yo - New Coke

Remember back when the Coca Cola people realized what their sales figures had been telling them all along (namely that, compared to Pepsi, Coke tastes like crap) and reworked the secret formula, unleashing "New Coke" on a helpless and unsuspecting world? Okay, so maybe you don't remember, but you are aware that it happened, right?

The new drink failed, and Classic Coke came back - and for the first time ever, it outsold Pepsi. Though the marketing people who started this whole thing have long denied it, there's always been the rumor that Coke intentionally introduced a sub-par product specifically so they could get a boost when they brought back the old stuff. If it's true, it was a brilliant gambit; but more likely, the whole thing was just dumb luck.

Still, you have to wonder if Hasbro is pulling the same thing. A year or two ago, the 3 3/4" GIJoe figures were slow sellers, or at least "slowish" - the new sets sold fast, but a lot of old product lingered on pegs. After the announcement of Sigma 6 and the line's debut, a the smaller Joes made their way slowly out of stores.

But suddenly they came back. First online, from Hasbro's store and a few other retailers. Now they're showing up in Toys R Us brick-and-mortars, and they're selling fast. Single figures, multi-packs, even vehicles are disappearing from the shelves almost as soon as they're put out. A line that used to be pegwarmers is now zipping out of sight (and out of site, too). And why is this happening? Can't say for sure, but it seems somebody at Hasbro remembers New Coke...

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4 Responses to yo - New Coke

  1. Rustin Parr says:

    Coke lords over Pepsi in every possible way.

    • yo go re says:

      after hearing that you hated Spider-Man 2, I said that all your taste was in your mouth. Now that you'd admit to not only drinking that Southern-brewed swill, but enjoying it too, I can't even say that. You, lad, have no taste...

  2. James McAleer says:

    But Yo,there's a pretty big fault with that theory...don't most collectors like Sigma 6...a lot?I know I love 'em.

    • yo go re says:

      If I didn't like Sigma 6, I wouldn't own more than a half dozen of the things. I'm not saying that S6 sucks like New Coke, just that it was the replacement that made people appreciate what they used to have...

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