Diet Coke will probably disappear
Yesterday out of curiosity I asked my wife, what's the difference between Coke Zero and Diet Coke? (I've never been a diet soda drinker).
She told me that Coke Zero actually tastes kinda like regular Coke, and Diet Coke much less so. What??
Soooo imagine you try to make a lower "cost" (calorie) replica of something and it's not a very good one. LATER you find you have the technology to make a BETTER replica...and you...still keep making the older/worse one?
Doesn't that sound crazy?!
My wife's theory is that older people are just used to the flavor of Diet Coke. Ok..well, is that the business model of Diet Coke? Service an existing customer base for as long as they're around? At least that makes sense...
Now I know you're going to say:
NO! I PREFER the taste of Diet Coke, I don't WANT something that tastes like regular Coke!! Yeahhh, ok BUT...stay with me:
I looked it up and regular Coke outsells Diet Coke almost 3 to 1. So, people seem to prefer Coke. NOW of the roughly 1 in 4 people in this subset who drink Diet Coke...how many of them do you think started by drinking regular Coke and then specifically/solely to avoid the sugar, tried Diet Coke for the first time? I mean, anecdotally...in my experience...almost everyone, no? Which means people who drink Coke (most people) prefer Coke and many of the people who drink Diet Coke at ONE point also did... until a *non-flavor* related factor (sugar/health) pushed them away from it.
So while YOU might say you prefer Diet Coke (and you probably will til your dying day, and that's great)...you kinda do have to admit that if Coke Zero came out first, or if they came out at the same time....you'd probablyyy prefer the Coke Zero (assuming you stated with regular) and never would have gotten into the Diet!
While it's impossible to objectively/conclusively say Coke Zero is a better drink than Diet Coke, it IS apparently a much better REPLICA of Coke which is exactly what Diet was designed to be in the first place! Essentially, this company is going to continue to make a kajillion cans/bottles of their "No Sugar 1.0" in large part because millions of people became fans of it before the update.
[Exactly as you'd expect, Coke Zero is the company's fastest growing brand, especially amongst younger consumers (those not already "in" on Diet Coke). I looked it up.]
I'm not here on your Subreddit to hate on your favorite soda (I do think it's awful but who cares what I think?). What's interesting, and from the perspective of a Diet Coke lover, kind of beautiful...is that the only reason you have your favorite soda is because, at one point it was the best its inventors could do! I think between sales figures and trends, we have reason to conclude, Coke Zero would have strangled Diet Coke in the crib.
So yeah...Diet Coke is its own thing, for now. So smile!
You're living in the accidental and possibly short-lived Diet Coke Era...and I'm honestly really happy for you (even though I think you're nuts).