Diet Coke vs. Coke Zero

A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Mythical

Josh and Nicole dive into the Diet Coke vs. Coke Zero debate, exploring taste differences, branding evolution, and artificial sweeteners, while veering into personal stories, food ethics, and a whimsical call for seasona

Key takeaways

• Coke Zero Sugar rebrand reflects global marketing shifts

Transcript preview

Can you taste the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero? Josh? Oh, you were asking me? Yeah. Oh, um, yeah. But, probably, you know. This is a hot dog is a sandwich. Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah, I put ice in my cereal. So what? That makes no sense. Hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. The Hot Dog is a sandwich, the show we break down the world's biggest food debates. I'm your host Josh Cher. And I'm your host, Nicole Innaiety. What was that hand gesture? That was Disney, Chen West. Rainbow. Reading Rainbow. Reading Rainbow. Sue us, reading Rainbow. Come at me, LeVar Burton. Yeah, come at me. With all your Emmys. You got like 15 Emmies, man. Well deserved Emmies. I've heard to trade him. Take a look. Six webbies for one Emmy and he said no. And he said no. And he said no. You actually. You actually. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You're terms of LaVard? Yeah, we don't like hang out. They don't call each other. But you know because of, yeah, because of his lovely daughter. Yes. Anyways, that's not what we're talking about today, but we, boy, we could talk about reading rainbow. I can't, I don't remember much. That was a very, that was a very influential show. I watched, yeah, I watched a little bit a little bit of PBS. You know what I mean? I don't know how to explain this to explain this to people. Like, like, like, like, like, like, had like buckets of like colored pebbles that you would sort through? She had a lot of weird stuff that I think was associated with cults. There's so much my childhood. I know the pennies. I know how the pennies. But yeah, a lot of strange rocks, crystals. Toys, like the toys were like not, no like a battery operated toys. We didn't have like any toys. Any toys, just like functional things. I was able to, I was able to, I would buy books. I had a ball. I had a ball. I had a ball. I would bounce. I had a ball. I had a ball. I had a ball. I had a ball. I had a ball. I had a ball. I had a ball. I had a ball. I had a ball. I had a And then eventually I had a basketball. Cool. And I was able to... Would you share with John? I was able to make skateboards. This podcast is no longer about food. It's about me psycho analyzing Josh because I now have a child and I want to know about Josh's childhood really badly. And most of this was up up through the age of 10. Because when I was 10 I moved in with my dad and he was just like kind of a more normal guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Still, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so then I became a full time, yeah, yeah. And so then I became a full- yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so then I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was, I was rich even though you know we're still paying off debt collectors. Sure sure I get it. Dude we can move in like a two bedroom apartment is nuts. That's really cool yeah I know right and so then it was like hey you can play organized sports. You can play organized sports. Oh okay. But you wouldn't get toys anymore. But by then I was like what do you mean toy I play sports. Okay. And I still read books. Ball. I had like a boards. You know boards. I was a bad. You know what I mean? As an intellectual athletic child and I think I've become an intellectual athletic adult. I agree. What toys did you play with? Oh, so many. With the toys? Like tons. I had millions in... Well you have to think about it. I was the American kid, my brother and sister when you're on right, so their situation was different. They come to America, the land of the free home of the brave, lots of capitalism and toys. So Sesame Street everything, like Disney. What do? What do you do? What do you do you do you do you do you do you do you do? What do? What do you do? What do? it was different but now I actively play with e with toys like we play together like I teach her how to play like we throw a ball like I teach her how to throw a ball she throws about like that now that's not a toy that's a sport we take blocks we take blocks and we shake the blocks and we make noise we make music with the blocks we have teddy bears and I like explain stories about teddy bears and how the teddy bear came from this place and now lives here with us so yeah and just like grabbing and moving things from one hand to another and I leave her alone and let her play by yourself but I like to play with her. I think I like the way my mind developed without toys. Sure. You know what I mean? Oh sure. I've learned a lot of social skills via sports. When you close your eyes you have an imagination like if I tell you to look at like a red apple you can't. I've told you how this works in my brain. I don't remember. It's text based. So if I don't remember. It's text based. If I'm text based. If I say, it's text based. If I say, it's text based. If I say, it's text based. If I say, So I'm picturing the Rename Agreet painting, the green apple over the face, but literally the text of Green Apple with the leaf like runs like a different paper. It's because you read a lot. I read a lot. It's a formative. See when I close my eyes, I see a green apple with a leaf, not the Rename Marguerite photo, but I mean. You know the Rename Agrete painting? Of course I do. Of course I do. It's called, it's called like, it's called like, like one on one on one on one on a while, it's a while, so we just like, so we just like, it's a while, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like We have the two bastions of Diet Soda. We have the son of man Oh, what did I say? Man without a face? It makes sense because it's son of man because apples Adam and Eve. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay I have two sodas in front of me I have a Diet Coke Coke and a Coke Zero. I always I never I'm sorry I never grew up I have a duck Trevor I have a duck Trevor I don't know why I never grew up I never grew up with Diet soda I have Soatas are something new to me. I want to say I've been indulging for about two and a half years, three years, and to diet sodas, and I believe it's through osmosis of working here at mythical because everybody drinks diet sodas here. Diet red bulls, diet cokes, what are you're grasping for something? I'm looking for a pen and paper to draw out my weight over time. Why? Do you think it's correlated to the soda? There's something there. Go ahead and you draw while you draw while I speak? So for me I never was like obsessed with sodas ever I was more of a mineral water person like I loved parier growing up or like San Pellegrino I was never like I need a Coke with my meal and I just never like I would have it here and there but it was never something like I needed and now that I'm older I do need that fizzy sugary balance with my food so Diet Soda makes the most sense because the thought of me having a full sugar makes me kind of sick. Like imagine like drinking two cans of soda, but I could knock down two diet sodas like it's no one's business even though I did get a little bit sick yesterday when I had two and a half of them. Are you, you're still mapping it? I've had violent diarrhea. Oh yeah, do you think that's from the diet sodas though? No. I think I ate a lot of steak yesterday. I think I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, it's not from the microphone. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, it's this is not called coke zero anymore hasn't been called coke zero for ten years it's now been called coke zero sugar oh longer this is the sugar than it's then it was ever called a coke zero which is crazy but wait nobody calls it coke zero sugar well of course too many words still in the name the zero the zero the sugar in the zero sugar is implied I still think it's a crazy rebrand I think it's apparently they must have had the data and I think they actually had data coming out of Europe like all of launched with different like branding and slightly different language like the original Coke Zero branding was white and Coke Zero didn't even launch in America like we kind of got it later than a lot of other countries Coke Zero Cod initially launched I think as white in Canada and then in Australia it was black and then like they noticed that Australia. It was like the original Coke Zero branding was white. Oh the branding I thought they called it Coke White and Coke Black. But then like they launched the initial black branding which Kokesiro had for a long time in Australia and it just flew out shelves and they were like oh this is way cooler and sleeker and more badass and they did that but it was called like Coconosugger in Australia and then like all these shifts so like this shift around but in America this was called Coca-Cola Zero for I believe it was introduced in like 2006 and then in 2016 or 17 it switched to Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and I don't believe it was refug formulated until 2021. So it's like these weird kind of things and I think one of the reasons, the big reason, Diet Coke came out in the 80s and Coke learned a painful lesson when they tried to reformulate original Coke and a new Coke. Right. Right, that's like one of the biggest you would like learn about this in marketing school I assume. Like one of the biggest blunders in trying to change your product in history. Right. Because people have gotten used obviously one of the most storied brands in history. and science has gotten better, we need to update this, make it better. And then they launch new Coke and everyone famously hated it, cost them out. So Diet Coke, they learned that lesson, they're like, we can't change this, but science has gotten better and legislation changed. Let's just make a new product. Let's make a new product. Yeah. And so the biggest difference between Diet Coke, and Coke Zero and Coke Zero. And so the biggest difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero. And so the it, um, Jamba juice. What is it now? Just Jamba? I don't think there's any juice in the name. It's just called Jamba. I think Dillard, Dittler, Dittler, Dittler, Dittler, Donuts, it's just Duncan Donuts. Oh, odd. I think they officially took donuts out of the name. That's weird. Yeah, I love that so much. See, I miss the illiterate. It's literally. It's not. It's a Littoratte. It's a littoratte. It's a littoratte. It's a littoratte. It's a littoratte. It's a littoratte. It's a littoratte. It's Littorations not an alliteration guy I I need them I need them to continue Papsikola why are you saying you hold the old Brian Reagan joke I went through his line at a burger get what is it I I went through the drive-through and now I own a Burger King franchise in Pensacola and then he goes hey yeah give me a wop for I literally don't know I love Brian Reagan I literally don't know what you're talking about Josh can you explain what you did over here I haven't done it yet no put it back you have to put it back I was talking about the scientific formula behind coxero sugar and diet coke so what's the biggest difference between the two of them so what's what did you say a sulfine potassium what is that artificial sweetener that was developed quite a bit later than as pertame but but succulose is also developed like in the 70s as the 70s as well Sukulosa Splendda were developed around the same time. Aesk has less of a home use because apparently Aesk by itself is like weirdly bitter and metallic. But when you combine it with other artificial sweeteners it like rounds them out in a weird way. Interesting, okay. So Coke Zero is made with just pure