Originally published at: How Gen X learned to hate marketing | Boing Boing
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Whoa, hang on for a minute. I agree about hating marketing to a certain degree, but as a Gen X’r, I can say that I actually miss OK Soda and I don’t even drink soda any more. That toll-free hotline with amazingly lifelike bird noises was hilarious.
I would not be upset if they brought back OK Soda and threw in Josta for good measure.
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If the Cola Wars is all it took to turn us Gen Xers against marketing, I shudder to imagine the total, all-out war that’s coming between Millennials and cookies.
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Oh man, Josta. I definitely want that back. Bawls < Josta as well.
Also it’s fun seeing anti marketing stuff on a website with so much “we gotta keep the lights on” stuff going on that I have to use Firefox Focus just to be able to see the comment box past the ads and autoplay videos.
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also not a soda drinker any more, but just stopping in to put a vote in for JOLT.
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No way, if anything Coke / Pepsi ads plus getting hyped for Super Bowl commercials in the 80s and 90s made me love marketing so much I thought I wanted to get into advertising! At least the creative side writing, graphics, etc. really appealed to me. Then after quite a few interviews and constant smarmy boss types I realized I hated the whole thing. And learning HTML in 1999 seemed to be a good direction to pivot 
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Bud Bowl was cool.
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“Because you don’t need caffeine.”
A - Don’t tell me what I do and don’t need.
B - No, I don’t. I have a prescription for adderal. Eff off.
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Can I offer anyone a Snapple?
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All the sugar and twice the caffiene. I, too, no longer drink soda… but my vote goes for Jolt. I drank OK. soda because it was the first (and perhaps the last) marketing campaign that felt targeted to my tastes. Even tho the soda it was selling wasn’t.
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Wow, I don’t remember either of these. I do remember Jolt (not a huge fan). I’ve mostly given up soda in the last few years, too, but still maintain a fond love for Dr. Pepper.
I’m not sure marketing has really worked on me since high school other than things I already wanted (like PC’s). Even then, I comparison shop endlessly and read reviews until I’ve either made a purchase or (more likely) gotten so sick of trying to decide I no longer want the damned thing I was interested in. If it’s something we really need for the house, I’ll turn to Consumer Reports for ratings and reviews.
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Wait, what? I called the number (1-800 IFEELOK) and got funneled into an automated thing about roadside assistance. I’m so jealous!
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Meanwhile in southern Italy there is a caffeinated drink that tastes like coffee and soda
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We were in one of the test markets for this stuff, and they left 4 packs of glass bottles on everyone’s porch.
Being naughty kids, we thought this was the perfect chance to sneak around the neighborhood, and steal the soda from all the people we didn’t like, and we accumulated a giant sugar/caffeine stash with the idea of consuming it with pizza.
The plan did not work out so well, as we soon found out what happens if a bunch of unsupervised kids drink multiple bottles of JOLT… The caffeine headache itself was incredible.
Also, I don’t think this is a GenX specific thing. Yeah, it seems like our advertising was pretty “peak BS”, but that’s really not the case. It seems like every generation just has a shitload of ridiculous advertising.
I’d proffer that we’re the first generation predicted to overall do worse than their parental generation, and we were no longer buying the “sunny great america” BS anymore as the gap between it and reality was greater than in previous generations.
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You can all keep your sugary kids drinks.
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Currently available in a grocery store near you:
BTW, I had one yesterday. I’m not usually a fan of “cola”, but I thought it was ok. Although ridiculously expensive. You can buy a cup of coffee for a dollar, or make it yourself for pennies a cup. Not sure how combining a $1 can of coke to a $1 cup of coffee turned into a $5 purchase.
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The Cola Wars are over…
And we don’t drink nothing different!
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I’ll always remember that line “Hello stranger… and stranger yet!”
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Was at a rough bar once at last call, and I asked for a Zima. This burly biker across from me said, “Zima? ZIMA? ZIMA?!?!?” I said, “Well, you know, it’s the end of the night. I kind of want to wind it down.” He thought about it for a minute and then said, “Yeah, I could see that.”
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I remember reading a review of Zima that said that it should be “poured back into the horse.” I though that was funny. I don’t remember ever drinking it though.
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