#tab diet cola

[stone-cold-groove]

What a beautiful drink (for beautiful people). Ad for Tab diet cola - 1977.

[rodpower78]

Tab Cola, 1982

[socialpermadeath]

Of course my Blu-Ray collection is alphabetized. Autism diagnosis? No, I've never heard of her.

[mitchjjj]

I wish they still had this stuff.

[homestuckreplay]

Computer Literacy (For Bug People)

(page 707-717)

We’ve seen quite a few functions of WV’s four-monitored computer now, so here’s a breakdown of what each known button and command does.

CAPS LOCK [Keyboard button] – opens a LOCKbox that stores 16 CANS (1 letter away from caps) and a book on human etiquette, perhaps necessary if someone is making use of caps lock.

TAB [Keyboard button] – opens a lockbox that stores 16 cans of TAB soda.

ESCAPE [Keyboard button] – escapes the current screen view and loads a list of previous commands. Does not cause a literal escape. Currently all of the commands to John have been entered by WV, but some commands to set up the computer were entered by a previous user.

=> SWITCH 2 [Command] - opens a view of what’s probably Rose’s house. It is a tragic scene. Zazzerpan the Learned has been taken out, a casualty of an unknown conflict. This is a shame, because I wanted him to be prototyped with Rose’s kernelsprite so badly. A massive undead cat wizard sounds like the perfect companion. Zazzerpan has lost his orb hand and most of his hat, but the screen glitches too badly to make out the surroundings. Screen 2 is locked, fixed on a static moment in time with WV unable to see or command Rose.

=> SWITCH 3 [Command] – opens a view of the roof of Dave’s building. Dave, ‘another one of these rapscallions’ (p.716 – a really excellent description of him tbh). His shitty ninja sword has been broken, Cal has been destroyed, and it looks like Dave’s shirt has been slashed too. Dave has prototyped his sprite with the RAMBUNCTIOUS CROW that he accidentally killed earlier with a different sword, possibly out of guilt from the murder. Crow plus sword are likely a single item for prototyping purposes, just like harlequin doll plus fake arm were for John, so this looks like the first prototyping only. Screen 3 is also locked.

=> SWITCH 4 [Command] – opens a view of whoever’s behind the fourth screen. The obvious answer is gardenGnostic, but we have no confirmation of this, and there’s plenty of room to subvert these expectations. Unknown if this screen is locked or unlocked.

=> SWITCH 1 [Command] – presumably re-opens a view of John bouncing around his house with the pogo hammer. While this screen is in view, WV can type instructions into the command prompt, which are transmitted through time and space directly into John’s mind. Our previous view of John was earlier in linear time than our brief views of Rose and Dave, which show events that haven’t happened yet from John’s perspective – so it’s not known what determines which moment in time the screens focus on, or if it’s possible to move back or forward in time.

=> HOME [Command] – All four screens switch on and show a large Sburb house logo above a timer counting down from four hours and thirteen minutes. What happens when the timer reaches 0 is unknown, but given how literal some functions have been, it could just… send the user home. The question is whose home – WV’s, on the ominous planet? John’s, inside the Medium? Sburb’s home or place of creation, wherever that may be?

Previously, on page 178 a timer began counting down from 4 minutes and 13 seconds, with the timer reaching 0 marking the end of the first act. Like this new timer, that one was mysterious in its effects at first, with the coming meteor revealed on page 196. I’m guessing that WV’s timer will carry us to the end of act 2, and some similarly explosive event. Which is really exciting. Homestuck hasn’t had a lot of patterns but I haven’t felt much cohesion in act 2 as a piece of the story – I want to look back on it as a whole and see if it reads differently in hindsight.

On pages 709-710 we get MULTIPLE gifs of WV being so, so excited about cans of Tab, flashing and glowing pink as they guzzle down this soda, thrilled by its existence, with its visible ‘A Product of the Coca-Cola Company’ logo. Tab was Coca-Cola’s first diet soda drink, released in 1963, although its popularity was eclipsed by Diet Coke (1982). Its very prominent and very branded presence here could be referencing Mac and Me, a movie famous for its blatant Coca-Cola product placement, as the titular Mac is a young alien who loves to drink the stuff just as much as WV loves Tab. Mac and Me is one of the movie posters on John’s wall, although he’s been meaning to take it down, because even he doesn’t think this movie is good (p.253).

The nature of the countdown timer is my biggest question right now, but I remain curious about who put in the original commands to set up WV’s computer, why they locked room 3 with the password ‘password’ (this is my assumption whenever I see an 8-character password), how room 2 ended up locked, and what it is about WV that means they can both enter commands and be commanded.

[nickgerlich]

New Creations

If there is one thing that we can say with unchanging veracity it is that everything changes, that nothing remains the same. This applies to every aspect of life and culture, but it is also very true for corporations. Show me a company that has not changed throughout its history, and I’ll show you a company that probably no longer exists.

Resistance is futile.

A perfect example is the Coca-Cola Company, the same one I mentioned in yesterday’s blog as being an obesity index. That hasn’t kept it from flourishing through the years, not to mention languishing, then reinventing itself to keep astride the consumer trends of the day.

The company started in 1886, and has long been heralded as being about as American as apple pie, hot dogs, and baseball. Coca-Cola has been able to maintain its status as top soft drink maker throughout this time, although it blinked in 1985 when, confronted by the Pepsi Challenge and data suggesting that consumers really did prefer a sweeter-tasting concoction, the company replaced its original formulation with New Coke.

It was a huge mistake, and consumers let their distaste be known. Coca-Cola then brought back “classic” Coca-Cola later that summer, but also used the opportunity to replace cane sugar with high fructose corn syrup. New Coke, later rebranded Coke II, died an unceremonious death by about 1990.

Skip forward to the present, and we find a company that has managed to recover from a downward revenue spiral last decade, primarily because it figured out it must diversify its offerings, and repositioning itself as a beverage company, not just sodas. This includes waters, juices, coffees, seltzers, and even collabs with alcoholic beverage makers like Jack Daniels. The flagship product is available in 200 nations.

While sales had sagged because of a trend toward healthier beverages and less sodas, things have started to turn around a bit, especially among Gen-Z, which now consumes more soft drinks than its older Millennial counterparts. This finding is enhanced by the fact that both Millennials and Gen-Z drink less alcohol than older cohorts, so it has become an opportunity for companies like Coca-Cola to find new ways to attract these younger adults.

And they are doing just that with its Creations platform, an ongoing line of experimental flavors aimed squarely at younger people. The latest iteration is Wozzaah, an African-inspired berry-infused soft drink that is only available in selected African nations. Whether it makes it stateside is undetermined, and perhaps not even important for a global company like Coca-Cola seeking to satisfy regional tastes.

Thus far, the Creations series has brought interesting variants such as Starlight, Byte, Marshmello, Dreamworld, Soul Blast, Move, Ultimate, Y3000, Happy Tears, and K-Wave to the US and other parts of the globe. They typically come in 8-ounce cans in the US, in both sugar and zero sugar versions.

Perhaps the best part of the company’s venture into uncharted territories is that it is learning in real time. The flavors are thus seen as experiments out in the field, smaller batches than the mainstream products it produces. This willingness to try new things is testimony to the company’s resilience and ability to bounce back.

But even more important in my estimation is the longer term evolution of a company that, until January 1982, had never introduced a line extension. That was when Diet Coke was launched with great fanfare, and Bill Cosby at the helm of what was then an unprecedented $50 million ad budget. Its instant success—and to be fare, cannibalization of their older Tab diet cola brand—opened the flood gates of line extended Coca-Cola flavor variants.

I challenge you to visit the soft drink aisle next time you go shopping, and specifically peruse the Coca-Cola section. Count how many varietals you find that are line extensions. In some markets and larger supermarkets, the number approaches two dozen, including the Creations flavors being sold at that time. It can all be confusing, once you factor with and without sugar, and with and without caffeine. You have to pay attention when making your selection.

Obesity index or not, Coca-Cola is a company that has passed the tests of time. It has evolved. There’s no guarantee that it might never fail completely, because everyone is vulnerable like that, but at least for 138 years, it has proven itself up for the task.

As for its historic challenger—Pepsi Cola—they are now facing their worst threat ever, and not from Coca-Cola. No, they now find themselves locked into a duel with Dr. Pepper for second-place in the carbonated soft drink category, each now with an 8.3% share of market. Coca-Cola Classic is far out in front with 19.2%.

Maybe Pepsi needs to steal a page from Coke’s play book and figure out how to make some new “Creations” of its own.

Dr “Coke And A Smile” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[yetanotherthriftblog]

So someone took a piece of wood from a craftstore, the side of a box of Tab diet cola, and a matting frame... and did this?

[dynamoe]

Would it be a masturbatory if I redrew @toydrill's drawings of my drawings or just invoking a character design ouroboros?

I especially enjoy that Pete's sitting on a pile of laundry (presumably Billy's since none of the clothes are white or pink) despite the couch being RIGHT THERE. That's real dedication to being a lazy slob.

Also, he's drinking TaB* so he thinks he's fat (TaB was Coke's first diet sugar-free 0-calorie cola, in deep decline since the mid-80s) or it was expired and fell off the back of a truck.

→ All Billy & White: Failures of Science

*Holy Shit! I just learned there was a TaB Clear in 1992... And it was designed to fail! Conspiracy!

some pete and billy fanart based on @dynamoe 's great pitch of seeing what pete and billy were up to during the late 80s-early 2000s ... i love the idea of seeing these two roughing it out as half-aspiring doctors and inventors, half-aspiring music producers during one of the craziest periods of time for tech and music

[gameraboy2]

1964 Tab soda ad

[stone-cold-groove]

How can just 1 calorie taste so good? Ad for Tab diet cola - 1965.

[alittlepaintalittlepencil]

during my second year of painting, i did a take on a crushed tab can because i had been so enamored of a painting of a gum wrapper i had just seen.

my dad ended up with that painting-taking it with him when he moved to london. and it remains there - with someone i don’t really know and so have no way of getting it back. i also have no photographic copy of it. this irks me to no end.

so my only option was to paint a new version.

i can’t officially confirm this is better than the original, but i will assume it is.

[goshyesvintageads]

Coca-Cola Co, 1969

[pretty-little-fools]

[thegikitiki]

Unsticky, Unstuffy, Uninhibited...

   Tab Cola, 1966

[cerealkiller740]

1965 Tab soda advertisement

[fredsadvercity]

1967 Tab fashion promotinal advertisment