# Coca Cola ends production of Tab
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** soda-softdrinks
**Created:** [October 16, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129 "2020-10-16T17:29:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/1 "2020-10-16T17:29:34Z")
That odd tasting diet drink. It lasted for 57 years.
> **[Coca-Cola will stop making Tab diet soda, company announces](https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/coca-cola-stop-making-tab-diet-soda)**
>
> Tab diet soda is heading the way of Crystal Pepsi and Jolt cola.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/2 "2020-10-16T18:04:41Z")
And another of the icons from my youth passes.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/3 "2020-10-16T18:15:05Z")
It seems wrong to say that a soda that’s been around for almost 60 years is ‘heading the same way’ as one that barely lasted 2 years.
And every time I here or see anything about Tab, it reminds me of the Sarah Silverman Program.
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/4 "2020-10-16T18:19:35Z")
They still made Tab?
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/5 "2020-10-16T18:25:39Z")
They did, though I suspect that it wasn’t made by every one of Coke’s local bottling companies anymore. You can (or, at least, up until recently, could) still find it in some stores in the Chicago area.
I remember people joking about the brand name standing for “Totally Artificial Beverage,” and that it tasted like sucking on a car key. I suspect that most of its remaining consumers were older, had been drinking it for decades, and preferred the saccharin taste over diet sodas made with aspartame, which is why those consumers had refused to switch.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/6 "2020-10-16T18:27:48Z")
The song in the commercial is still stuck in my head after all these years.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJL4yQn_7qQ)
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/7 "2020-10-16T18:55:03Z")
Gee, what will Marty McFly order at the lunch counter now?
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### Author:  [@epbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/8 "2020-10-16T18:55:09Z")
Exactly what I think every time I see someone drinking one. I had my first and last one back in the 1970s and can’t believe people still drink it.
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### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/9 "2020-10-16T18:57:37Z")
He tried to settle for a Pepsi Free.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/10 "2020-10-16T19:05:23Z")
> [@NDP](#):
>
> They still made Tab?
It was the [Abe Vigoda of colas](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive).
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> The song in the commercial is still stuck in my head after all these years.
Mine too.
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/11 "2020-10-16T19:07:01Z")
Diet Coke came out in 82 so it’s interesting Tab lasted this long. I can’t recall seeing it in stores for decades.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/12 "2020-10-16T19:08:28Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> It seems wrong to say that a soda that’s been around for almost 60 years is ‘heading the same way’ as one that barely lasted 2 years.
> And every time I here or see anything about Tab, it reminds me of the Sarah Silverman Program.
Didn’t Bobcat Goldthwait always have two six-packs of Tab on the stage when doing his stand ups?
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/13 "2020-10-16T19:26:43Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> Diet Coke came out in 82 so it’s interesting Tab lasted this long. I can’t recall seeing it in stores for decades.
We still had it in Michigan. 12-packs and 6-packs, I think.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/14 "2020-10-16T19:26:57Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> It was the [Abe Vigoda of colas](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive).
Good one.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/15 "2020-10-16T19:28:02Z")
Don’t remember the Tab commercial (and _boy_ am I going to remember it now!) but I still remember the “introducing Diet Coke” ads.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BRfcbkBmxo)
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/16 "2020-10-16T22:26:12Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> I suspect that most of its remaining consumers were older, had been drinking it for decades, and preferred the saccharin taste over diet sodas made with aspartame, which is why those consumers had refused to switch.
My mother was one of those, a taste inherited from my now deceased grandmother. When I was a kid it was the only soda allowed in the house 😡. But even my mother stopped touching the stuff awhile back, probably because it was just getting harder to find.
There aren’t many “foods” I’ve retained hate for throughout my life, but Tab certainly stands out as a glaring example. I loathed it and welcome its demise.
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### Author:  [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/17 "2020-10-16T22:28:34Z")
What’s next to go? The Polaroid Swinger?
I was a skinny kid of about 12 when they started making Tab, so I didn’t need a diet soda, but I remember liking it. I remember the original commercial jingle ended with something like “The Coca Cola companee put the robust flavor in Tab.” Then they discovered that whatever it was that gave it that “robust flavor” caused cancer in rats, and they changed the formula to whatever it is that diet sodas have had in them ever since. It tasted awful and I haven’t had one since. I’m surprised it’s still on the market.
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### Author:  [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/19 "2020-10-19T00:08:28Z")
What will all the gustatory masochists drink now?
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2020, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/20 "2020-10-19T01:03:56Z")
Dr Pepper
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2020, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coca-cola-ends-production-of-tab/923129/21 "2020-10-19T03:06:15Z")
Was it Hairspray? “Look, Francine, TAB for our DIETS.” ETA: No, Polyester?
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