i'd like to teach the world to sing.

do you remember "new coke?"

in 1985, coca cola decided that it would make a newer, sweeter coca cola and it was a total failure. after many marketing inquiries, studies showed that many people preferred the new version, but coca cola did not seem to understand the sadness that might come with the absence of the original.

they had to bring it back. eventually, coca cola put the word "classic" on its bottles of original soda to distinguish it from the new version. but only in the united states. the rest of the world only had one version anyhow.

apparently, the designation is no longer needed.

The Coca-Cola Company is dropping the “Classic” from its red labels in some Southeast regions, and the word will be gone from all of its packaging by the summer, the company said Friday.

New Coke has long since disappeared from shelves, making the “Classic” qualification unnecessary. The font size of the “Classic” has been shrinking in the last decade, and the company removed it from labels in Canada in 2007.

“When people think Coke, they think classic, so more than two decades after introducing the word classic, the reason for being — quote unquote — for that word as a descriptor has disappeared,” said Scott Williamson, a Coca-Cola spokesman.

what does it all mean? well, i hope there's no mercury in that coke. any version. 1985 was also the year coca cola began using high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar.

***and i realize this commerical is from 1971, but it's what i think of when i think of coke.