Just when you thought Coca-Cola couldn’t get anymore thirst-quenching, the caffeine-filled fizzy pop experts have only gone and topped it.
With summer just round the corner and the weather set to hit tentative new highs well into the teens next week – blink and you’ll miss it – capitalist conglomerates can’t wait for the Great British public to crack open a can of the cold stuff in our droves.
Get the unseasonal but optimistic shorts and ice creams at the ready, guys:
Temperatures ?️ are set to rise for many areas through next week. Staying cool around the coasts though pic.twitter.com/iAKOioKnO4
— Met Office (@metoffice) April 15, 2018
Always ready to jump when the consumer says so, Coca-Cola are here to present the latest in delicious sugary delicacies for our delectation.
It’s like Christmas come early:
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Roll up, roll up and step aside, Slush Puppy: Here you have the Coca-Cola slushie. Just right for when an ice lolly won’t do and a mere liquid drink isn’t right.
Half can of coke, half ice, this thing looks too good to drink… Or eat?
But, for those of you with a few more sweet teeth, Coca-Cola have outdone themselves with a new release of fruity flavours.
Now the Fanta brand is in on the action too.
The pouches will be sold both already frozen and also unfrozen, for those who want to put them in their freezers when they get back home.
For decades now people have used the popular pop as a mixer but they’re now introducing an alcoholic version.
The company is experimenting with the creation of a popular Japanese alcopop known as Chu-Hi, which mixes distilled shochu alcohol with flavoured carbonated water.
The canned beverage will hit shelves in Japan sometimes this year, going arm to arm with Chu-Hi flavoured drinks such as kiwi and yuzu, according to Jorge Garduño, Coca-Cola Japan’s president.
Confirming the plan in an interview on the company’s website, he said:
This is a canned drink that includes alcohol; traditionally, it is made with a distilled beverage called shochu and sparkling water, plus some flavouring.
We haven’t experimented in the low alcohol category before, but it’s an example of how we continue to explore opportunities outside our core areas.
Like tattooing here in the UK, apparently:
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He added:
Coca-Cola has always focused entirely on non-alcoholic beverages, and this is a modest experiment for a specific slice of our market.
The Chu-Hi category is found almost exclusively in Japan. Globally, it’s not uncommon for non-alcoholic beverages to be sold in the same system as alcoholic beverages. It makes sense to give this a try in our market.
Unfortunately for us over here in the UK and US, the drink is likely to stay inside Japan thanks to the ‘unique and special’ qualities of the Japanese market.
The move comes as Coca-Cola and others, are facing struggling sales in its core business of fizzy pop, thanks to younger generations saying nope to sugar in general.
Failing that, this place will sell you the perfect pint:
The Coca-Cola chief executive said:
There’s a lot of focus on innovation. We’re making innovations in Coke, innovations with flavours, innovations with ingredients all around the world… taking it into different categories than it was in before.
Just another in the long list of reasons to take a trip to Japan. Who’s with us?
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected].
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.