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It's This Sort Of Freaky Obsessiveness That Makes Me Love The Internet

Sep 4, 2009
By .
Effluvia

I prefer Royal Crown Cola, which is getting hard to find even in the south, to Coke or Pepsi, but this graphic chart summarizes what would take an economic historian twenty pages to write, in just a few pixels. Years ago, I'd have to subscribe to fringe magazines or hang out with intimidatingly smart people to get this sort of insight.  Today, it comes to me at my desk, and I don't have to feel inferior to anyone.

Via the best libertarian blog there is.

Last 5 posts by Patrick

7 Comments
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7 Comments

  1. Ezra  •  Sep 4, 2009 @2:55 pm

    If you ever find your way out to the best place on Earth, I have a great taqueria with RC on tap! In fact, I'll be there tonight.

  2. smurfy  •  Sep 4, 2009 @3:33 pm

    A couple of years ago at a mapping conference someone created a large (like 10 by 20) map of the United States color coded by what term the local people use to order a soda. Everyone west of the Mississippi properly uses the term soda. The northeast annoyingly uses pop and the entire south calls everything from grape soda to root beer 'Coke'.

  3. Ezra  •  Sep 4, 2009 @3:57 pm

    Heh, I call it all coke like the good Texan I am. One of the strangest things about living in New Orleans was having my students tell that their "cold drink" was hot. Fish out of water comedy ahoy!

  4. Grandy  •  Sep 4, 2009 @4:14 pm

    Remeber, Texas isn't southern, it's Texan!

    I always liked the "cola wrods by region" map. There's other interesting maps about pronunciation in regions too.

    The Coke/Pepsi thing is interesting because I feel like I read articles from time to time (probably after the super bowl, frequently) about how smartly Pepsi is marketed and how it's over-taking coke. Ihaven't look at any kind of market share numbers in ages, granted, but I always got the impression these were puff pieces written by people who have friends in marketing.

    Marketing is a powerful, but fleeting, thing.

  5. yonatron  •  Sep 5, 2009 @5:57 am

    Except that timeline's already been debunked. I can't remember where I saw it, but there was an even-more-detailed blog post somewhere showing far more Coca-Cola logos and pointing out that the current one probably wouldn't have been doable at smallish print sizes with 1886 technology.

  6. yonatron  •  Sep 5, 2009 @6:00 am

    Found it: http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/coca-cola_vs_pepsi_revised_edition.php

    They leave intact the point that Coke's been way more consistent for way longer. But the idea that the logo's been completely unchanged is still an exaggeration.

  7. Chris  •  Sep 5, 2009 @4:07 pm

    @smurfy – you've got that wrong, or at least incomplete. New York's firmly "soda" and Minnesota's definitely "pop". This has caused me some grief.