*Cue deep movie trailer voice* This summer, from the Coca-Cola company that brought you Coke Starlight, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte, and Marshmello Coke, comes an all new absurd, surreal Coke flavor that you’ve never even dreamed of. Or maybe…you have? On August 15, the fourth and final flavor of Coca-Cola’s “Creations” flavor series is coming to a grocery store near you, and that flavor is…Dreamworld Coke.
Ummm, WHAT exactly does Dreamworld Coke taste like?
The short answer? Dreams. The long answer, and I swear I can’t make this stuff up, is “the technicolor tastes and surrealism of the subconscious,” according to the company. Respectfully, were they high when they came up with this? I mean, Coca-Cola already gave us an outer space flavor, a pixel flavor, and a Marshmello flavor (that doesn’t taste like marshmallows), so Dreamworld Coke isn’t really that off-brand for our buddies at Coca-Cola. I do, however, have to wonder what was in the snacks at the meeting where this entire campaign was developed… That said, Coca-Cola has been around for this long and I don’t see them tanking anytime soon so let’s take a step back here and suppose for a minute that they actually know what they’re doing with these strange, surreal flavors.
Here is what Coca-Cola claims is the reasoning behind this new flavor they’ve dreamt up (no pun intended), and it’s all about Gen Z, apparently: According to the press release, Dreamworld Coke intends to tap into “Gen Z’s passion for the infinite potential of the mind by exploring what a dream tastes like.” And the whole Coca-Cola Creations lineup was designed to align with “core Gen Z passions and cultural trends” and to “[meet] Gen Z where they are with relevant content and collaborations that matter to them.”
…Hi, Gen Z here. I am passionate about a lot of things, but Coke that tastes like “dreams,” while amusing, is not something I would count as one of my passions. Please correct me if I’m wrong, fellow kids, but it would seem that these new flavors don’t actually have much of anything to do with Gen Z. I think what Coca-Cola has really achieved by inventing these zany, bizarre flavors is that they’ve sparked a national conversation. People generally don’t care a whole lot about new Coke flavors the way they do new chip flavors or Oreo flavors. But if those flavors are weird and mysterious and outside-the-box, people might wonder, “What would that even taste like?!” And then curiosity might propel them to go out of their way to try it. Especially if the flavors are limited edition, which all of these have been.
Regardless of how these flavors actually taste, all Coke really needs to do is to get people to try them once. And it seems they have been really effective at doing that. And hey, you’re reading this right now, which alone is evidence that Coca-Cola’s new campaign has sparked your interest. To be honest, I think I might have to try this Dreamworld Coke, if only to see what Coca-Cola thinks my dreams taste like. My guess: tropical vacation? That or financial stability and a 401k. I guess I won’t know until August 15. Until then, all I can do is dream about it.
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