To recover its share of the soft drink market in 2006, you may be hearing about Coca-Cola's newest scheme in the news: Launching a line of premium coffee drinks, along with a carbonated coffee concoction called Coca-Cola Blak.
This week, the soft-drink kingpin unveiled three premium coffee drinks -- caramel nut latte, expresso and creme and cinnamon vanilla -- selling for $2 a can in the Charlotte market under the Cinnabon brand in hopes of recovering the economic ground it lost to rival Pepsi that distributes Starbucks' bottled Frappucino product line.
Catching the eye of many business observers, however, is the January rollout of Coca-Cola Blak in France, with a worldwide launch soon after. What the company calls "an adult product in a carbonated beverage," folks, is nothing more health-harming liquid candy with the flavor of coffee.
Earlier this year, soft drink dethroned white bread as the largest source for calories in the average American diet, as well as high-fructose modified corn syrup.
Even more frightening, you increase your odds of obesity by 60 percent with each soft drink you consume a day. That's why I so strongly support the removal of soft drink machines from public schools.
USA Today December 7, 2005
Charlotte Observer December 3, 2005
MSNBC December 8, 2005