April 23 marks the anniversary of one of the biggest business blunders in history. On this day in 1985 Coca-Cola decided to ditch its billion dollar formula that had pleased people around the world for a century. The nation’s response to that tinkering holds lessons today for an experimental government playing mad scientist over our national cauldron.
In the 1980s, Coca-Cola owned a goldmine product and a household name when the smooth operation was ground to a sharp halt. Increasing competition and sagging sales led to a drastic change. The top-secret Classic formula was scrapped and New Coke filled store shelves. Consumers responded like hornets in a hive being beaten with sticks. Company executives were called four letter words like dumb and jerk. Three months late
r the original formula was back on the shelves.
Don’t get cocky over there Pepsi. Most of us still remember Crystal Pepsi which looked like carbonated water and tasted like regurgitated mouthwash.
Why must we tinker so? I hate cliches, but the one about “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” might have spawned from some nuggets of wisdom. The Founding Fathers would probably agree.
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The Founders tinkered as they attempted to create the new nation, what they called a great experiment. The Constitution turned out pretty sweet, although not perfect, and they knew it. A provision for amending the laws of America was built into the founding charter. Some changes would be necessary. But for crying out loud, they never intended to scrap the entire system!
The buzz word these days is socialism, a different system than what the U.S. was created upon. I’ve heard the current federal policies described in pretty harsh terms including poison and gut rot. Change can be a positive force, but scrapping the successful formula that’s worked for over two centuries makes no more sense than what Coca-Cola did.
We should always set new goals and strive for higher standards, but sometimes the original formula is best. Sometimes the people in charge lose sight of what works or the stakes of change. Coca-Cola President Donald Keough realized as much when he said, “We did not understand the deep emotions of so many of our customers…” By the way, props to him for accepting responsibility and stating the truth rather than deflecting like so many sad leaders.
Well, something tells me that a lot of today’s leaders do not understand the deep emotions of so many Americans.
Maybe there is a lesson here for modern times. New Coke succeeded in one area. According to industry expert John Craven of BevNet.Com, “…[T]he success of New Coke was that it got people pissed off enough to care about regular Coke again.”
So according to the failure of Coke’s attempt, may we surmise that the government’s current innovative idiocy will anger people enough to regenerate an appreciation for the simple, successful foundation of America? Hey, I’ll drink to that.
