Coca-Cola Zero Sugar

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, also called Coke Zero, is a diet cola produced by The Coca-Cola Company. In some countries, it is sold as Coca-Cola No Sugar.

The drink was introduced in 2005 as Coca-Cola Zero as a new no-calorie cola. In 2017, the formula was modified and the name updated, a change which led to some backlash.

History
Coca-Cola Zero was Coca-Cola's largest product launch in 22 years. The global campaign was done by creative agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. It was marketed as having a taste that is indistinguishable from standard Coca-Cola, as opposed to Diet Coke, which has a different flavor profile.

2017 reformulation
In 2017, despite increasing sales in the United States, the Coca-Cola Company announced that Coca-Cola Zero would be reformulated and rebranded as Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, intended to taste more like standard Coca-Cola while emphasizing the lack of sugar content. The new formula was first tested in the United Kingdom in June 2016, with plans to roll it out in other countries in the following months.

The move caused some vocal backlash. The Washington Post noted Coke Zero is very popular, and that fans compared the change to the launch of New Coke in 1985. However, Beverage Digest executive editor Duane Stanford noted that it was very similar in flavor, and that the formula likely was tweaked only slightly as the ingredients list is the same. He noted that the rebranding was the main emphasis.

In Australia, the soda was relaunched as "Coca-Cola No Sugar" in 2017 but had trouble gaining initial acceptance.

In July 2018, it was confirmed that the original formula would continue to be sold under the original Coke Zero branding in New Zealand alongside the Coke Zero Sugar product.

Logo
The original Coca-Cola Zero logo generally featured the Coca-Cola logo in red script with white trim, with the word "zero" underneath in lower case in the geometric typeface Avenir (or a customized version of it). These words appeared on a black background. Some details varied from country to country. Later packagings swapped the colors of the "Coca-Cola" script and "Zero", leaving the former in white and the latter in red.

The Coca-Cola Zero Sugar logo features the Coca-Cola logo in white script, with the words "zero sugar" in black underneath. The word "zero" is in lower case in the geometric typeface Avenir (or a customized version of it); the word "sugar" is in upper case. These words appear in a red disc on a black background. In European markets, the packaging instead matches the classic Coca-Cola red design with the addition of a black band around the top of the label with the text "zero sugar".

Ingredients
All versions of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar sold in various countries are based on the same flavoring formula, and all are carbonated. One liter of Coca-Cola Zero contains 96 mg caffeine. Additionally, artificial sweeteners are used. In the U.S., this includes aspartame and acesulfame potassium. However, the exact combination of sweeteners and preservatives used varies from market to market.

Sweeteners and health concerns
Sodium cyclamate, a relatively inexpensive artificial sweetener banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 1969 and once believed to be a carcinogen, has been used in the Coca-Cola Zero versions produced in Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Venezuela, Chile, and some Central American countries. It was used for a time in Mexico, before a consumer campaign led to its removal from the drink in 2008. In June 2009, Venezuela ordered Coca-Cola to withdraw its Coca-Cola Zero product, as it contained more than the legal levels of sodium cyclamate.