Kraft Foods Group Inc (KRFT), PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP): The Coca-Cola Company (KO) Leads by Example in Selling Mystique, Nostalgia

In the 1980s, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) both switched from sugar to high-fructose corn syrup, a cheaper sweetener. The companies last year also said they’d change the way they make the caramel coloring used in their sodas to avoid having to put a cancer warning label on their drinks in California, where a new law required such labels for foods containing a certain level of carcinogens.

Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) say the sweetener and caramel sources do not alter the basic formulas or taste for their sodas. And they continue to hype up the enduring quality of their recipes.

This past spring, for example, Coca-Cola welcomed the widespread news coverage of a Georgia man who claimed to have found a copy of the soda’s formula and tried to sell it on eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY). The company saw the fanfare as evidence of the public’s fascination with its formula, and eagerly offered to make its corporate historian available for interviews to fuel the media attention.

Likewise, the company is happy to reminisce about the backlash provoked by the introduction of New Coke in 1985. The sweeter formula was marketed as an improved replacement for the flagship soda, and the company points to the outrage that ensued as proof of how much people love the original. According to the emailed statement from Coca-Cola, that’s the only time the company ever tried changing its formula.

The loyalty to that narrative is on full display at the World of Coca-Cola, where visitors mill about in a darkened exhibit devoted to myths surrounding the soda’s formula. Tabloid-style headlines are splashed across the walls and whispers play on a recorded loop:

“Even if you could see the formula, you wouldn’t understand it!” a voice says. “It’s the greatest mystery of all time!” says another.

The museum gets about a million visitors a year, with a plaque at the end of one exhibit stating “Keeping the Secret Ensures That the Magic Lives On.” But on a recent summer afternoon, at least one of them wasn’t impressed.

“This part’s boring,” a small boy declared.

The article Coca-Cola Leads by Example in Selling Mystique, Nostalgia originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Associated Press.

The Motley Fool recommends Coca-Cola, eBay, and PepsiCo. The Motley Fool owns shares of eBay and PepsiCo.

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