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From: jonu@tekchips.UUCP (Jon Udell)
Newsgroups: net.misc.coke
Subject: Re: Taste Test
Message-ID: <55@tekchips.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Aug-85 14:49:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: tekchips.55
Posted: Mon Aug  5 14:49:59 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 12-Aug-85 00:32:34 EDT
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 45

In article <490@t12tst.UUCP> chris@t12tst.UUCP (Christopher Paull) writes:
>
> When Pepsi first announced their "Pepsi challange", some friends and
> I did accept.  Our results were just the opposite as theirs.  3/2 
> people prefered coke to pepsi.  Makes you wonder where Pepsi gets their
> numbers from???

How many people took your test?  In order to broadcast their taste test
commercials, I'm sure that Pepsi had to use a very large sample of the
population - adding your results to the test would have only a negligible
effect on the results.  You can also trust Pepsi's numbers - you can bet
that Coke made every effort to verify them.

The question is not whether or not more people preferred Pepsi than Coke,
but whether such a test is valid.  In such tests, people tend to prefer the 
sweeter drink (Pepsi), while in the long run, this may not be the case.
In my opinion, Coke made a major error by claiming that Sprite tastes better
than 7-Up - effectively acknowledging that the taste test is valid.  Perhaps
this was done with the introduction of the new, sweeter Coke in mind.
(This still doesn't explain Bill Cosby's adds stating that he likes Coke
because it wasn't as sweet as Pepsi.)  Anyway, Coke is now eating their
words in more ways than one.  (And now Bill likes the sweeter taste better!)


                             Jon Udell


PS  Has anyone tried LIKE, from 7-Up?  It's the caffeine-free cola that
started the trend.  I've never had any trouble getting it before (having 
lived in Madison, WI - one of its test markets), but I haven't seen it
yet here in Oregon.




-- 
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                          Jon Udell

              jonu@tekchips      until mid-September
              --------------------------------------
                         udell@shasta
                        t.tedium@lotsb