A Coke by Any Other Name: What New Coke Can Teach about Having Trust, Losing Trust, and Gaining It Back Again

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4. Emotional connection

It is clear that consumers had an emotional connection to Coke. Consumers react to products, such as Coke, in more ways than can be measured by a taste test. Individuals could remember when they had their first Coke. In Ref. [7], the authors worked with individuals to understand memories related to Coke and learned about the many connections that individuals had to Coke. Many had memories of sharing a Coke as a bonding experience with a parent or an older family member. Others spoke of receiving a Coke as a reward for good behavior or grades. “In these special parental bonding experiences, the underlying emotion is love and a feeling of belonging or acceptance.” [7, p. 331] A depth of feeling became connected with Coke.

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All brands want to create memorable experiences. Coke did that by creating a wealth of connections between individuals. Even simple moments were imbued with such a rich emotional experience that they took on more than the causal sharing of a drink. It became a “sacred totem.” In Ref. [7], we understand the many mythic images that Coke took on for individuals. It was the transformer—a Coke shared as someone came of age, the hero—always there to give a special boost to parties, and the mother/caretaker—shared at a grandmother’s house, a safe and secure place. It is as if these early emotional experiences were “imprinted” and led to a preference for that beverage later in life. When we connect memories of Coke to the mythic structure, we recognize that Coke moved from being a simple beverage to being a placeholder for many emotions. And like the trauma of losing a treasured teddy bear or blankie, the change to New Coke rocked people emotionally. This is why the reaction against New Coke was so strong.

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Even neurobiology demonstrates the emotional connection to Coca-Cola. A study [8] demonstrated that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC), which is involved in emotions, affected individuals’ connections to specific brands. They completed a blind taste test with three categories of subjects: (1) normal controls, (2) individuals who had brain damage in their VMPC, and (3) individuals who had experienced brain damage but which did not affect the VMPC area. In blind taste tests between Coke and Pepsi, all of the individuals preferred Pepsi. (This replicates some of the famous taste challenges that prompted Coke to try and redesign its formula.) However, in taste tests that included brand information, only the individuals with damage to the VMPC area kept their Pepsi preference. When brand information was provided, the other two groups switched their preference from Pepsi to Coke. It was believed that since the VMPC is important in emotional processing, and brands ensure brand loyalty through emotional connections, the individuals with VMPC damage lost that emotional connection to the brand and only the taste itself determined their preference. Another study found more activation in the right amygdala with a Coca-Cola cue versus Pepsi-Cola; again, this is part of the brain that is associated with emotional processing [9]. In their taste test, they used the exact same mixture of colas for every tasting but found a higher rating of pleasantness and a preference for the drink when the taster believed it to be Coca-Cola or Pepsi-Cola (strong brands) when compared with “weaker” or less-well-known brands. One’s emotional connection to a brand affects an individual’s perception of a product.

Individuals connected Coke with certain experiences and emotions. When the taste of Coke was not only changed but the change was advertised and presented as a good thing, those memories were affected. Customers are not just consumers but “complex and multi-dimensional human beings.” [10, p. 1] Products are not just a thing; they create emotional connections. Coca-Cola promised and delivered on many emotional experiences related to its product. It was precisely because of these connections that its customers felt so violated by the change to New Coke. Consider that when a branded product has been around a long time and is heavily advertised, it can pick up emotional freight [11]. With all of that emotional freight, is it any wonder that the change to New Coke derailed?

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