Tab, Coca-Cola’s Diet-Soda Pioneer and a ’70s Icon, Is Going Away

"Tab uses a different recipe compared to Spain and the U.S., where it's a caffeine-free drink, and uses less carbonation."

Marty: "Gimme a Tab"

Lou: "A tab? I can't give you a tab unless you order something"

--Back to the Future (1 not 2)

That was a bit of an obscure joke at the time, watching from Europe.

Edit: Oh my, I had the movie part wrong!

lets just say its an acquired taste and note that diet soft drinks did not have the selection there is today

Edit: Sorry if this seems snarky, not my intent, but to be clever/witty in stating that Coke will never end it's Sugary drinks. That's their $$$ cow.

> In 1962, Coca-Cola launched a crash program code-named “Project Alpha” to develop a competing diet cola [to Royal Crown's Diet-Rite Cola] and bring it to market in less than a year. The goal was to produce a low-calorie cola drink using saccharin and cyclamates instead of sugar while avoiding the typically unpleasant aftertaste that plagued other diet sodas. Coca-Cola met its goal with the introduction of TaB in May 1963, a diet cola advertised with the slogan “How can one calorie taste so good?

[1] http://mentalfloss.com/article/547246/why-coca-cola-designed...

In all seriousness, yes, I'm actually thrilled at the continued prominence of sugar-free drinks. We still have an obesity epidemic going on, and sugar-free drinks to me seem like a true have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too offering. Having people switch from sugary sodas to their sugar-free equivalent seems like the easiest win to improve health.

I get the argument "Just drink water", but do the people making that argument really think that everyone is going to do this? And why should we anyway? Research continues to show that artificial sweeteners are harmless, and drinking soda is just plain fun.