“Dear Grocer: Stock 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!

ILoveTaB.com mentioned on Houston Press Blog

ILoveTaB.com member Jennifer, aka Miss Pop Rocks, recently mentioned ILoveTaB.com on her blog (September 24, 2007).

Please click here to read the article.

“My name is Miss Pop Rocks, and I’m a Tab addict. I just wanted you to know that. And I wanted you to know that it’s safe to admit that you may be a Tab addict too.

Tab. Just saying the name makes me feel cuter. And thinner. Tab. That delicious manna from Heaven that keeps your waistline trim and comes in an adorable little pink can. Pink!

Of course, loving the totally 80s diet soda comes with its challenges. There are only a few Krogers near my house that carry it, and I have yet to find a restaurant in the Houston area that offers it. During the lunch break at my place of employment, I’m forced to listen to such comments as, “Oh my God, do they still make Tab?�, “Are you seriously drinking Tab?� and, from the younger set, “What’s Tab?� I was starting to feel alone, lost, and out of place.

Then I found http://www.ilovetab.com, a Web site devoted to the joy that is the Tab product. And suddenly all was right with the world again.

According to http://www.ilovetab.com, I am in the company of such celebs as Andy Warhol, Mary Louise Parker, Kellie Martin, Rachael Ray, Tori Spelling, and Houston’s own ZZ Top. In addition, I discovered that Tab has been name-checked and spotted in such films as “Fletch Lives,� “Airplane II,� and every one of the Austin Powers movies. In the novel “Less Than Zero,� by Bret Easton Ellis, there’s a mention of Tab in at least three places, and the drink also pops up in the recent Pulitzer Prize winning “Middlesex� by Jeffrey Eugenides (page 335 to be exact).

I was informed by my Tab friends that despite nasty urban myths to the contrary, Tab does not give you cancer! (Not that that would have stopped me from drinking it.) There are even links on the site that connect you to places that sell super cute Tab tees.

So to my fellow Tab lovers, never fear. The next time someone makes fun of you for drinking Tab, roll your eyes and remind them that you’re not alone. Remember, ZZ Top drinks Tab, too. ”

Thanks Jennifer!

“Devotees go far to keep tabs on diet pop” – by Ana Fisher

(“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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