Soda is consumed all over the world, becoming a staple in most restaurants and fast food joints. Chief among them is Coca-Cola, a company that leads the front for all sugary and “sparkling” drinks as it likes to boasts. Unfortunately for the sweet behemoth, times are changing as people are becoming more conscious about what they eat and drink. The change in people’s opinion has, in turn, influenced the way Coca-Cola does business.

The 131-year-old company started out back in 1886, soon after its hometown city of Atlanta recovered from a fire that burned the whole city down. The invention of coke put this company on the world map and created a phenomenon that has stayed relevant in the eyes of the public even to this day, immersing itself in general culture.

Coca-Cola’s drinks have always been the example of the dangers of soda though, most of their drinks are made up of pure sugar and colouring, which as you can guess, does not make it on the list of ‘should have’. While the company has tried to get around this issue by creating “diet” versions of their soda or creating brands of different and healthier drinks, the fact that Coke wasn’t a healthy drink had never quite affected it.

At least, that was the case until a few years ago, when Coke’s overall sales have been going down for 11 consecutive years in America. The decrease occurred due to an awareness of just what went into making coke, as well as people beginning to take their health into consideration.

You can’t blame the public either; much has been said about the effects that sugar has on us through our site alone (plus many others), and that has only extended as the years have gone by. Not to mention that even Coca-Cola’s diet drinks aren’t as ‘healthy’ as they want to make them seem.

Even then, this is only a slight decrease in sales for cokes, which has, in turn, reflected an increase in the other brands. Coca-Cola’s expansion of its brand to things like Dasani, Smartwater, Minute Maid, Honest Tea and Fairlife Milk has helped dissuade the public’s negative opinion due to the increase in variety. Of course, just because these other brands are doing well doesn’t mean the company can ignore the product that started it all plus each of the individual brands have also had some negative reports (e.g. Minute Maid was sued for exploiting health benefits of pomegranate when its pomegranate juice drink contains less than 0.3% of pomegranate juice).

Well, like many other companies around the world, Coca-Cola has decided to spice up its brand by looking at how its customers have changed. Over the last few years, it has worked on some variations of the original formula. Such changes have been selling cans in smaller quantities in the UK (which are quite cute and snazzy) or creating coke that’s high in fibre in Japan or high on Vitamin C in China, countries where people are concerned about their fibre and Vitamin C consumption.

Another, more substantial change has been the company’s focus on trying to lower the quantity of sugar in its drinks in hopes of making it healthier while also retaining its influence in the world. While this doesn’t exactly make it better (after all, too much sugar is still bad for the body) at least it proves that the company is willing to try and change for the better.

In the meanwhile, Coca-Cola has decided to expand on the marketing campaigns for its healthier products, from milk to water to even iced tea. So who knows, maybe some more changes are on the horizon for the world for soft drinks.

Photo Credits: Youtube, The Coca-Cola Company
References: Adweek & Huffington Post