News articles relating to TaB

The blog Musings of a Dilattante recently linked to ILoveTaB.com in a post titled Dear grocer: Stock TaB

Even though they call us stalkers here at ILoveTaB, we have to agree – Stock TaB!

As I prepare to crack open the last soda I brought back from Nevada this summer, I have to ask: Why is TaB so hard to find?

I still remember when TaB was hugely popular, you could even get it in 2-liter bottles and find it in Coke machines.

However, I guess when diet Coke really took a hold in the late eighties, people preferred it. I don’t know if people liked the way it tasted better, if they followed the brand they could trust, or if it had anything to do with the infamous saccharin studies.

In case you are unaware, those studies charged that saccharin caused cancer in laboratory animals. What they didn’t tell you was that the dose of saccharin they were administering to those rats would have killed anything. Kind of follows that old adage that too much of anything is bad.

I also seem to remember that when Nutra-Sweet burst onto the scene as a replacement for that evil saccharin, all the sodas jumped right away… with the exceptions of TaB and the diet Shasta sodas. I think the grocery/generic brands also took their time making the switch.

Looking at the side of the TaB can on my desk, they did eventually change their formula at some point, for it now has a mix of saccharin and aspartame.

All I know is it’s tasty. And, once that last can is gone, I won’t be getting any for a while.

So, does TaB have a fan following? Is it enough to get a midwest bottler to start distributing it again? Do former fans of TaB even remember it?

Clearly, TaB does have a following… because a few fans have a long standing website at iLoveTaB.com, which is your basic stalker site… only their stalking appearances of a canned beverage insted of some celebutante.

All I know is I’d love to find some regular supply of TaB. Perhaps I should ask my baby sister in Portland to bring me a six-pack next time she travels this way. She’ll probably think I’m crazy, but you never know ’til you ask!

Hi !

Very,very sad news from Iceland – Vifilfell – maker of TAB, Coca Cola and other products in Iceland will stop production of TAB this spring. The last batch og 2L TAB is currently in stores but one batch of 1/2L TAB is yet to be produced and will probably sell out by this spring. TAB was introduced to the Icelandic market in 1982 and has been widely available through the country ever since.

RIP

Best Regards,
Gos Sverrisson, Iceland

So sorry to hear about this, but thanks for the update Gos

(“The vending machines that time forgot,” The Shreveport Times, June 10, 2006 — by Tim Greening)

Excerpt:

“Our soda machine has Tab in it, fer-cryin’-out-loud! Tab! I thought Tab went out when Ronald Reagan was sworn in. I wouldn’t be surprised if it still had Crystal Pepsi in it.�
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(“Sweet Nothing—The Triumph Of Diet Soda,” American Heritage Magazine, June/July 2006 — by Benjamin Siegel)

It came out of a Brooklyn hospital and in very few years changed not only what Americans drink but how they see themselves.

It is probably fair to say that hyman kirsch, 50 years dead, his once powerful beverage company now a shadow of its former fizzy self, could not have imagined the ways in which his No-Cal soda would change the world. Kirsch was gone before Diet Coke hit supermarket shelves everywhere; he never heard “Tab, Tab cola, for beautiful people� or drank a diet soda “just for the taste of it.� But his legacy is a multibillion-dollar-a-year business and has created a nation full of consumers thirsty for the latest liquid nothing.

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(“TaB Energy’s Arrival in Canada is Celebrated with “Fuel To Be Fabulous” Party,” Newswire.ca, June 15, 2006)

This Ain’t Your Mother’s TaB(TM)

TORONTO, June 15 /CNW/ – Young, chic women from across Toronto will
gather Saturday night at the StyleXchange to help celebrate the arrival of TaB
energy(TM) to Canada.

While TaB energy(TM) shares the old TaB(TM) brand name, that is where the
similarities end — it is not a cola — it is a new, deliciously pink, sugar-
free energy drink with only five calories per 269mL can. Available in an eye-
catching, fashionably pink can, TaB energy(TM) was created specifically for
women with a sense of style and purpose.
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(“Devotees go far to keep tabs on diet pop,” The Columbus Dispatch, May 7, 2006 — by Ana Fisher)

Maybe you’re too young to remember Space Food Sticks and Shake-a Pudd’n.

That’s because those food fads, introduced around the summer of 1969, couldn’t attract the necessary long-term market share.

Consumerproduct companies don’t seem to mind. They just roll out the next crazy idea and hope it sticks long enough to make a profit to bankroll the next crazy idea.
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(“Dwindling supply has TaB fanatics searching everywhere for their cola,” Press of Atlantic City, May 7, 2006 — by Courtney McCann)

Lolly Yocum will travel to the ends of the earth in search of an endangered species: her beloved TaB soda.

The Lansdale, Pa., doll maker has a summer house in Little Egg Harbor Township, but she spends more time traveling the Garden State Parkway trolling for soft drinks than enjoying the summer sun.

“During the summer months, I go on TaB-buying journeys that take me from Manahawkin to Atlantic City looking for my beloved drink,� Yocum said. “No other drink can compare.�
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(“Tab Energy Kills You Dead/The famously toxic retro cola nails women with a new, pink energy drink. Because you love it,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 8, 2006 — by Mark Morford)

You know what’s brilliant, in a skin-peeling, brain-grinding, I-can’t-feel-my-soul sort of way? Target marketing.

Target marketing, like when they take some toxic product you don’t really need and which you already know rots the lining of your skull and which could probably power a nuclear reactor, and then they put it into a special new package and pump it full with $100 million in marketing money and aim it straight at some exclusive demographic that’s not actually exclusive but which they want you to think is exclusive so if you belong to it you can say, Oh my goodness, I’m part of a sly, hip subculture and they’re speaking directly to me. I am so cool.
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(“Pink Power: TaB is back, sort of,” FoxNews.com, March 1, 2006 — by Jason M. Vaughn)

TaB Energy … is it fuel to be fabulous?

Some people remember TaB Cola for its distinctive pink can, while others recall its “unique” taste. Still others associate the soft drink with a 1970s cancer scare.
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(“TaB Energy: Fashionably Marketed,” BrandNoise.com, January 26, 2006)

Tab Energy is an energy drink based on The Coca-Cola Company’s diet soda, Tab. It shares the Tab name but does not taste like the original Tab. The drink will be marketed to women. It is scheduled to hit shelves in early 2006. Tab Energy will not use Saccharin like original Tab instead it will contain Sucralose. Comparable to Red Bull, Tab Energy will be available in 10.5 ounce slim cans patterned in fuchsia gingham. Tab was Coca-Cola Company’s first sugar-free drink, introduced in 1963, and is still available in limited quantities.

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(“The peculiar appeal of Tab cola,” AdFreak.com, February 1, 2006)

Lots of Tab news lately. Brand Noise has a post about Tab Energy, a new energy drink that’ll be sold in slim, Red Bullish cans. Among the early reviewers, Starving Actor’s Loft in Harlem seems to like it, but he did get it for free. And in The New Yorker, Ben McGrath uses the Tab Energy launch to talk about the cult of Tab freaks, which apparently include Steve Brill. The piece suggests that Tab’s “peculiar flavor (‘It tastes like metal’) and reputation for unhealthiness� are actually its strengths. We don’t have much to add here except, OK, here’s a vintage Tab ad. Enjoy.
—Posted by Tim Nudd

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It is so obvious this article used ILoveTaB.com as a source, why weren’t we mentioned?

(“TaB Scare,” The New Yorker, January 1, 2006 – by Ben McGrath> BEVERAGE NEWS

As if the mainstream media were no beleaguered enough, now comes word that th Coca-Cola Company is about to release a ne drink called Tab Energy. The plan is to capitalize on the popularity of the Red Bull genre while trading on the retro cachet of Tab with those iconic pink cans—a plan that coul threaten the sanctity of one of journalism’ secret, and most self-conscious, power cliques the cult of Tab lovers, who have persisted in drinking the pioneering diet soda, despite it virtual disappearance from the market.

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(“Tab spinoff digs up memories of nasty original,” The Journal Gazette, February 11, 2006 – by Sherry Slater)

When I read recently that the Coca-Cola Co. is launching an updated version of Tab, memories started fizzing and bubbling in my brain.

My mom bought that disgusting diet cola for about five years when I was a kid. We gulped it down because, even though we hated the taste of it, it was still pop. And it was supposed to be helping us lose weight.

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(“The plight of the TaB addict. VICES | The lengths to which some Canadians will go …,” TheStar.com, February 12, 2006 — by Jennifer Wells)

When it comes to vices, ya do what ya gotta do. Even if the vice in question isn’t anything near as illicit as say, crystal meth, but instead is sold over the counter in a pink pop can that recalls the era of Mary Quant, paisley shirts and winkle pickers.

Except it isn’t sold over the counter. Not in Toronto. Not in Ontario. Not in Canada, writ large.

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(“Coca-Cola welcomes consumers to the ‘Coke side of life’ for global campaign,” BrandRepublic.com, December 9, 2005, — by Julia Pearlman)

Excerpt relating to TaB Energy:

“In the last year alone, Coke launched more than a thousand products. But it is not stopping there. Several new products launching next year include: a coffee-flavoured soda called Coca-Cola Blak; a Tab energy drink for women; a bottled coffee called Far Coast; and black and green tea drinks called Gold Peak. ”
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(“Coke Revamps Ad, Sets New Product,”) KGET.com, Week of December 9, 2005)

Excerpt relating to TaB Energy:

“Also during the presentation, Coke marketing chief Mary Minnick said Coke was introducing higher-margin extensions in the fast-growing water category and that it plans to launch ‘Tab’ energy drink targeting women. Minnick also announced the company’s new advertising slogan: “Welcome to the Coke Side of Life.”

Coca-Cola has introduced several diet and reduced-calorie drinks in recent months to meet changing consumer tastes.

It is also now packaging Coca-Cola in an 8.4-ounce can and touting the serving has just 100 calories, Minnick said.”
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(“Why Coke Has Real Problems,” BusinessWeek.com, December 12, 2005, — by Dean Foust )

Excerpt relating to TaB Energy:

“And back in the U.S., Coke is using its shopworn Tab brand as the label for a new energy drink for women. The new drink is being called Tab Energy, has an energy-drink formulation, and the same can shape as Red Bull. ”
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(“A Jolt of Caffeine, by the Can,” NYTimes.com, November 23, 2005, — by Melanie Warner)

Excerpt relating to TaB Energy:

“A relative latecomer to the energy drink business, Coke is eager to become a much bigger player. In January, the company introduced Full Throttle, and last week it announced plans to revamp the 1970′s brand Tab, which has not been sold in any significant quantities in the last 20 years, as an energy drink aimed at women. It will also start selling a caffeinated version of its Powerade sports drink.”
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(“TaB drinkers, advertising help reveal that choice is king,” GainesvilleTimes.com, November 1, 2005, — by J.C. Smith)

I am proud to tell you that I claim membership in a special market segment. This is an elite group. I carry a membership card for the TaB Drinkers of America.

Many people are not familiar with TaB. Many poor souls may have thought that the Coca-Cola Co. no longer bottled, as I like to call it, “the nectar of the gods.”

TaB is sold in Mozambique, South Africa, Spain, Botswana, Iceland, Namibia and Swaziland, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Granted, TaB may not command the shelf space of other Coca-Cola products. Even with the introduction of Diet Coke in 1982, TaB has held its own over the years. First bottled in 1963, TaB was the company’s first sugar-free drink.
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(“Fans have a soft spot for old soft drink–A Soda with a Following,” Pressconnects.com, September 19, 2005, — by Elizabeth Cohen)

Sometimes Broome County runs dry. When it does, Tammy Kocak scrambles. “Recently we drove to Scranton, to check out the Wegmans there,” said the Binghamton office administrator, 43, speaking of one recent shortage. “If I locate a place that has some stock, I’m tempted to buy it all up.”

Tammy Kocak of Binghamton works as an assistant to Broome County Executive Barbara Fiala. Kocak admits to drinking two cases of TaB a week.

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ILoveTaB was mentioned in a NY local paper PressConnects.com the week of September 18, 2005.

“TaB drinkers would rather people not know. ‘I don’t want to spread it around that you can still get it or where I am getting it, because I don’t need any more competition for the few cases around for sale,’ said Kathi Cook of Binghamton, who has been drinking TaB since she was 15. ‘The other day I ran into someone else — another TaB drinker — at the market. We talked a little bit and then agreed to split the eight six-packs on sale.’

Haven’t we all felt that way?

(“Tab will get energy makeover,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September, 21, 2005 — by Caroline Wilbert)

Bell-bottoms came back into style, more than once. Disco had a resurgence. People are even wearing shirts with little alligators on them again.

So why not Tab?

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(“Project Alpha”Atlanta Magazine, 1963 – by Bill Diehl)

The pensive gentleman below is taste-testing a new low-calorie soft drink, which is being introduced to the world this month. In a special report for Atlanta Magazine, here is the behind-the-scenes story of how “TaB� was born.

On a Monday morning in February, one act of an unusual industrial drama was plated out in the sedate boardroom on the fourth floor of The Coca Cola Company building on North Avenue. Eight men were present in the walnut-paneled room. Two were members of the omnipotent Packaging Committee, which says “yea� or “nay� to everything Coca-Cola Bottlers use, from bottle caps to vending machines. The others were members of a special team, which, for several months, had been working, in complete secrecy on the design of a new soft drink bottle. The meeting lasted only a few minutes. The committee nodded “yea.� The bottle became a production item.

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from Snopes.com

Claim:

Coca-Cola’s original diet cola drink, TaB, took its name from an acronym for “totally artificial beverage.”

Status:

False.

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(“The Bitter Truth About a Sweetener Scare,” The Wall Street Journal, August 26, 1999 — by Dr. Elizabeth Whelan)

The recent death of Michael Sveda, the chemist who discovered cyclamates, an artificial sweetener, and worked on other industrial chemicals including DDT, brought me back to the pivotal day in my professional career.

On Oct. 18. 1969, holding a can of TaB, I watched Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Robert Finch tell the nation that because the sweetener posed a risk of cancer it would be banned. Just a few days before, I had seen a Food and Drug Administration scientist on television holding up deformed, sickly chicks that had been injected with cyclamates. At the time I was pursuing a doctoral degree in public health and knew that no sweeteners or other food additives had ever been cited as a possible factor in cancer causation. Why all this attention for a phantom risk? Why were we banning safe, useful products under the guise of cancer prevention? I have pursued an answer to those questions ever since.

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(“TaB Diet Soda: The customer lifeline,” Advanced Brand Management, 2002 — by Paul Temporal)

TaB has a shrinking market share of less than 1% and yet it has been spared the axe by Coca-Cola. The brand, once so successful, now resides at the bottom of the category heap. It was launched in 1963, and immediately became the drink of the “free” generation, the “Beautiful Drink for Beautiful People.” But in 1982 Diet Coke was introduced to add more power to the Coke brand, and TaB began to go downhill. Basically, its demise has been determined by a cannibalization of sales by Diet Coke, and a simultaneous competitive attack from Diet Pepsi and other such carbonated drinks. The company made several attempts to revitalize TaB in the 1980s and 1990s, through various product changes (fro example, reducing the content of the carcinogen saccharin and increasing the amount of aspartame, adding calcium, and making a clear alternative), and even by repositioning TaB as the drink with “sass.” However, all these efforts have failed to revive the brand.

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(“Keeping Tab(s): Brands’ fans loyal,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 14, 2003 — by Scott Leith -Staff)

Pam Nutt is clearly a TaB nut.

Yes, she’s heard plenty of little witticisms based on her last name. No matter. This one is accurate, Nutt said, given that she drinks six cans of Tab a day.

“When the distributor told me they were going to discontinue TaB in the machine at school, I almost died,” said Nutt, a teacher who lives in Henry County. “I begged them not to take it out.”

Such hard-core devotion might seem a bit much, but it is keeping TaB alive. As a little-known, small-selling soda, TaB owes its existence to a small army of sometimes fanatical consumers who will do almost anything to see that store shelves remain stocked with their favorite drink.

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(“What We Used To Drink: TaB Clear Cola,” This is Bristol (in association with The Evening Post), June 15, 2004)

TaB Clear Cola? Never heard of it.

Never heard of it?

If you didn’t drink TaB Clear Cola in the 90s, you weren’t really there, mate. It was a design classic, a legend born in 1993, one of the greatest years of the decade, the year when, errmm, errmm . . .

You’re struggling . . .

The year when Michael Jackson was accused (for the first time) of kiddy-fiddling and Clint Eastwood’s movie Unforgiven won an Oscar.

Never heard of that, either. Tell me more about TaB Clear.

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(“Keeping TaB: A Diet Soft Drink Shelf Life,” Journal of American & Comparative Cultures, March 2004– by George Plasketes)

“If there’s a heritage to a brand and the brand has withstood the test of time maybe there’s a story to tell.”
Jeffrey Himmel, CEO, Himmel Group, New York

Since its formulation in 1963, the Coca-Cola Company’s offspring, Tab, has transcended standard diet soft drink status to become a quirky yet enduring cultural icon that invites contradiction, curiosity, and anachronistic quips. Taste tests alone yield divergent responses along the soft drink spectrum. Self-professed Tabaholics pronounce the beverage an “elixir of the gods,” likening a sip to a “crisp Chardonnay” (McKay B1). More cautious, less complimentary cola connoisseurs characterize Tab’s taste as “sassy” (Giges, “Why Coke” 2), “mysterious” (Bryant), or “a good tart coke” (Allen 320), while dissenters dismiss Tab with distasteful descriptions such as “diety,”"peppery,”"astringent,” and “metallic” (McKay B1). Likewise, Tab’s presence at the grocery check-out lanes invites contrasting glances from bar-code scanning clerks, often defined along generational lines, the older response being, “I didn’t know they still made that stuff,” while the standard younger remark is, “Oh, is this a new drink?” 1

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(“Famed [TaB bottle] L.B. designer dies in hit-and-run,” Long Beach Press Telegram, November, 2004– by Tracy Manzer)

LONG BEACH — When Jana Yoshizumi was about 12 years old, she lost contact with her father following her parents’ separation.

Several years ago, the father and 28-year-old daughter reconnected and forged a strong bond that included phone calls several days a week and many trips to her dad’s Long Beach home.

“It was like I was 12 all over again,” Jana said Tuesday.

“It’s hard for me to accept that he was taken from me again, and I’ll never get a second chance this time.”

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