New Coke, as the only Coca-Cola

Also known as Coke II

Cause of death

Killed by scandal

with killed by a successor as a contributing factor

Made by

The Coca-Cola Company

A national revolt made it unsellable despite it winning nearly every blind taste test Coca-Cola ran.

Coca-Cola tested the new formula on roughly 200,000 people and it beat both Pepsi and the original. What the research never asked was whether anyone wanted the old one taken away. The company received tens of thousands of angry calls and letters, protest groups formed, and 79 days later the original returned as Coca-Cola Classic. The reformulated version survived under other names until 2002, but its 79 days as the only Coke is the number everyone remembers.