The Short-Lived '90s Soda That Tried To Cash In On Gen X Cynicism (And Lost)

The history of carbonated drinks is long and complex, with pharmacists adding flavors to fizzy drinks since the 19th century. While Coca-Cola and Pepsi have dominated the Cola Wars for years, there have been dozens, if not hundreds, of other brands that have tried to carve out their own niche in the market. That doesn't even include the brands owned by Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. One such brand that didn't survive for very long and has largely been forgotten today is Coca-Cola's OK Soda. Why such a wishy-washy name? Market research at the time indicated that "Coca-Cola" was the second most recognizable word in the world, right after the word "OK."

Cans of the soda featured subdued art by Daniel Clowes, creator of the "Ghost World" comic, as well as other indie artists of the zeitgeist. They were aiming for a starkly Gen X aesthetic and feeling, where the fake enthusiasm of a traditional Coca-Cola commercial was supplanted by the advertising equivalent of a shrug. The soda was okay. It wasn't amazing. You didn't have to care about it. It was fine. Whatever. One marketing exec said they chose the name "OK" because "it underpromises."

Coca-Cola was trying to lure in consumers by ironically criticizing traditional advertising as superficial and manipulative. The OK Soda ads were subverting ads, using cynicism to try to sell the product. The idea was conceived by the same man who created the ad campaign for one of history's worst marketing flops: New Coke. He built the campaign around the belief that young people were not only used to being manipulated, but they knew it was happening.

Part of the reason OK Soda vanished from the shelves wasn't just the ad campaign — it also wasn't very good. It made our list of discontinued sodas that don't deserve a comeback because it really lived up to its name. It was just okay, and that's nothing to be enthused about. Those who tried it described it as what's known as "swamp water," when you mix all the sodas at a fountain together in one drink. One review even called it "carbonated tree sap" (via Time). Another said it was too sweet and that you wouldn't want more than one. One definitive review of the soda came from a 13-year-old who simply said, "It sucks" (via The Washington Post). 

OK Soda only had limited availability. It was test-marketed in cities such as Boston and Seattle in 1993 through 1994. Stores were having trouble moving the product. Some were selling literally none at all at the height of the campaign. Coca-Cola eventually discontinued the brand in 1995 without ever giving it a national release. With only about a million cases sold, Coca-Cola determined it wasn't worth continuing. In the years since, some have suggested that the campaign was not all that bad. It may have just been too postmodern — too ahead of its time — to resonate with '90s audiences.