Diet Coke
Diet Coke, also branded as Coca-Cola Light or Diet Coca-Cola, is a sugar-free and low-calorie diet soda produced and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. It is a cola drink containing artificial sweeteners, primarily aspartame, instead of sugar. Diet Coke is based on a different recipe from the flagship Coca-Cola drink, with a distinct taste of its own.
Unveiled on July 8, 1982, it was the first new brand since the Coca-Cola Company's creation in 1886 to use the Coca-Cola trademark. Following its launch, Diet Coke/Coca-Cola Light became wildly successful and a cultural status symbol to some. It has since been a core product and brand for the company, leading worldwide diet soda sales for most of its existence.
History
When diet colas first entered the market, beginning with No-Cal in 1958, the Coca-Cola Company had a long-standing policy to use the Coca-Cola name only on its flagship cola, and so its diet cola was named Tab when it was released in 1963. Its rival Pepsi had no such qualms, and after the long-term success of its sugar-free Diet Pepsi became clear, Coca-Cola decided to develop a competing sugar-free brand under the Coca-Cola name that could be marketed more easily than Tab. The new product was years in the making, and it was based on Tab's recipe instead of the Coca-Cola formula. Internally, the secret development was known as Project Harvard.Diet Coke was launched in 1982, debuting in New York City in July and rolling out to most of the rest of the United States by end of 1982, and some Canadian markets. Coca-Cola referred to it as "the Company's most significant new product entry in 96 years". It quickly overtook Tab in sales by a wide margin to become the top selling low-calorie soft drink in America. Diet Coke's domestic success was swift, by the end of 1983 overtaking 7UP to become the third highest selling soft drink overall in the United States, a position it would hold on to for decades to come. According to the company, Diet Coke was the "fastest-growing major soft drink in history."
In 1983, Diet Coke was launched in 28 international markets to a high degree of success. In many markets, the drink was branded as Coca-Cola Light instead or Coke Light. Diet Coke/Coca-Cola Light was launched in a further ten major markets in 1984, including Japan. The Coca-Cola Company then used the Diet Coke recipe to develop the controversial New Coke with high-fructose corn syrup and with a slightly different balance of ingredients, released in 1985.
The company launched the first Diet Coke variety product, Caffeine-free Diet Coke, in 1983, which is a diet/sugarless version of Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola. In 1986, Coca-Cola introduced Diet Cherry Coke in American markets, a diet version of Coca-Cola Cherry which itself became the first flavored cola drink the company had released.
In the United States, Diet Coke held a market share of 11.7% in 1991 according to Beverage Digest. In the year 1992, the product was available in 117 markets worldwide with a unit case volume of 1.25 billion. In some countries, including Australia, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain and Norway, it was the second most sold carbonated soft drink, all behind Coca-Cola. At the start of 1994, Diet Coke was redesigned for the first time since in eight years, and the logo most notably added a scripted "Diet" in place of the simple italic letters it previously bore. Later, the drink was relaunched as Coca-Cola Light in some countries where Diet Coke underperformed, with a slightly sweeter taste to suit local preferences.
In the 2000s when cola manufacturers were increasingly diversifying products, Coca-Cola launched Diet Coke with Lemon in 2001, a type of Diet Coke with lemon flavor, as well as Diet Vanilla Coke in 2002 and then in 2004 launched Diet Coke with Lime and Diet Coke Plus, with more vitamins and minerals, in 2007. The company also launched a separate second sugar-free cola drink in 2005 called Coca-Cola Zero, now known as Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, which is more closely based on original Coca-Cola.
In 2005, under pressure from retailer Walmart, the company released a new formulation called "Diet Coke sweetened with Splenda". Sucralose and acesulfame potassium replaced aspartame in this version. As the formulation was done to mollify one retailer, this variety had little advertising and promotion, as the company preferred to market Coca-Cola Zero instead.
In 2010, Diet Coke surpassed Pepsi in sales for the first time to become the second most popular soda in the United States after Coca-Cola. Diet Coke dropped below Pepsi again in 2014. In 2018, the Diet Coke brand was significantly revamped and "relaunched" in its biggest change since it launched. A new wave of bold Diet Coke flavors were launched, including Ginger Lime, Feisty Cherry, Zesty Blood Orange and Twisted Mango, and then Blueberry Acai and Strawberry Guava in 2019.
Marketing and impact
Diet Coke have capitalized on the markets of people who require low sugar regimens, such as diabetics and people concerned with calorie intake. For example, a 330 ml can of Diet Coke contains around 1.3 kilocalories compared to 142 kilocalories for a regular can of Coca-Cola.Coca-Cola used the slogan "Just for the taste of it!" for almost all years between its 1982 launch and at least 1997, and has been accompanied with an iconic jingle. A version of the song was also performed by Elton John and Paula Abdul in an ad at Super Bowl XXIV. A famous advert of the brand was "Diet Coke Break" in 1994 featuring Lucky Vanous, from which point on the brand became targeted primarily at women. In 1996, Coca-Cola tied in with TV sitcom Friends to advertize Diet Coke, at a time when soda sales had been struggling. The ads began to emphasize the "Coke" and taste of the product instead of its health connotations. Beginning in 2011, in many countries around the world Coca-Cola swapped the logo of their cola products including Diet Coke with 150 of the local country's most popular names, as part of campaigns called "Share a Coke". In an effort to be more appealing to millennials, Diet Coke in 2018 was packaged in a taller, more slender can, although the cans reverted to the conventional shape a year later.
The drink's all-silver can color, which has been in use since 1997, has been considered iconic and a distinctive design. Diet Coke has had a significant cultural impact, including links with healthiness and wellness but also negative connotations in regards to body image. It has achieved high popularity in certain circles with loyal fans, including in popular culture. Victoria Beckham, Dua Lipa and Bill Clinton are known fans of the drink, and Donald Trump notably has a dedicated button for Diet Coke in his presidential office. The drink has been known to be the choice of "it girls", and has been popular in the fashion scene. Designers Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier have previously served as the brand's creative director. Kate Moss became creative director in 2022 at the drink's 40th anniversary.
Partly because of marketing reasons, connected to the public perception of the word "diet" and what it stands for, Coca-Cola launched Coca-Cola Zero as another sugarless cola product in 2005. "Zero sugar" has become increasingly trendy in the early 2020s. While the company have attempted to sideline Diet Coke in favor of Zero Sugar, loyal customers have kept Diet Coke alive and still selling in higher numbers in the US, as of 2025. Although Diet Coke continues to be one of the most popular soft drinks, diet sodas in general have increasingly dipped by target consumers choosing non-soda beverages like water or coffee. Consumption of soda drinks overall among Americans has been in decline after the 2000s.
Naming
Since its inception in 1982, Diet Coke has been the product name in Coca-Cola's home country the United States and a number of other countries. Other countries, such as Germany have used the Coca-Cola Light name since the beginning. This name is now most common in most of Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. In Canada's Quebec, the drink is sold as Coke Diète.In many countries including Italy, Mexico and the Netherlands, the product originally launched in 1983–84 under the "Diet Coke" name, but would later switch to the "Coca-Cola Light" name in the early 1990s. Similarly in Australia, it renamed some time from its original name to "Diet Coca-Cola". In Japan, it was known as "No Calorie Coca-Cola" from 2007. In Germany and the Netherlands, the name was changed from Coca-Cola Light to "Coca-Cola Light Taste" as part of the 2018 rebranding, but reverted back by 2021.
Advertising slogans
Coca-Cola has used various slogans throughout Diet Coke's history to advertize the product, both in the United States and internationally. "Just for the taste of it!" was the brand's first tagline and has been used continuously off and on since 1982. Another tagline Diet Coke used in the 1980s was "The one of a kind".In the 1990s, a number of different slogans were used including: "Taste it all!", "This is Refreshment", and "You are what you drink". This was followed by "Live Your Life" in 1999. In the 2000s, slogans used for Diet Coke include: "Do what feels good", "Must be a Diet Coke thing", "Life is how you take it", "Light it up!", and "Yours". In 2009, Diet Coke was part of Coca-Cola's Open Happiness campaign which lasted for several years. There was also the "Hello You..." campaign in Britain in 2009, and "I light it" in Spain 2010.
From 2010 to 2014, "Stay Extraordinary" was the main slogan in use. Coca-Cola launched the "You're on" campaign in 2014. However it was soon dropped after it was mocked, due to its unintentional drug reference. Later that year, "Get a Taste" was introduced, asking the question "what if life tasted this good?". This campaign lasted until 2018. In 2018, Diet Coke launched the "Because I can." slogan and campaign at the same time as a major rebrand and the addition of new flavors. The campaign had a lukewarm reception. In 2020, a new campaign was launched in Britain, "Give yourself a Diet Coke break".
In 2021, Diet Coke launched the slogan and campaign "Just because", along with a remixed version of their "Just for the taste of it!" jingle. "This Is My Taste" was launched for the brand in Britain and Ireland in 2024.