Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Cans in the Basement!

All Halloween Cans Brought Up From 'Da Basement

Pepsi and Coke Skirmish on Halloween

Pepsi and Coke slugged it out with a Halloween ad recently. Pepsi released an ad of a can of Pepsi dressed with a Coca-Cola cape as a costume. The caption read, "We wish you a scary Halloween!" Implying, I suppose, that Coca-Cola is scary, especially when it is a Pepsi that you want.

Hallow-Soda Wars

Not one to be bullied, Coca-Cola responded with the same ad. They only changed the caption to read, "Everyone wants to be a hero." Obviously, this implies that Pepsi only wishes it could be as awesome as Coke. Epic.

Jones Hallow-Three

As promised, the third 2013 Halloween Jones Soda Can.  This one looks particulary grisly with a zombie eyeball plunging towards the table.  The flavor is carmel apple.  Tasty.

2013 Caramel Apple Jones Halloween Soda Can

Critical Soda Fact Number 3

My whole philosophy of soda can be summed up in the following quote by American pop artist Andy Warhol.

"What's great about this country is that American started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same thing as the poorest.  You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca-Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too.  A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking.  All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."

I love that quote.  I mean, I read it and wish to weep tears of carbonated high fructose corn syrup. Coca-Cola is the great equalizer.  If Coca-Cola was only available in the Brazilian rain forest as part of a biannual religious ceremony, manufactured by tribal priests through a secret process passed down through generations, if it was a sacramental drink that only select anthropologists and a few privileged celebrities could taste, it would be classified as ambrosia. Since its not, it's hip to disdain it and claim sensual superiority in other things.  But our man Andy sees through that bull. Good for him.

The Boon of Mexican Coke

Sodaphobes are making steady gains in the decreasing the popularity of American's favorite beverage. Through ads, public policy, and shaming, soda sales are down. Which makes me think of Mexican Coke. What is Mexican Coke?

Yummy Mexican Coke

Mexican Coke is Coca-Cola make with real sugar. Since the New Coke disaster in 1985, Coca-Cola in the United States has been sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. For purists, the Coke imported from Mexico made with real sugar simply tastes better.

Sodaphobe

So, let's imagine a world in which the Sodaphobes have essentially won. It's a world where out of shame or health, folks don't buy as much soda anymore. Now, the high fructose corn syrup is used in Coca-Cola because it's cheaper. But in a world where people don't buy soda as much, it becomes essentially a luxury product indulged in occasionally, you know, like those high end chocolate bars. Which means Coke just might go back to regular sugar in all their Coke to give their product a touch of class and nostalgia. The extra cost won't matter at that point. People won't be buying Coke to guzzle it, but simply to enjoy it.

Will Enjoying Coke Old-School Be the Way of the Future? 

In short, Mexican Coke just might be what is needed to keep those cans coming into the basement in fifty tears.
 

Jones Halloween Soda: Candy Corn

True to my word, here is the second 2013 Jones Soda for Halloween.  It's a scrumptious looking Candy Corn flavor.  Admittedly, this was the best tasting of the bunch, and it was also the most exotic, which is what Jones Soda is known for.  Your "treat" appears below.

2013 Candy Corn Jones Halloween Soda

Crucial Soda Fact Number Two

The most iconic soda commercial is the so-called "Hilltop" released in 1971 for Coca-Cola.  It's a collection of teenagers from around the world singing "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" on top of a hill in Italy. It's significant for two reasons.  First, it was the precursor to the folksy "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing."  Yes, that day camp campfire song was originally all about Coca-Cola.
Secondly, it marked the beginning of Coca-Cola marketing itself as the go-to brand for harmony, nostalgia, world peace, diversity high-fives, and all those other warm fuzzy things. The message was simple; everyone in the world enjoys a Coke, so there is always something we have in common.  All these years later Coca-Cola is still getting mileage from that pristine ideal.

Soda Sugar Fighting Dream Team

So we've all heard of team work, and soda companies aren't above the old fashioned mantra of working together. Sure, these guys are competitors, but they also know they need to preserve the market they all compete in. They also need to preserve the country's goodwill.

To appease the strident calls of an annoyingly vocal few that soda is THE moral epidemic of our times, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, and Pepsi have pledged to reduce the number of sugary calories consumed Americans by 1/5 by 2015.

Wowsers.

I mean, I've heard of pledges to increase gas mileage in cars, but this is a completely different beverage-of-change. Interestingly, former President Bill Clinton announced the initiative, which I think is kinda cool. I always remember him as the man who took a swig of Diet Coke during his video taped testimony for all of that icky Monica Lewinsky stuff.

"Bill"

I'm not quite sure what this means. Note that it is a reduction of the total number of sugary calories. It doesn't mean a can of Coke is gonna reduce its calories by 20 percent, although I suppose the companies could just downsize the product, charge the same amount, and end up making more money while keeping the pledge.

Actually, I suspect it is simply going to be the way the beverage market is moving. People want more diet, more energy drinks, more juices, so that is what these companies will sell. Tally up all the sugary calories sold in 2025, and I suspect with little intervention it will already be lower.

Still, I think its cool and I think it good marketing and that's why soda is so darn dope. It's a product that can packaged, sold, and defined as anything. Christmas, summer barbecues, and even weight loss initiatives.

Will anyone bother to follow up on this in 10 years? Probably not. And there is no penalty if it doesn't happen. Hopefully your little can collecting blog will still be around in 2025, and I will post a follow up.

Jones Hallow-One

Halloween is four weeks away.  To celebrate, your favorite blog, good old Cans in the Basement, will be displaying the 2013 Jones Halloween Soda Cans.  For a "treat" to go with this "trick", I will also provide a helpful soda factoid. These are useful facts; they are things everyone who wishes to be taken seriously in the soda world needs to know.

Halloween Soda Factoid Number One

Do you know the original name of Pepsi?  It certainly wasn't Pepsi.  It was originally called Brad's Drink and was created by Caleb Bradham in 1893.  What can you do with his tidy piece of data? Well, if you have a friend named Brad, you can ironically offer him a Pepsi.  "Dude, Brad my man, seriously, lemme buy you a Pepsi.  It's your drink after all."  Of course, this will be harder to do as the years wane on since the name Brad, at least in America, has been dropping steadily since 1975. It was at it's peak in 1975 as the 98th most popular baby name in America.  It has been dropping ever since. Thankfully, however, Pepsi sales haven't suffered the same fate.

Dr. Pepper Cherry 2014 Football Can

I want to get back in the style of just posting and popping cans up on the website. I've been lately trying to get all academic by discussing current soda news with the shoddy pictures of my cans. (All of those previous Diet Coke summer cans have such poor lighting!) For the next few weeks, I just want to call 'em as I see them. I will say a little bit about the can, slap up a picture, and forget about it. I'll probably start doing the soda research again in a few months. So for now...

Dr. Pepper has usually had a series of scholarship cans for the autumn. This year it seems they are just content to advertise a little football on ESPN. I enjoyed this beverage at work today between carrot sticks and grapes during lunch. (See, I am wise enough to counter all that sugar with a little healthy eating.)

In truth, I don't find Cherry Dr. Pepper as good as it sounds. Regular Dr. Pepper is swell, but the Cherry version just feels a little too chemical to me. Of course, I also took a swig of it after eating a kernel of candy corn (okay, so I'm maybe not that healthy), which made a terrific surge of fizz in my mouth I wasn't expecting. Maybe that had something to do with it. Anyway, I snapped a picture of the can before my lunch break was up just for the blog, and of course you, my dear soda reader.

Surge is Back

It's time to end the Buy-a-Coke from series. That was a summer thing. It's October now, and summer is long over. But before I start posting new cans, I need to share this news. It should be old news to you if you follow the soda world, but in case you missed it, a hit soda was brought back by popular demand.

Back from the 90s!

Yes, the soda Surge by Coca-Cola is back. Enough people on social media campaigned to get the product back. I posted about it about it over a year ago on this blog. It's currently available only on Amazon.com. If enough folks buy it, it will back on store shelves. So buy it people! (And yes, I am waiting to get a can to post.)