Like Hypercolor clothing and Tae Bo, OK Soda was a cult invention that some people loved with a passion, but that never really caught on with everybody.
In 1993, beverage giant Coca-Cola looked at Generation X’s reputation as sullen slackers and decided that even brooding teens bought soda. And so they rolled out the most noncorporate corporate beverage ever, OK Soda.
The cans, designed by alt-cartoonists Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns, featured a gray and black motif and startlingly bleak designs. The flavor was kind of like fruity Fresca, but kids raised with free rein at fountain drink stands immediately recognized it as a “suicide”…the drink you get when you mix a bit of each flavor offered into your cup. It’s a Spritefruitpunchlemonadecola!
It was an odd attempt to reach a generation that whatever its economic and internal struggles, still drank soda like pretty much everyone else in the nation. By 1995, OK was KO’d.
Since then, its spirit has been replaced by boutique sodas like Jones Soda, with flavors like Turkey & Gravy for Thanksgiving and Larke for Hanukkah.
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