MEMORIES:
kendra remembers...I was always curious about Tab,but never had it. I'm guessing I didn't miss much.lol More »
Posted on 08/13/08
PHOTOS:
CATCH PHRASE:
Now relegated to the bottom shelf at the end of the soft drink aisle, Tab had a bright promise as The Coca-Cola Company’s first sugar-free offering. Introduced at the very beginning of a diet-conscious era, it was created for those who were keeping “tabs” on their weight. Though the name caught urban legend status as standing for “Totally Artificial Beverage,” the truth was that Coca-Cola chose the name off of a computer generated list of short words. The name Tab stuck and thus we had a diet drink that developed a market within two decades.
Finding an audience didn’t come quickly for Tab, as the public wasn’t entirely on-board with counting calories. Slowly, but surely, Tab developed a mostly female following after television advertisements promoted keeping a slim shape as a way to find and keep a man. In other words, as the ads said “be a Mindsticker.” The soda was reaching its height of popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and soon several versions of Tab popped up, including flavors such as lemon-lime and orange.
Sadly, for enthusiasts of Tab, the 1982 introduction of Diet Coke, along with a cancer-scare involving the artificial sweetener, saccharine, which was used in Tab, caused sales to dwindle. In an attempt to boost sales of the beleaguered beverage, Coca-Cola began experimenting with artificial sweeteners, though none could satisfy the fans demanding the original flavor. Soon, Tab was also available in a variety of other cola flavors, from root beer, to cherry-cola, again disappointing fans. In the early 1990s, following suit with the Crystal Pepsi concept, Coca-Cola introduced Tab Clear, disappointing fans once again. The marketing travesty has left a small cult of diehard fans behind, forcing them to find wholesalers if their local market doesn’t carry their favorite beverage.
Of course, as a result of its cult popularity, Tab has spent a fair amount of time under the spotlight of pop culture. In the Steve Martin comedy, The Jerk, Navin Johnson’s favorite drink is Tab. Apparently Tab was the cola of choice for Austin Powers, who guzzled the stuff so he could stay awake to catch up on the 30 years of life he missed while being cryogenically frozen. When Homer Simpson isn’t going for a beer, Tab seems to be the beverage of choice, as evidenced by a number of episodes.
In 2006, Coca-Cola, in an attempt to resurrect the name has introduced a product meant to compete with the likes of Red Bull, Tab Energy. Low in calories, it has a sweet and distinctly un-cola flavor. Though it is getting an audience of its own combining retro-nostalgia with the hot-selling new wave, the energy drink, fans of the original Tab aren't really buying it. As in many things in life, it’s the cult that propels the culture, and it has spoken volumes for the soft drink and its fiercely loyal following that will go the distance to get their favorite, the one and only Tab.
