Coke Light
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| Type | Diet Cola |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | The Coca-Cola Company |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1982, 35 years ago |
| Color | Caramel |
| Variants | |
| Related products |
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola C2 Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Tab Pepsi Zero Sugar |
Diet Coke (called Coca-Cola Light in some countries) is a sugar-free soft drink produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company. It contains artificial sweeteners. Unveiled on July 8, 1982 and introduced in the United States on August 9, it was the first new brand since 1886 to use the Coca-Cola trademark. The product quickly overtook the company's existing diet cola, Tab, in sales.
When Tab was released in 1963, the Coca-Cola Company refused to release a diet soda with the Coca-Cola name, fearing that its flagship brand might suffer. Its rival Pepsi had no such qualms, and after the long-term success of its sugar-free Diet Pepsi (launched in 1964) became clear, Coca-Cola decided to launch a competing sugar-free brand under the Coca-Cola name, which could be marketed more easily than Tab.
Diet Coke does not use a modified form of the Coca-Cola recipe, but instead an entirely different formula. The controversial New Coke, introduced in 1985, used a version of the Diet Coke recipe that contained high fructose corn syrup and had a slightly different balance of ingredients. In 2004, Coca-Cola introduced Coca-Cola C2, which it claims tastes much closer to Coca-Cola but contains half the carbohydrates. In 2005, the company introduced Coca-Cola Zero, a sugar-free variation of regular Coca-Cola.
Diet Coke was sweetened with aspartame, an artificial sweetener, after the sweetener became available in the United States in 1983; to save money, this was originally in a blend with saccharin. After Diet Rite cola advertised its 100 percent use of aspartame, and the manufacturer of NutraSweet (then G. D. Searle & Company) warned that the NutraSweet trademark would not be made available to a blend of sweeteners, Coca-Cola switched the formula to 100 percent NutraSweet. Diet Coke from fountain dispensers still contains some saccharin to extend shelf life.
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