This seems like something that came about a decade too early, like Neutral Milk Hotel. If this launched today, I could see it gaining traction.<p>The art on the cans is pretty cool.<p>I love that there was a Usenet mailing list for this:<p><a href="https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.fan.ok-soda/WQuelBjd8s8/M7t4pcRsBSEJ" rel="nofollow">https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.fan.ok-soda/WQuelBjd8s8/...</a><p><a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.fan.ok-soda/9KxvfnhmaCE" rel="nofollow">https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.fan.ok-soda/9Kxv...</a><p><a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.fan.ok-soda/1_E_O_HlXww" rel="nofollow">https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.fan.ok-soda/1_E_...</a><p>(Not sure if Google Reader links are stable.)
I think I was into my second year in middle school in Italy when this came out... so it’s far from my experience in both time and space. And yet it triggers an inexplainable sense of nostalgia in me for the nineteen-nineties, grunge, early-New Economy, pre-9/11 world. Somehow it also makes me think of William Gibson’s <i>Pattern Recognition</i>, both because it features a protagonist who is hyper-sensitive to branding to the point of allergy, and functions as a funereal eulogy to the era.<p>It also reminded me of <i>Pepsi Perfect</i>, the fictional brand of Pepsi-Cola featured in <i>Back To The Future II</i>’s (now) alternate version of 2015: <a href="http://design.pepsico.com/pepsi-perfect.php?v=101#section2" rel="nofollow">http://design.pepsico.com/pepsi-perfect.php?v=101#section2</a>
The budget home brand of Dutch hardware store chain Gamma is called "OK". They have everything from paint to power tools and it uses even more brutalist packaging design:
<a href="https://www.gamma.nl/assortiment/zoeken?f_brand_name=OK&f_categories=Verf&scrolltofacet=categories" rel="nofollow">https://www.gamma.nl/assortiment/zoeken?f_brand_name=OK&f_ca...</a><p>Why buy good paint if you can also buy "OK" paint and pay less?
When I saw the can design I immediately thought that it looks like the art style of "David Boring" (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Boring" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Boring</a>), turns out it was really Daniel Clowes who designed it. "Ghost world" is one of my favorite stories & movies as well, but I didn't hear about O.K. soda before. Fascinating!<p>While I really like the art style and dark touch I think it was probably too niche or too off-putting for most people.
I remember<p>① buying a can of this from a vending machine at MIT, when I visited while I was in high school<p>② occasionally calling 1-800-I-FEEL-OK, especially to test out a phone or something
I drank this regularly in Junior High. It basically tasted like "Swamp Water" (all the available sodas at a fountain mixed together) with a slight awkward vanilla or black liquorice tone. I remember it tasting especially bad if it wasn't cold.<p>Blast from the past, not sure why it is on HN, I did a double take. Didn't know I was in a "Test Market". Ok Soda and ORBITZ were the only flash in the pan sodas I remember from that generation.
Scored too high in the #fellowkids scale to work out.<p>Especially since it seems a fine example of design by committee. Test markets, reports. Gee I wonder why Gen X was cynical like that.<p>Oh and they even had a "manifesto" that was in some ironic way a "selfawarewolf".
There are two critical things to recall about OK Soda:<p>1. This article in The Baffler: <a href="https://thebaffler.com/salvos/id-like-to-force-the-world-to-sing" rel="nofollow">https://thebaffler.com/salvos/id-like-to-force-the-world-to-...</a><p>2. 2/3 Coca-cola, 1/4 Orange Soda, 1/12 Dr. Pepper
If you are into this kind of stuff, I recommend watching the movie Syrup [0]. It's a fictional movie about marketing/branding within a soda company.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762138/" rel="nofollow">https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762138/</a>
When I saw marketed at Gen X, the first thing I thought of was at that time, one of the conventional bits of wisdom about Gen X was that we were resistant to being marketed at. I'm not sure that I buy that—Gen X bought into a lot of lame stuff marketed at them, but this seemed exactly the sort of marketing campaign which would support the conventional wisdom.
I'll just stick to my FUCKING STRONG COFFEE thank you.<p><a href="https://www.goodbeans.nl/" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodbeans.nl/</a><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/fingstrongcoffee/" rel="nofollow">https://www.facebook.com/fingstrongcoffee/</a>
They featured the work of Clowes and Burns! Very cool.<p>Just a couple of days ago, I discovered Clowes work in the movie 'Paul'. I thought the art work looked very much like that of Clowes' and paused the screen to observe it closely and noticed that it was signed 'Pussey'(after Dan Pussey, the timid cartoonist character in Clowes' universe), which confirmed it for me :) <a href="https://imgur.com/a/HbCLB5c" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/HbCLB5c</a><p>Clowes also drew one of Silicon Valley's promos <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9V2XMLUIAA8oaC.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9V2XMLUIAA8oaC.jpg</a>
I find the contrasts between Gen X and Millennial stereotypes quite striking. You can see it in the media, which was often simply a dramatized perversion of generational self-reflection to sell media.<p>The Gen X generation seems to be characterized as generally depressed with a bored attitude of *its ok, i'll get over it". The primary theme there is some form of muted (apathetic) emotional resiliency, where mute suggests a primary characterization that is unintentionally not primarily communicated. These sort of characterizations suggest something that is not fragile, but not something that is socially exciting.<p>Millennial generation on the other hand appears to be characterized by maximum inclusion and interconnectedness, which are great... until people are cut off, which is characterized for its stark fragility.<p>Those are stereotypes and are prone to being wildly inaccurate with respect to any particular group or subculture, but still its interesting to compare those two demographics by solely looking at the representative media. During Gen X grunge, gangster rap, and country music were wildly popular. The really big deal in my area was Nine Inch Nails which was horribly depressing. Shows like Roseanne, Married with Children, and Beavis and Butthead were all the rage which mostly featured primary characters sitting on a couch complaining and getting over it. Also remember the Simpsons were far more depressing in their first few seasons during that period of time.<p>Media also reflects the stereotypes for the Millennial generation as well. The popular shows of the late 90s and early 2000s were things like Friends, Seinfeld, Sex and the City, Grey's Anatomy, and 30 Rock. These were all friends spending time with each other being happy, and aside from 30 Rock, none of those people ever seemed to go to work. Work is boring and depressing. The biggest things in music during the early years of the Millennial generation were most pop bands that graduated from boy bands or young attractive female pop singers. The theme was be beautiful, happy, and connected, but the moment you weren't connected the rest of it seemed to fall apart.<p>Comparing the two generations it seems Gen Xers are living an emotional coma enjoying all that numbs them to, while Millennials are living with bipolar disorder.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X</a><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials</a>
Another example of the myth of the omnipotence of marketing messages.<p>Marketing only works when the product works. Coke works because most peoples first experience is good, not only good, but in many cases magical (kids who've never had caffeine, especially combined in a tasty high sugar drink). Coke advertising just has to trigger memories of the happiness of that original taste association, and the marketing director looks like a genius.<p>Then he tries to make his own products, and the feathers on his gawdy wings start to smoke.
> OK Soda may be the preferred drink of other people such as yourself.<p>I love this! Is it a novel piece of copywriting, or a play/parody of something?
I was working in college radio and writing for The Onion back when OK Cola came out. I think the money that went into this makes most sense framed as a type of generational panic combined with technological transformation. The early Gen Xers were entering the workforce with a set of behaviors / values that felt unfamiliar & perhaps threatening to Boomers. Boomers began to feel uncool, out of touch and no longer culturally adept in the way they always had previously. This is nothing new, but I think it might be particularly wrenching when it finally happens to a demographically large and dominant cohort. Millennials, let me know how it works out.<p>More importantly rapid changes in technology caused corporations to lose control of media distribution for the first time. Widespread availability of personal computers / microchips caused media creation and distribution costs plummet in publishing, music, and film production/distribution. New insurgents like Fantagraphics, hip hop, college radio, indie rock, The Onion, The Stranger, Might, indie record labels and indie movies could route around large corporations to find an audience and build a business. Capital was still needed, but was orders of magnitude less than it had been for prior generations.<p>The resulting panic was deepest in the industries connected to entertainment, including those that depended on it for marketing. It seems absurd, but consumer brands convinced themselves that not only would Xers reject traditional media & advertising - they’d reject the previous generations products as well. There was sincere worry that millions of kids would stop drinking Coke & Miller Lite. Ad agencies helped fuel this panic as it brought with it an opportunity to pry large accounts away from incumbents.<p>This period didn’t last long, but it did birth a number of experiments like OK Cola, most of which were conceived as experiments and strategic contingency plans. For a brief and shining moment, there was some decent money and cultural cachet showered upon a bunch of smirking early 20s Xers whose only qualifications were helming a late night college radio program. It was wonderful to see Daniel Clowes, Charles Burns and other generation-defining artists get some well-earned money if not recognition.
> OK Soda's concept was that the youth market was already aware that they were being manipulated by mass-media marketing, so this advertising campaign would just be more transparent about it.
I have a hobby of trying odd sodas. This one was on my list with New Coke, Crystal Pepsi, Surge and Orbitz as things I'd never get to try.<p>That list has gotten smaller over time as Crystal Pepsi and Surge got mass rereleases, and New Coke got rereleased last summer.<p>Orbitz I believe said that they no longer have the machinery to make the balls but I have no source on that.<p>Come on Coke, rerelease OK Soda. Tie it in with OK Boomer for all I care.
If I drink this soda will I become haunted like the guy on the can? lol<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_Soda#/media/File:OK_Soda_-_can.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_Soda#/media/File:OK_Soda_-_...</a>