Emerging in the health-conscious 1950s, Diet Rite adapted across the change-wary decades since, echoing America’s shifting mores on corporate power, ingredients, beauty norms and health science through its own survival story of reinventing taste and messaging. The perpetual transformations of this longstanding diet drink trace wider social upheavals through the brand’s ongoing identity struggles. Much as with America itself, Diet Rite redefined itself when old notions of science, risk and ideals lost fixed public meaning.
Origins of Diet Rite
When Diet Rite first entered the beverage market in 1955, it was positioned as a "dietetic product" meant to appeal to health-conscious consumers, rather than simply a soda. This diet soda was originally bottled and distributed by the RC Cola Company. In 1905, after a disagreement with a local soda bottler, Mr. Claud A. Hatcher - a young pharmacist from Columbus, Georgia, and the son of a grocer - decided to create his own soft drinks, which he called Royal Crown Cola.
Its first iteration obtained its sweetness from a novel blend of the artificial sweeteners cyclamate and saccharin. As the first diet soda to be marketed specifically for its perceived nutritional value, Diet Rite's unique health branding reflects the increasing weight consciousness of 1950s America that began transitioning light and low calorie food and drinks into the mainstream.
Marketing and Messaging
The 1960s: Thinness and the Paris Sisters
Seeking to further boost Diet Rite's branding as a weight-conscious soda, the company aired a memorable television ad in the 1960s featuring an upbeat jingle performed by contemporary pop trio The Paris Sisters about "staying thin" by drinking Diet Rite. This catchy musical promotion drew an explicit connection between consuming the diet beverage and maintaining an aspirationally slim, fashionable figure. The use of a musical group with young female singers to convey this message about dieting and thinness reflected the immense societal pressures in 1960s America for women to achieve an idealized body type, pressures Diet Rite attempted to exploit through associations promised by the soda.
Embracing Fruit Flavors in the 1990s
Seeking to diversify beyond traditional cola flavors, Diet Rite leaned into wider 1990s interest in fruit-inspired sodas by debuting new variety packs offering unique diet options like cherry, grape, and citrus. This product line expansion built upon the brand’s initial success marketing weight-conscious sodas by positioning fruit essences as inherently healthy inclusions that enhanced Diet Rite’s light refreshment profile. The addition of fruit flavors aligned Diet Rite with 1990s diet food trends prioritizing perceptions of wholesomeness and naturalness.
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Limited-Edition Flavors in the 2000s
Seeking to spur interest by offering limited-edition novel flavors, Diet Rite debuted a cherry cola variety in 2006 that temporarily supplemented its traditional citrus- and spice-infused cola recipes with a sweet-and-fruit fusion profile capitalizing on cherry Coke's enduring popularity. This launch forms part of a broader industry strategy in the mid-2000s of rotating adventurous flavors in and out of diet brands as experience-seeking consumers showed less brand loyalty than prior generations.
Navigating Sweetener Controversies
The Cyclamate Ban of 1969
When the artificial sweetener cyclamate was suddenly banned by the FDA in 1969 due to controversial health concerns, Diet Rite was forced to swiftly reformulate, removing cyclamate from its recipe where it had previously provided sweetness in combination with saccharin. This regulatory move against cyclamate reflects growing skepticism towards chemical additives in consumables amid 1960s counterculture challenges to the food processing establishment.
Aspartame and the Rise of Low-Calorie Products
With the rising popularity of low-calorie products in the 1970s and 1980s, Diet Rite leaned into new ingredient innovations by incorporating aspartame into its formula soon after this high-intensity sweetener was approved and launched under the NutraSweet brand name in 1981. Diet Rite's rapid adoption of the aspartame sweetener aligns with the brand's original positioning as a health-conscious diet soda that embraced artificial ingredients believed at the time to offer sugar-free alternatives. By 1987, growing doubts regarding links between saccharin and cancer risk led Diet Rite to undertake another ingredient reformulation, now eliminating saccharin entirely and switching over to aspartame as the sole artificial sweetener along with removing caffeine.
The Shift to Sucralose and Acesulfame Potassium in 2000
Facing rising controversy over aspartame’s safety, Diet Rite preemptively moved away from this sweetener in 2000, becoming instead the first leading diet soda to rely on the newcomers Splenda sucralose and Sunett acesulfame potassium for sweetness. This changeover reflects public wariness of first generation sweeteners in the 1990s that compelled brands to adopt next-generation substitutes to restore confidence, with Diet Rite striving to position itself at the vanguard of non-aspartame formulations. Diet Rite was the last available mainstream aspartame-free zero caffeine diet cola that did not use Stevia as its sweetener.
Ownership and the Modern Beverage Landscape
After over six decades of numerous ingredient formulations, flavor introductions, and marketing evolutions, Diet Rite soda is now produced by beverage giant Keurig Dr Pepper, rather than the smaller RC Cola company which originally launched the brand in 1955 as one of the country’s first diet soft drinks. This transfer of ownership from RC Cola to an industry titan like Keurig Dr Pepper highlights the immense market consolidation of recent decades that has seen famous brands swallowed up by ever-larger conglomerates.
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The Future of Diet Sodas
Consumers are embracing better-for-you beverage options, including zero sugar drinks. As early as the 1920s, beverage manufacturers offered consumers drinks which used less sugar or contained less calories than traditional sodas. RC Cola’s zero calorie Diet Rite, introduced in 1958, was originally marketed towards diabetics. The product then expanded to mainstream markets, as more consumers became interested in better-for-you beverages. The trend and popularity towards diet drinks has continued to grow in popularity.
In a post-pandemic world, consumers are now more health-conscious. Considering the overall cultural pivot from diet culture towards health and wellness, the word “diet” may seem outdated and less than ideal from a marketing perspective. “Diet” also has a feminine connotation, which may turn off male consumers. Male consumers generally show less interest in beverages that incorporate the term ‘diet’ in their name. This type of beverage marketing is also less appealing to Millennials and Gen Z, who have embraced the body positivity movement and may perceive the word “diet” as archaic.
The term “zero sugar” is both gender neutral and feels more health-focused, rather than body-related like the word “diet.” More than half of consumers - 52% - believe that lowering their sugar intake will make them feel healthier, so zero sugar drinks are a natural way to tap into that customer preference.
If you’re considering introducing a zero sugar or reduced sugar drink, it’s critical that you market it as health-focused, rather than as a weight loss tool. Against the backdrop of global inflation, the costs of many goods are increasing dramatically. Thanks to the rising price of crude oil, sugar prices have spiked. As a result, scores of brands have found themselves exploring less expensive, alternative sweetener options.
Stevia, which is used in RC Cola Neo, is a common sugar substitute that’s derived from the leaves of the stevia plant. Countries around the world are increasingly concerned about their citizens’ sugar intake, and are taking steps to regulate the sales of sugary beverages. This happens in numerous ways, from soda taxes to advertising bans.
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In the UK, a small government-regulated increase in the price of soda led to plummeting sales, according to British researchers. Authorities had added a £0.10 levy on beverages with added sugar, and that tiny price bump was enough to convince many consumers to skip their usual sweet drink. Singapore has launched a series of measures aimed at limiting sugar consumption in the country. By the end of 2023, Singaporean food and beverage sellers will be required to place a label on sweetened drinks, according to a government grading scale that indicates sugar content. Advertisements on drinks whose sugar levels are above the government’s desired range will be banned.
It’s clear that both governments and consumers are pushing zero sugar drinks as a preferred option for beverages. To remain competitive, bottlers must examine portfolio diversification as a way to expand their market presence and reach new audiences. Diversification can mean you gain access to new revenue streams, and this can be done by developing new products or bringing back discontinued offerings. New pack formats and SKU expansions also play a critical role in diversifying your portfolio. Traditional ‘diet’ sodas are focused on providing consumers with a lower-calorie option, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you must go completely sugar-free. If you cannot offer a zero sugar alternative, then investigate a rebranded better-for-you option that uses less sugar and has lower calorie content - just avoid using the word “diet.” A better-for-you offering doesn’t necessarily have to mean zero sugar. RC Cola has decades of experience guiding bottlers through the portfolio diversification process.
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