Anger. Denial. Disappointment.

Those are some of the feelings people see and display when something we love is changed. How would you feel if your mother is suddenly changing your grandmother’s 100 year-old recipe that tastes just perfect as it is?

When “New Coke” was introduced in 1985, those three feelings that Coke fans felt caused a huge backlash. A flock of angry and disappointed letters were sent to the company, and according to Thomas Oliver, the author of “The Real Coke, The Real Story“, a psychiatrist that Coke hired to figure out the problem told the company that the people behind these letters and calls sounded as if they were discussing the death of a family member.

The New Coke story was the first thing that crossed my mind when I read about Nestle’s adjustment to “improve” their 73-year-old recipe. Except that it’s 2010, and the internet, and social media in particular, are here to save the day. Nestle are making good use of the fact that they can make their consumers share the excitement about this new recipe, rather than wait for a backlash.

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