Coke has a supposedly secret formula locked away in some underground bunker where only 2 people in the whole world knows about, or some crazy thing like that. I don’t know how they get away with not telling the FDA what’s in the formula, but I figure that if beer companies can do it, Coke can do it. But that’s not my question
What’s to stop someone from simply buying a can of Coke, repackage it, and sell it as something else if the formula’s secret? How would anyone be able to prove they are the same beverage if Coke won’t reveal it’s formula?
Well, it makes no economic sense to buy a can of Coke and repackage it. The cost of doing this is more than making your own. For one thing, you’re paying for Coke’s expenses even before you incur any of your own. Then there’s the cost of the new containers. Add to that, you can’t even tell people it’s Coke or be sued for trademark violation. So there’s no point.
And Coke wouldn’t care – they’re selling their product to you. Helps their bottom line (as long as you don’t infringe on their trademarks).
Coke spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year promoting Coke. There are Coke signs in every place colas are sold everywhere in the world. Hundreds of millions of people drink Coke.
Even so, most people can’t distinguish Coke in a blind taste test.
Coke’s value is in its marketing and brand recognition. Anybody in the industry who wanted to replicate Coke’s formula could do so. They don’t because that’s not what sells the drinks. Obviously, the same objection holds for merely repackaging Coke.
The secret formula makes for a nice marketing story, though.
Remember when Pepsi had that big taste test thing in the 90s? I was able to tell which one was Pepsi a 100% of the time. They do taste different. As far as taste goes, they’re both ok but I likes my Dr Pepper.
I imagine they could get pretty close, but could they replicate it?
So they put Coke through a mass spec and figure out exactly what percentage of eighty three different molecules make up the mix, that doesn’t give them the original recipe, though it does give a good hint at it.
So buy the fountain syrup in boxes and use that to make your own brand. There is plenty of room to make profit off of boxed syrup.
I agree that it’s really down to the marketing of the brand.
As a general rule, in blind taste tests, a sweeter product will win (i.e., be preferred by more people). Most people seem to feel that “regular” Pepsi is sweeter than “regular” Coke, which is why Pepsi always did well in those “Pepsi Challenge” taste tests (and they ran those back into the 1980s, if not before).
First of all, that would be “reverse passing-off,” which is a violation of the Lanham Trademark Act.
As to how they would prove it, there is a lot more potential evidence than just the composition of the soda itself. For example, for it to be worth it at all, they’d have to get their hands on a lot of Coca-Cola. That kind of shipment is going to get noticed.
Actually, this is part of Coke’s business model: they sell syrup to bottlers (e.g, The Coca Cola Bottling Company, which is separate from Coca Cola) who do the actual sales. Of course, they have the advantage of selling Coke, while you’re just selling a no-name Cola. People may have strong opinions of Pepsi vs. Coke, but they all agree that they aren’t interested in no-name cola.
Repackaging Coke would be pretty foolish even if it were cheap and easy. People aren’t paying for the beverage, they’re paying for the nice red can. Product branding is a powerful thing. By repackaging it, you’d be getting rid of the best part of the product.
Pepsi knew that, too. Most people would rather have a sip of Pepsi than of Coke. But when it came to drinking a whole can, Coke won out.
I took the Pepsi Challenge once. I pointed to one of the cups and said “I like Coke better.” The survey taker shrugged her shoulders and said “Some people do.”
Suppose hypothetically, I decide to market Coca-Cola to stupid rich people. I buy regular bottles of Coca-Cola, repackage them in special crystal decanters, and then sell them for twenty dollars a bottle.
Now I’m openly advertising my product as Coca-Cola and I have no contract with the Coca-Cola Corporation but am I doing anything illegal? I bought their product and I’m reselling it at a higher price. Is there a trademark violation in this?
While it is possible that there is some scrap of paper hidden somewhere, labeled “official recipe”, there must be thousands of people that know, or could figure out what is in it. When you buy ingredients by the truckload, there is really no way to keep them secret.
If a product isn’t patented, its manufacturer is not obligated to reveal the details of its design and construction. The manufacturer is still protected by laws concerning trade secrets. The Coca-Cola company may have taken this approach.
The company may reveal the overall composition of the product without revealing the specific formula of the product. For the FDA, it’s sufficient to reveal that Coke contains only food-safe ingredients (carbonated water, sugar or other sweeteners already approved for use in food, food coloring already approved for use in food, and miscellaneous "flavorings). This is very different from revealing the formula, that is, the proportions and processes by which these ingredients are combined.
It’s unlikely that only two people know the formula because someone has to make the stuff, and two guys isn’t enough to supply the entire world. In any case, any chemist could pull the ingredients apart.
Knowing what the chemical consituents are doesn’t mean you know how to make it. Imagine trying to make a loaf of bread based only on a list of ingredients.
The secret formula may have originally given the Coca Cola Corporation a way of differentiating the taste of their product, but now it’s just a marketing ploy. Food chemists can duplicate the taste and mouth feel of any soft drink, including Coke. Coca Cola is the oldest cola drink, which appeals to some people, so the Coca Cola company tells people that their cola has been made according to the same secret formula for many years.
Years ago I read a book about the history of Coke titled For God, Country and Coca Cola. The author wrote that, while he was doing research for the book at Coca Cola’s corporate offices he ran across a copy of the secret formula. He asked an executive whether they were worried about the formula getting out and the guy replied, “Why? What would you do with it?” The point is that even if you came out with a duplicate product, you couldn’t duplicate the Coca Cola brand, which is the real strength of the company.