celebration and pick-nick - with lots of beer.  Because of the beer I did not want to come and especially not to bring my children.  To be honest it was not fun.  There was always a slow pitch softball game and half the participants would be so drunk they were confused what direction to run the bases.   And so I made a big stink that there needed to be more non-alcohol available for families - especially children.  Of course the beer drinkers demanded that the majority be spent on beer - but were willing to allow the budget to purchase some non-alcohol.

It was fine - but of course, being who I am.  Whenever one of those demanding beer used up any of the limited supply of non-alcohol - I would tell them to put it back.  As life went on I ended up in Utah - with mostly my fellow Saints at such company gatherings.  I am not at all a fan or believer in caffeinated drinks of any kind.  And so the battle became - lets have decaffeinated drinks - especially water available at company family gatherings.  Always the water and decaffeinated drinks ran out first - so I would suggest purchasing more of what ran out and less of what was left over.  To be honest - this was such a hassle I started bringing our own drinks for my family.  But guess what - when such ran out of the company supply - my coworkers would ask me for my family personal supply.

I would however bring up a very important concept.  Sometime ago I remember an advertisement where an adult shared their caffeinated drink with a young child (about 5 years old).  I was furious that such an add was allowed.  There have been tons of studies that caffeinated drinks are not healthy - especially for small children.  But the add has worked and there are today many parents that think nothing of sharing caffeinated soda with even their small children.  I would not be surprised if over half of our children in this country are addicted to caffeinated sodas before they even are teenagers.  It is not uncommon to see parents give kids even the 5 hour caffeinated energy drinks.  There are two serious health problems - sugar and caffeine both are highly addictive and unhealthy.  And it would seem that few can deal with such addictions without thinking it is healthy to remove one or the other - but never both.  It is bad enough that adults become addicted but it is far more sad that such become parents and pass their addictions on by example and supply offered to their children.

 

The Traveler