Laura’s article “Are Soft Drinks the Cigarettes of 2012?” does a great job at examining the importance of packaging regarding this recent soft drink cancer scare. To be honest, I had just heard about this and was shocked. We have learned to trust large companies, such as Pepsico and Coca Cola, and we imagine that they have our best interests in mind. This is achieved through all their wonderful advertising, that makes customers feel good about their purchase.
An example would be this “Always Cool” Coke Ad. It gives consumers the feeling that Coke is “in style” and desirable by the masses. The polar bear Coke advertising has been around since 1922, but started to become used on a large scale in 1993. Polar bears may have the image of being warm and cozy animals, however I would never have thought that this marketing image would have stuck around. Polar bears live in the Arctic and it seems counter intuitive to have a polar bear drink a cold Coke bottle. In Coke’s first 30 second commerical with polar bears, we see the animals watching the Northern Lights. This could be meant to be equivalent to people sitting at home and watching television, or out at the movies. The polar bears are thirsty and quench their thirst on a Coke. Since 1993, this image has expanded drastically and these ads can be seem while watching a preview to a movie or even an ad during the Super Bowl. 
It is understandable why Coke is now trying to change it’s packaging to avoid the scare of losing all its brand image if people believe that Coke causes cancer. The polar bear ads, which we, the consumers, have learned to trust and love, and have earned Coke millions of dollars would all be worthless. 
One reply on “Could Coke Become Worthless?”
Really interesting take on Coca Cola’s marketing strategy relative to the recent cancer scare – I actually had to look that up, I didn’t know about it! Scary!