Could someone post a picture of these cans? If they’re comparable to Red Bull cans, then they are most definitely NOT the same mini-cans as I see here and in New York. I am most confused. The ones I see are eight ounces, but instead of being skinnier, they are the exact same diameter and style as the regular coke cans, but shorter, like they were stepped on.
It’s all about the numbers. I had the alternator on my car replaced and the electrician asked whether I wanted the same part or the good one that costs $10 more. I complained that it was really cheap of the manufacturer to give me an inferior part to save $10. The elctrician then pointed out that they may have made 1,000,000 of these cars so it was worth their while.
Similarly Delta carried 105,000,000 passengers in 2000. If you can save 25c per passenger that’s $500,000 per week additional profit.
The one’s I’ve seen are the same size and shape as a Red Bull can. The body is Coke’s traditional red color, and the trademark “Coca-Cola” logo is written vertically in a lighter shade of red. The colors are so close, you probably wouldn’t be able to read it from ten feet away. It also says in small, but not ingredient-list small, letters, “Classic Formula.”
I know I’ve seen it at Cala/Ralphs/Kroger and at BevMo, but BevMo doesn’t show it online, nor does Safeway.
you can find a picture of these cans
there , just scroll the page a bit
it’s a rant in a webstrip where the author is a pepsi addict
Here in Japan, where beverage vending machines are on every corner, be they street, building, or rice field, Coke cans come in all the sizes mentioned thus far. The standard 350 ml (11.8 oz) can is ¥120, the 100 ml can (same diameter as the 350, just shorter) is ¥100. I’ve only seen the Red Bull-sized cans for sale at the local grocery, for about ¥50 or so per can.
During the summer, Coca-Cola Japan usually stocks machines with 500 ml (16.9 oz) super-sized cans, in addition to the other sizes. Although the 500 ml plastic bottles are ¥150, the cans are still ¥120. One of my Japanese language textbooks mentions this in a “Cultural Note.” We Americans usually go for the larger size, since it’s the same price, but Japanese people will still buy the 350 ml can. Once an American asked his Japanese friend why. His friend replied, “I don’t want to drink that much.” The American responded with the fact that it’s a waste of money to buy a smaller size at the same price as the largeer one. The Japanese man said, “Would you rather I wasted the drink?”
The Red Bull-sized cans are usually used for Georgia Coffee, another fine Coca-Cola company product. Served cold or hot, in cans, from the vending machines. Coke also makes a sports drink here, called Aquarius, to compete with a popular local product with the unlikely name of “Pocari Sweat.”
The master has addressed this subject thusly:
(From the archives
Robu
yes, for some reason, I’m being overly pompous tonight…
Their website seems to think they have quite a few stores in the UK. I was certainly in one a year ago, the last time I was in the UK.
That’s just freaky. By the way, that’s one of the webcomics I try to read everyday… I missed that one, though.
This ebay auction shows the cans I can get down here, just the right size and shape to go in an old-fashioned plastic lunchbox:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3267755024&category=39500
My friend went to a World’s Fair when she was a wee tyke. She bought a six-pack of baby Cokes. They were in a little cardboard carton and the bottles were about 1.5 inches tall. And they had real coke in them. The Coke started evaporating (with the caps on…go figure), so they were only half-full. Cutest damn food I’ve ever seen. And I have a real thing for cute food.
Those aren’t like this coke can. I’d put a picture up on my webspace if I could find my digital camera, since I can’t open that comics website. If I find it later, I’ll put it up and link you guys.
I got my numbers a bit wrong – when I said 100 ml can, I should have said 160 ml can. You can see a picture of the different Japanese Coca-Cola sizes here. Could the 160 ml can be what you’re talking about, Freiheit? Oh, and the Red-Bull sized can goes for ¥80 or so, not ¥50.
Also note the bottle-shaped can at the end…weird.
Back in the 70’s and 80’s my Dad worked for an airline. He would bring home those funky narrow cans of Coke. Some had Japanese writing on them; I would guess they were those 250mL cans. Others had Arabic writing.
My friends used to love coming over and getting one of those cans.
These look neat! Check out this article as well. They seem to have a ‘stubby’ version that resembles the old ‘stubby’ beer bottles of the 70s!
Nope, it’s 250ml. 160 is downright tiny. And the bottle shaped can… cool. Why is it that the Japanese are so good at things that look like other things?
The picture near the bottom of DakotaDog’s link is exactly like what I have in front of me.