Cola as a word wasn't first used by Coke, but it was the first carbonated soft drink to actually use the term cola. Edit: removed part about generic trademark, as this was mentioned in the video.
@@matthewburris769 They had a few different series that was different groups of people reacting to videos, and then they tried to trademark the word React. Obviously makes sense why they'd want to trademark their brand, but when it's a generic word like that, it's not a great scenario.
Back in college, our business professor decided to have the class take the Pepsi challenge with a 3rd contender: RC Cola. He had everyone estimate what the class's favorites would be before the blind tasting, and then had everyone list which of the three was their favorite after. The professor revealed that over 60% of the class picked RC cola as their favorite of the three.
@@kariusbaktus165 Yup, sip tests tend to favor sweeter colas -- which doesn't necessarily mean people will prefer them for whole cans' or bottles' worth. (This was part of what tripped up New Coke.)
@@AaronOfMpls I test cokes based on how it tastes after a sandwich. It’s the burp. Nothing is more whoooooo than Coca Cola after some sweet white starch.
last time i checked, RC didn’t attack national staff with a powerpoint order to “be less white” either. i would drink used motor oil before cokacola (sp int) ever again.
I buy it out of spite. For 2 years or so I've only bought RC when I want a coke. When Coke told me to "be less white" I decided to quit giving them money
RC Cola is still on shelves across much of the US. Walmart, Dollar General Store, et. al. I buy it every week because a) I like it, & b) it costs considerably less than Coke or Pepsi. It's December 2023 right now and typically two liters are about $1.50 each, and 12 pack cans are always about $1.50 (at least) less than C or P - usually about 33-42 cents per can as opposed to 55-60 cents each.
RC 12 pack is 6.98 and 2 litter is 1.48 the 2 littler is a better buy for your money but for a 12 pack I rather pay the dollar -50 cent difference for 12 pack of coke
You forgot two of RC's biggest contributions to the industry! It was the first soda to ever be sold in a can, and then the first soda to be sold in an aluminum can
Can you really say that RC Cola failed? It’s still in stores, still being produced, and people still like it, and seek it out. As long as there’s a market for it, it truly can’t be a failure. Add to that all the other sodas under the Keurig/Dr. Pepper umbrella, I can’t count it as being a failure.
I think reason they call it because Wal-Mart or Target doesn't sell it in store. Also, RC is always sold out at my local grocery stores so its not failure.
@@Bigfoot264 I think RC is more of a regional thing because in the Carolinas (at least South Carolina) it’s available at Walmart, Target, and every gas station you go into
As a kid growing up in New York in the '70's , we drank RC cola all the time . We also had something called C & C soda . It came in a variety of different flavors . I would love to know the history behind the brand . Thanks for posting .
RC didn't fail. You can still find it everywhere, and personally, it's my favorite cola. It may not be as successful as Coke or Pepsi, but it's definitely not a failure.
Plus its cheaper and tastes just as good my family gets that mostly cause of the price i dont mind it pepsi and coke are good but its pricey compared to rc
My family did a just for fun taste test a couple years ago and everyone, I mean 100% of us, chose RC as their #1 pick. So from that day forward, RC has been the only cola I ever buy.
I feel ya bro, I had a transgender coworker we worked at a Tacobell and he/she would jizz in the sourcream called it "jizzzam" I suggested they call it "cumshot"
RC is no joke and hasn't failed me. I purchase it regularly. It beats the sweetness of Pepsi and the "roughness" of Coke. I drink all three but really do prefer. RC cola.
Not exactly on topic with your comment but I would just like to say all soda went to garbage after they switch from cane sugar to corn syrup. I can’t even drink any pop or soda with corn syrup anymore because I break out. And whoever thought drinking corn is a good idea is crazy. The flavor of all the soda companies is trash now because of that fact
@@GisherJohn24 I've cut back consumption. Ice cold water with a slice of lemon or a 50/50 mix of orange juice and club soda can be awfully refreshing while leaving no aftertaste.
@@jetcitysinatra7300 I'm afraid I'm not a connoissuer, I just noticed that, for me, RC fills a niche. Not as sweet as Pepsi and not as strong as Coke-Cola. At McDonald's, for some reason their fountain Coke is just killer, but for regular consumption RC works for me.
My neighbor worked for RC as a truck driver & delivery worker for 35 years. He made no real money since he was on a low hourly pay and made most of his money from commission of sales. It was Him and 1 other guy supplying 6 Virginia counties and 4 Kentucky counties. His pay was low but they had a great retirement package apparently and when he retired a couple years ago he was bringing home more than he ever made while working. So RC might suck but the retirement plan is pretty sweet apparently. I still like RC but the Double Caffeine RC is REALLY GOOD!!
RC cola didn't fail, it still widely available nation wide and is most people's first choice for a cheaper good tasting cola because you know Pepsi and Coke are way over priced.
The fact that it still exists doesn't mean it didn't fail at its goal of competing with coke/Pepsi. It holds such a small market share these days, that's why it's called a failure in this context.
RC was still a pretty big brand in the 80's, so I never really thought of it as an off brand. My family loved it. I also think it's a false assumption that something "failed" if it doesn't overtake another product on the market. A local restaurant isn't a failure simply because it's not well on its way to becoming the next McDonalds. Businesses can be small and still make money for their owners. It obviously still makes money or it wouldn't be produced. There's nothing wrong with being niche.
Almost every pizza shop in Chicago gave a free liter of RC with a large pizza. Its always been popular in Chicago so I never thought of it as an off brand either.
I agree completely, it's not a failure. It's just had a bumpy road. I think it was a bigger deal in pretty much every decade before the 90's, but the fact that it has never left the market tells you that it still does okay. It's probably more popular in certain areas of the county. I'm from the midwest and it was never popular around here as far as I know (although always available), but I've only been around since 1984. I will buy one on rare occasion. It's not bad at all.
I can still find RC Cola in my area if I look hard enough. My Grandmother was always an RC drinker. Faygo on the other hand, has completely disappeared from shelves here in New Hampshire, where as 10 years ago you could find it at quite a few stores in this area
you are correct in ur assessment that success doesnt have to mean infinite expansion, however in this economic system infinite expansion (in a non infinite resource world) is the only way to ensure profits grow (which is *The* goal of this economic system despite what it means for ethics or sustainability)
The main reason why I ever had RC Cola back in the day was because a vending machine down the street from me was always broken and returned my money every time I bought one. It was like infinite RC cola for a while. Good times.
When I was a kid there was an auto mechanic up the street that had a Coke machine that sold 6 1/2 ounce bottles for a Nickle. The bottle was returnable for a Nickle!
A similar thing happened to me, an RC cola/Cott machine when I was a kid thought washers I found were loonies (1$) and I'd get 50c change and a soda for a washer.
I remember the snack machine in my barracks use to give you back your change in dimes plus your snack. It got emptied out pretty quickly once word spread and then was never refilled and everyone in the barracks got chewed out during a morning muster.
Decades ago they had RC Cola "With a twist of lemon" and it was solid in glass bottles. Loved it! So refreshing and it had this lemony citrus aftertaste. Was disappointed when it disappeared from the shelves.
As a kid in the 60's we drank a lot of RC. They always had great promotions, A red RC logo under the cork on the metal cap would get you a free bottle of RC, a blue logo would get you a free 6 pack. 6 bottle caps would get you a free ticket at the local movie theater on Saturday morning. It was a pretty good product and in my opinion they could recapture a lot of the market by trashing the 80s style logo and bringing back the classier Royal Crown name and logo with a few of the old free product promotions.
Kid of the 80's, but I still have fond memories of getting RC whenever I'd get an Arby's sandwich. Atleast until quality started slipping. More the store near me than the soda.
70s and 80s growing up and RC was pretty popular and I vaguely remember something about prizes in the bottle caps, when soda still came in squat 12 ounce bottles. I had since forgotten about Diet Rite so it was good to see it mentioned. I bought some RC for old time's sake a few years ago. It's a truly terrible flavor that I don't remember being so bad as a kid. I don't know if today's Diet Rite has been reformulated or not, but sometimes, you just gotta let go of the past and be glad that Dr. Pepper is still going strong!
My grandfather told me a story that when he worked in Detroit during the Great Depression, he would always have an RC Cola for lunch. I do not drink very much Cola, but when I do its almost always an RC. The flavor is okay, but the vague emotional connection makes it taste that much sweeter.
I also have some nostalgia. My grandparents would always drink RC Cola every day at about 2 PM. I don’t really drink that much or any soda, but I will always think of them when I see RC
I’m a sales rep for Dr Pepper. We sell pre-price ($1.49) RC and RC Cherry two-liters like crazy. Independent party stores in urban area sell the stuff like crazy. We also sell diet rite. Seems to a be a niche market but it can be found at Meijer and Walmart in the Midwest region.
As someone who lived in the Philippines, RC just brings so much nostalgia. During hot summer days, I'd go to the local sari-sari store, buy myself a bottle, and be called by my friends to play outside. Nowadays, they still give me a bit of joy with their ridiculous commercials
My neighbor runs a sari sari store. So I just walk up to their front door to buy RC cola. Lately coca cola, is getting scarce. But she never runs out of RC cola.
I rarely see it where I typically shop, but I do like it. Still think Coke is the best of the colas, with Pepsi being the worst. But RC is pretty good. It has a good aftertaste but doesn't have the burn that coke has that I need in my cola.
We had an RC Cola machine at my high school in the early 2000s, well after the brand fell off. It was 25 cents cheaper than the Coke machine, and in my opinion, the superior cola.
@Daniel Stewart It fell off in the nineties? Really? I don't pay attention to what happens in the world, I always knew that. But, I guess today I learned I'm even more oblivious then I thought. But I thought RC cola fell off in the early eighties. There used to be an RC bottling plant in my hometown. And it closed up before Ronald Reagan. And that was like 1986 ish (I'm just going by the Challenger explosion. And that was 86 and Reagan). Back then pop came in long skinny bottles. When those bottles went away, I never seen very much RC. especially as a choice at restaurants. It, even today, is still not a choice on the menu at anywhere I've been to in, er...forever.
This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20. Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God. Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!
1: RC Cola is superior to coke and pepsi, the flavor is much more distinct. 2: You could get cherry cola (either brand) at any place that served ice cream. You just had to ask them to add cherry syrup to your drink.
Of the 3, Coke definitely has the most distinct taste IMO, but that's not a good thing if you ask me. Very acidic compared to RC and Pepsi. Adding cherry syrup to a cola isn't the same as the brand's cherry cola though.
@@Z64sports Apples and oranges in my opinion. Honestly, the brand cherry colas don't really taste like cherry, but I personally prefer them to cola and cherry juice.
RC still sells hard here in the Philippines.. our main soda on local street stores.. It really is underrated.. especially after watching your vid.. Much love RC
As someone who's from the Philippines also, I have to say RC is still pretty strong here. Nowhere near as strong as Coke or Pepsi but not too rare either. They are usually sold in supermarkets or small stores. I bet they tried selling to restaurants too but Coke and Pepsi are just too strong there.
I love RC for a long time they stuck to their price for 99 cents, for a two liter, thats when companies cared about making they customers happy not just making tons of money, I love RC, for helping me all those years. Yep now I know I have not been through anything learning how much major Companies and entrepreneurs been through, woe. This is a cool lesson/video.
I still occasionally drink RC, but in the late 80's Cherry RC was hands down my fav soda over all of them, & it was hugely popular then for a few years.
RC is delicious! If someone offers me a coke, a pepsi, or an RC, I'm going to choose RC every time. I just love their cola taste over the other two. If you've never tried RC or haven't had RC in a long time, go pick some up and support them!
@@kurtpena5462 when's the last time anyone offered you a choice in anything, especially if they didn't even have multiple things to chose from? What's the point of your question anyway? If offered drinks at someone's home, there's always the option to decline any offer, so if someone doesn't like the taste of something, or the lack of healthiness of it, they still don't have to consume something they dislike.
Your pops is right! Our favorite family-owned Mexican restaurant had RC Cola. Sadly they have since closed. Let me tell you their food was AMAZING and sorely missed.
Same issue when RC came up with the vintage "RC Draft Cola" which was attacked by the other giants in the 90s as "marketing alcohol to minors" meanwhile, 25 years later, pepsi goes and creates "Caleb's Kola" and other throwback vintage beverage labels that look and market like a beer. RC was ahead of its time, always.
Oh God! Royal Crown Draft was the very best soft drink ever. I still wish somebody would revive it. It was a sugar cola when everybody else had switched to high fructose corn syrup.
Sounds a lot like what Pepsi is doing with Pepsi nitro. The flavor of Pepsi but with the texture of beer. I tried the vanilla flavor. It wasn’t good. I should really give the cola flavor a try before they phase it out.
RC has always been a popular regional brand in the American South, e.g., the traditional pairing of a Moon Pie and an RC cola as a cheap snack. I grew up in the South, and RC cola was everywhere in small towns and country stores. Also, yes, it's popular in the Philippines. I've seen it for sale there in a number of places.
I always wondered why grandma always had RC. She was born in Kansas but moved to Washington and everytime we'd visit her from Oregon she'd have cases of the stuff. She was the only one I knew that bought or drank the stuff.
Rc was in Indonesia for quite some times. Pepsi also already bankrupt here, Cola rules the higher end market while a lot of sode rules the cheaper ones. Many places won’t sell the cheaper variety because it would cut their margin. But smaller stores sometimes exclusively sell cheaper variety of Cola. My mom owned one and said RC outsell cola by a large margin. But I giess they no longer there because afterall you cant out cheap local cola without foreign liscencing
I think the word "Fail" is on the basis of market share which is what companies judge their success and failure on which is the whole point of "company man" videos. It didn't fail as a great soft drink or a cultural touchstone that is Iconic like you wrote.
All the colas are slightly different and I definitely love RC the most, it has a slightly "darker" taste that just pairs better as a neutral cola flavor with almost any meal. Coke and especially Pepsi are both a little too sweet in comparison, although that also makes them better choices when going for more exotic flavors (coffee coke and vanilla nitro pepsi are amazing right now for two easy examples). I think the real takeaway is that brand loyalty is stupid and just restricts you from enjoying the full range of products in any given society, which in this case probably means that more of you should try RC if you haven't already.
@@ChicagoIrishman Just what it sounds like, coffee flavored coke. The supply (like with most things) seems to be a bit inconsistent right now but they're all over the place around here so probably not too hard to find wherever you are. Actually I'm going to need everyone reading this right now to go buy a bunch because "coke blak" or whatever they called it the first time they tried this combo failed like 15 years ago and I'm terrified it's going to happen again. What will I do then, drink coke and coffee separately? Madness!
Fun fact: RC Cola was part of a "staple meal" for the Poor Southern Working man that would have that along with a Moon Pie during their Lunch Breaks. They actually have an annual festival dedicated to that called the "RC Cola-Moon Pie Festival" up in Bell Buckle, Tennessee which would happen normally around the 3rd Saturday in June as it's going on since 1994. Been up there a few times, and it's quite an interesting festival.
The memories. My dad had a pop machine outside his gas station in the 80's and 90's that sold RC Cola, Diet Rite, Bubble Up, Cream Soda and Sunkist. I grew up on that stuff.
RC Cola was my mom's favorite drink many years ago. She drank it multiple times per day. I drank it too and liked it. Then it disappeared and Mom had to switch to Coke. Fast-forward to 2021 ... for the first time in decades, I saw RC Cola available at a grocery store. I eagerly bought some, took it home ... and it tasted so bad I had to throw it out. The stuff I drank in 2021 had the old RC Cola name, but definitely NOT the old RC Cola taste.
In the early 1960's, pop cost 10 - 12 cents over the counter at a local little store. The Coke and Pepsi came in 12 oz bottles while RC Cola came in a 16 oz bottle. The price was the same around 10 - 12 cents each, but the added deposit was 3 cents for the 16 oz bottle and 2 cents for the 12 oz bottle. Still the RC cola was a better deal. We used to go out to vacant lots and check the trash cans for intact pop bottles. These often covered the cost of a fresh bottle of pop plus some candy, depending how many intact bottles were collected and the deposits redeemed.
Around where I live in southwest Virginia you can get an rc cola for 40-50 cents from vending machines that have them while Pepsi and coke are about 75cents to a dollar for the same sized can. Haven't found bottles of the stuff, but I can still buy 12 packs of it and 2 liter bottles, and their always the cheapest sodas not counting some off brand sodas
RC takes me back to fond memories of my childhood in the late 70s early 80s on the farm. Even then at break time you could either have a "big" RC or Nehi or a "baby" Coke Cola.
This is the first time I have seen an American calling it 'pop' just like we did as English kids. We always called them 'bottles of pop' from the 'pop man'. He would come once a week and you would get money for the old empty bottles. We never called it soda, is my point. (soda is what we mix with whisky 🥃)
RC was the only soda my grandparents would buy when I was a kid. They bought it in 16 oz glass bottles. I drink it now because they're gone and it reminds me of them. The town they lived in had an RC bottling plant that also bottled Sun Drop, which is THE most popular "citrus drink" in the place they lived, even to this day.
I remember the RC vending machines in the early 90s only being a quarter for a can, so I bought it on that principle alone! It was a good, cheap alternative to the big two.
@@kurtpena5462 It was good. Paying more for Coke and Pepsi doesn't necessarily mean you're getting a better product... it means you're paying for all their marketing and their contracts to athletes and celebrities. In addition, stores with sales of of 3 12-packs for $12 means that you're paying $.33 per can, which means they're "cheap," too.
I still remember getting RC from the vending machine outside of the local car wash when I was a kid. When I was only 6 or 7 I was like "damn this is better than pepsi" and would get one any time a store sold it
I remember RC Cola machines always being 25 to 50% cheaper than Coke. I think that perceived cheapness is very much linked to the jokes we make about it.
I live in Tajikistan, it is a Central Asian country and here RC Cola is extremely popular. We have the factory here and we used to think that this brand is ours. RC Cola has become our national drink in some ways .Trust me guys it tastes way better than Coke.
RC Cola was hard to find, but when I found one, I bought it over Pepsi and Coke. It was delicious, similar in taste to Pepsi and Coke but with a little twist that made it different and I loved the logo and colours of their bottles and cans.
When I was in college, they had an RC machine in the dorm I lived in. The guy that loaded the machine would randomly tape silver dollars to the bottom of some of the cans. RC was already my favorite cola at the time, the fact that I could sometimes get a few extra cans for free made my freshman year bareable.
My grandma was the only one I knew who always had RC Cola on hand, in fact I have a very vivid memory of going to see the Sandlot in theaters, and my grandma had snuck in RC-Cola and microwave popcorn in a zip lock bag. The movie only had three seats left on opening night, so they placed me in the front row and my grandparents were seated elsewhere throughout the theater. After the lights went down and the trailers started, my grandma stood up in front of the whole crowd to bring me the smuggled snacks and she cracked open the RC cola and the whole crowd lost it at this grandma's brazen refusal to pay full price for concessions and for being generally clueless and having a lack of discretion.
RC cola has always been my favorite of the three and I buy a twelve pack any time I can find it. It's a bit odd to say it 'failed,' in my opinion. Just because it didn't win the Cola wars doesn't mean it's a failure. After all, it's been selling for pretty much as long as Pepsi and Coke. And by the Cola wars standard, you could say that many other sodas 'failed.' I'd say any product that is continually produced 125 years or so is not a failure. Dr Pepper never caught up to Coke or Pepsi either.
In our country, RC is still well-loved by the consumers due to its affordable pricing compared to Coke. It has been the bang-of-the-buck softdrink of the generation.
Another thing RC never did until recently unlike Coke and Pepsi is taking the brand internationally. Sticking to the US gave their rivals a huge boost.
I've had plenty of RC over the years. Don't drink much Cola anymore, but when I was a kid, my Grandpa, who's initials were RC, used to joke it was named after him, and he was a big fan of it. I've seen many times in recent years, where Convienece Stores sold 20 oz. bottles at a discount price. (Like 99c when a Coca-Cola or Pepsi might be 30/40c more.
The first time I tasted RC I thought it tasted like a cross between Coca Cola and Pepsi. RC with an Moon Pie is delightful. Also RC with Crown Royal is also quite lovely.
Just because it's not as popular as Coca-cola/Pepsi doesn't mean it failed. It's still being sold worldwide and honestly, I love it. Way better than any other soft drinks for me.
True, in my opinion iphones failed. Just never liked Apple due to those suicide nets around the factories where children as young as 14 were locked inside for 30 straight days and forced to work 14 hours a day every day. I'm sure in a communist country like China it's still like that. But I know most people don't care and refuse to admit what I'm saying even though it was common knowledge at the launch of the iPhone 3.
It doesn't taste the same to me as it did in the 70's. I loved it along with all the others but now its not the same. I need to try a can and see what it tastes like.
It failed so hard that it's one of the cheapest name brand colas available everywhere. RC Cola is amazing and the cherry variant especially is very distinct from Cherry Coke and Wild Cherry Pepsi.
RC Cola was my favorite soda growing up. They used to do a promotion where if you saved like 200 bottle caps, you could turn them in for a free case. My buddy Dave and I did this a few times! Good memories!
My dad was born in the mid 1930s, and he ALWAYS had RC Cola in his fridge. He'd order Coca Cola at restaurants but almost never bought it for at home, which I never understood because Coca Cola was the mainstream favorite. This helped me understand why he probably leaned into RC Cola more, he grew up in an era where it was much more common and even still, it's way cheaper than Coca Cola.
Buying the cheaper of essentially identical product is always the right choice. When out at the restaurant, both brands would be the same price. We pay absurd prices for brand names.
Tried it, liked it and whenever I see it I take it. I saw it in another video thinking it was a US. Only drink and came off as a massive suprise to me seeing it sold in Europe. And to answer your question yeah I respect it, it's great.
RC was my parent's choice when I was young and back then I tasted no difference with the other 2 major brand. I live in rural-ish Canada and it's now very hard to find. When I was able to taste some last year, I was surprised that it was pretty different from the major brands. It felt less sugary and bubbly, but not in an unpleasant way, more like there was less crap in what I drank.
@@Desecrator6 Oh, for sure, RC isn't on DP status. However, I will take it over Coca-Cola (some would consider this sacrilegious, being I was born and raised in the Atlanta area).
One of the things not mentioned about Cyclomate, the study was partially funded by Coca-Cola and they were involved in lobbying for it to be banned as well, because Cyclomate had a deal that only RC could use them in a cola and coke was upset as they wanted to use it (they wouldnt have a diet cola till 1982). Pepsi also was involved in lobbying, and had also launched in 1964 their diet cola using saccharin, but had trouble beating RC. They saw an opportunity to shut down their competition as well.
Coke had a diet cola, called Tab, long before 1982... "Back to the Future" made a joke about it, when Michael J. Fox orders one at a soda fountain and confusion ensues over Tab vs. running a tab... The irony was that Tab was not that popular and got phased out by Diet Coke around the same time as the movie came out...
@@AndrewAMartin exactly, the difference is TaB had saccharin, aka Sweet n’ Low (the pink stuff) but Cyclomate was thought to taste better. Diet Coke was its first soda with Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal)
That's what happen when government has too much power, everyone will try to throw it at their competition. The game becomes more and more "Please the Government" instead of "Please the Consumer".
@@pandaberserk3390 Lobbying is just words backed by money. The term 'Lobbying' comes from the fact that Politicians would talk to people during their coffee break, in the *Lobby*, some of those people would happen to be people from industries or businesses. You can't forbid people from trying to convince others through talking or incentives, else you might as well say goodbye to Capitalist Democracy.
The small batch Royal Crown Draft, marketed in the late nineties (on Long Island, at least), with cane sugar, was the best cola I’ve ever tasted. It was about six bucks for a four-pack back then, so it was not really affordable. I haven’t seen it around since 2004 or so.
There used to be a grocery store when I was young called “knob Hill Farms” that only sold RC cola from its vending machines and I would get a can for 25 cents every time my mom would take us shopping, so rc cola has a very special place in my heart for sure lol
As a child, i recall a Coke salesman telling my grandfather ( who owned a hotel and liquor store ) that his businesses NEEDED to have Coke because it's "what customers demand." What a ploy. Even back in the 70's I recall people looking for something different. I'm so grateful that today's liquor stores stock so many weird and offbeat brands of non-Coke and non-Pepsi owned sodas. RC cola aside ( which I liked ) I will buy anything but Coke. I'll never forget the arrogance of that guy's sales pitch. This is why they own every theme park, movie theater, and other public venue.
I don’t drink much soda of any kind these days, but back in the 70’s and 80’s, RC was my preference. I also liked that they nearly never referenced other brands in their advertising, unlike Coke and Pepsi (it was the era of “The Pepsi Challenge”, etc.
@@phantomspaceman Yeah, Cheerwine might be the "deep south" thing maybe, but not neccessarily with the moon pie, not iconically anyway. Stretching all the way over as far as Texas, the "southern pair" is RC & Moon Pie. You'll hear it mentioned in much of the media of the day. Southern comedian Brother Dave Gardner cites it constantly. And the icon Thunderbird Motels today will have them waiting on your pillow for the roadside nostalgia. 🥤🌙🥧🤍
@@Cre80s Lewis Grizzard relayed a story about a man walking into a store and asking for an RC Cola and a Moon Pie. The proprietor surmised that he must be a graduate of [major rival to UGA]. The customer is incensed, asking if ordered pizza or beer would he be assumed Italian or German? The proprietor assured him that no, he would not. So then, the man asks, why am I assumed to be a graduate of [major rival to UGA]? "Because," the proprietor explains. "This is a hardware store."
@@doktorventure9977 😏😂 It makes you wonder how cultural practices like these even form out of thin air and everyone in the region adopts them. It's not like they're owned by the same company and the thought was seeded with advertising. Nobody says "Mello Yellow & a Chick-O-Stick." There just MUST have been something to have at least sparked it, like a local filling station that had a promo, "free RC/Moon Pie with an oil change." This calls for some research!
The massive corporate brainwashing of normies creating a dichotomy left no room for RC, which is seen more as an off-brand like Great Value. If you give serve it at parties, you look poor or something.
..was gonna say, how has a "failure" been around for decades upon decades and sold pretty well. Bizarre title. Just because you aren't selling the same # of units as the #1 product doesn't mean you're a failure
Brings back memories growing up in Louisiana. A big treat for me and my siblings was an RC Cola and a Moon Pie. We didn't get the pair together often because of the sugar overload. But it was soooo good.
I love RC. We got it a lot as a kid, because it was cheaper at the grocery store. While it might be colored a bit by nostalgia, I still prefer the flavor of RC to the other two.
I still prefer RC over Coke and Pepsi when it comes to taste. But RC Cola is getting increasingly more difficult to find in stores, at least where I live.
Back in the 90s RC was always the 2-liter (sometimes 3 liter) that my friends and i would buy from the corner store on our way to go fishing, and was a staple of camping trips and sleepovers. To me it was nearly as good as Coke but because it was under buck while Coke and Pepsi were usually $1.25+ it was a no brainer for kids with limited pocket money....
When I was a kid back in the 60"s I drank RC Cola over Coke and Pepsi because RC had 12 Oz bottles to Coke and Pepsi's 10 Oz bottles. (20% more). Two Oz's may not sound like a lot but to a kid that mowed lawns to get the money to buy his soft drinks that was a lot.
This is why I love Arizona. They give you a lot of soda or lemonade or whatever for a dollar. I saw a kid at a bodega, literally counting his pennies to get something, and when he saw the Arizona, his eyes lit up, because he knew he had enough for a big, satisfying drink.
@@trublgrl Arizona green tea might be cheap diabeetus slurm...but it's my favorite cheap diabeetus slurm. Got me through college with no car. I'm real sad to see the accountants found out it doesn't make the CEO types enough money...it's almost completely disappeared from everywhere, including has stations. Used to be everywhere and today I couldn't even get a cold can at the grocery. Still at most drug stores though.
Actually, the killer to diet sodas in the 70's and 80's was having to use saccharin which isn't as sweet as cyclamates and it gave most diet colas a bitter taste. I am old enough to remember what cyclamates tasted like and you would swear it was sugar due to it being that sweet. The new sweeteners they are using today seem to mimic sugar as well as cyclamates did.
Yeah, 80s kid here. I hated diet sodas of the time because of the chemical taste. And I remember in the 90s when all the major soft drink brands had new sweeteners and started desperately trying to change the public image of diet sodas.
I prefer RC to both Coke and Pepsi. Cane sugar, not corn syrup, a lighter carbonation, and a wonderful synergy with ice. Yeah, as your video stated, RC Cola was the first to bottle cherry cola (it existed on fountains only), first to make a diet soda, and first to put sodas into cans (and later aluminum). I think they deserve more respect. They shaped the soft drink industry as we know it. Also, Nehi was a great beverage! Peach and grape were like divine nectar on a hot day.
Honestly, RC Cola is still one of the popular cola beverage in the Philippines and is presently competing fairly well with Sprite, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Royal.😊
I LOVE RC Cola, has it's own unique taste and really hits the spot. Always buy a case. It is still sold so not sure if it is a failure. True it will probably never have the market share like Coke and Pepsi, but I would not call it a failure.
Its ok, usually buy it when its on sale only, anything on sale I'll buy. But dam branded sodas in general are expensive as hell. Usually go with dr.thunder.. as its only 5$ for 24pk lol.
Back in 1976, there was a storyline in "All In the Family" about this. Rob Reiner's character would only drink RC, and if handed another soda he would refuse to drink it. His wife and her mom could not believe he could tell the difference, so gave him three glasses. And he correctly identified all three of them to their shock. And it was very popular in the South. When I lived in Alabama and North Carolina, it was prominently displayed, sometimes in stores even more so than Coke or Pepsi. And I was a huge fan of RC Draft when it was available. And it is still hanging in there over 117 years after it was founded, so obviously they are doing something right.
Is it same recipe? Same taste? For example, Harp lager, which used to be the pair for a half and half or Guinness/Harp, now only sells in cans in Ireland and has a cheap generic taste. Harp used to be crisp and sharp lager and distinct, albeit subtle, from all other lagers. Is RC cola still the same?
In the 90's I used to drink "no name brand" and RC because it was cheaper than Pepsi and Coke. Also when RC was in the same vending machine here, RC was 50 cents and Pepsi was $1 so 2 for 1 was worth it for little kid me.
Describing a consumer product on the open market that has been around for 117 years as "failed" requires an entirely new definition of the word "failed".
I still buy RC cola today. After the price hike of the popular sodas in the last couple of years, it’s the best cola for the price. I can get it for .99 or 1.29 for a 2 liter. They have RC berry cream soda cans for $1 at Dollar General stores where I live. I don’t drink a whole lot of soda, but if I get some it’s RC more often than the others.
I was in Bloomington, IL 2 weeks ago for a concert and went to a small little restaurant/pub downtown that had RC on tap. I was pleased because I love RC and don't have it often. First time I had RC at a restaurant in probably 15 years.
I’ve stumbled upon a few places in Illinois that actually had RC COLA on tap too. I wish I could remember but I’ve seen it over the past 10 plus years as I’ve moved around this entire state. It’s truly a treat. I honestly never realized how popular RC was in Illinois, especially southern Illinois where I was raised!?!?!? I knew no other cola until I was about 9 years old. I was born in 1979 and my grandmother was from Kentucky and we had nothing but RC. I had a RC Cola Machine next door my entire childhood.
I raaarely drink soda, but that on tap just sounds delicious. I dont think I've had an RC cola since the early 2000s but i remember enjoying the difference in taste from coke or pepsi. Now i want a pepsi. I don't drink soda often.
I was shocked to see RC Cola as failed as we always keep our fridge stocked with them! Of course we are only 10 minutes from the RC and Moonpie festival - a pilgrimage for any RC or Moonpie lover.
Just a few years ago i was on vacation in Gatlinburg TN and a store there was selling RC in glass bottles.not sure but they must have a bottler still operating down around there that just ships local. I had to buy one, tasted so good!
Love and miss the fat RC bottles that instead of having paper labels, they had a thin Styrofoam label. (Presumably to keep the drink cold longer, or to keep the bottle from sweating so much.) When I would finish drinking an RC as a kid in the 70's, I would slowly peel off the label in a very satisfying way.
I tried RC Cola for the first time when I was in college, and ever since then it's been my number 1 soda. Something about it is just so much more appealing to me than coke or pepsi
So most people don't know this but Sam's Choice Cola is nearly the same as RC Cola, in fact in a blind taste test you probably wouldn't know the difference.
@@jasonharrod3070 Honestly, dude, Sam's Cola tastes like a church meeting. I see where you're coming from, but it's like they mixed 10 year old coke with pure musty old building essence
As I recall, RC tasted of one simple note of cola flavor, was only slightly sweet, and quite mildly carbonated. It was a bit like drinking a half-sweet iced tea or a lemonade or ginger ale, except with the flavor of cola, instead. Of the three, it was arguably the best representation of the actual flavor of cola nut.
correct. Had RC just this week. It is less sweet than Coca Cola or Pepsi. Whereas Coca Cola has a slight 'vanilla' overtone and Pepsi has a more 'citric' flavor. RC is more simple, almost a bit of cherry. It's also a little less carbonated than Coca Cola and much less than Pepsi. Try it again if it is in your area, it's a nice cola.
Why the past tense? I still see RC Cola everywhere. Unfortunately, I don't see Diet RC much outside of the greater Lexington KY area, & then only in supermarkets.
Coke really pulled a Fine Bros by trying to copyright the word "Cola".
Nah the pulled an apple by trying to copyright the letter “i”
Cola as a word wasn't first used by Coke, but it was the first carbonated soft drink to actually use the term cola.
Edit: removed part about generic trademark, as this was mentioned in the video.
What is this a crossover episode ? 😂
ok, Mr. Esoterica, we give up.....what is Fine bros.?
@@matthewburris769 They had a few different series that was different groups of people reacting to videos, and then they tried to trademark the word React. Obviously makes sense why they'd want to trademark their brand, but when it's a generic word like that, it's not a great scenario.
Back in college, our business professor decided to have the class take the Pepsi challenge with a 3rd contender: RC Cola. He had everyone estimate what the class's favorites would be before the blind tasting, and then had everyone list which of the three was their favorite after. The professor revealed that over 60% of the class picked RC cola as their favorite of the three.
It's awesome to know someone did this.
@@peterseth3296 That's also why it preforms better in a sip test.
@@kariusbaktus165 Yup, sip tests tend to favor sweeter colas -- which doesn't necessarily mean people will prefer them for whole cans' or bottles' worth. (This was part of what tripped up New Coke.)
@@AaronOfMpls I test cokes based on how it tastes after a sandwich. It’s the burp. Nothing is more whoooooo than Coca Cola after some sweet white starch.
Pepsi tastes better freezing, coke is room temp, RC at any time of the day.
Honestly, the fact that RC Cola was created out of spite makes me like it a LOT
At first, I read that RC Cola was created out of sprite 🥴
Reminds me on Lamborghini, it was originally an tractor producer but as the owner was disativied with his Ferrari he thought he could do it better
last time i checked, RC didn’t attack national staff with a powerpoint order to “be less white” either.
i would drink used motor oil before cokacola (sp int) ever again.
Like Lamborghini that was created out of spite towards Ferrari. Ciao
I buy it out of spite. For 2 years or so I've only bought RC when I want a coke. When Coke told me to "be less white" I decided to quit giving them money
RC Cola is still on shelves across much of the US. Walmart, Dollar General Store, et. al. I buy it every week because a) I like it, & b) it costs considerably less than Coke or Pepsi. It's December 2023 right now and typically two liters are about $1.50 each, and 12 pack cans are always about $1.50 (at least) less than C or P - usually about 33-42 cents per can as opposed to 55-60 cents each.
The Kroger-owned Fred Meyer stores in the Paciifc NW carry RC Cola, so it may be available at Kroger and Kroger-owned chains across the country .
Oh wow u save 2$ compared to brand name original !
RC 12 pack is 6.98 and 2 litter is 1.48 the 2 littler is a better buy for your money but for a 12 pack I rather pay the dollar -50 cent difference for 12 pack of coke
@@georgehilario3544Not bigger, but a better drink.
And Australia !!!
RC is way better than people treat it to be.
That's what I said. RC taste way better.
I gotta try it out some day
RC Was amazing and definitely held it's own against the big 2
@@busterbackster1 RC sells well of even goes out of stock where I live in Indiana.
R C is way better than woke a cola
You forgot two of RC's biggest contributions to the industry! It was the first soda to ever be sold in a can, and then the first soda to be sold in an aluminum can
Big if true
I'm sorry but this is incorrect, Canada Cola Company of California put Cola in an Aluminium can during time trials in the early 1800's.
@@empowl1607 Probably "first of the 3 main colas".
@@empowl1607 "Canada Cola Company of California" sounds like they had a bit of an identity crisis.
wow
Can you really say that RC Cola failed? It’s still in stores, still being produced, and people still like it, and seek it out. As long as there’s a market for it, it truly can’t be a failure. Add to that all the other sodas under the Keurig/Dr. Pepper umbrella, I can’t count it as being a failure.
I think reason they call it because Wal-Mart or Target doesn't sell it in store. Also, RC is always sold out at my local grocery stores so its not failure.
My grandma born in 1926 would drink this as a kid. Dont know how it failed.
@@Bigfoot264 I think RC is more of a regional thing because in the Carolinas (at least South Carolina) it’s available at Walmart, Target, and every gas station you go into
I don't drink a lot of pop. But if I'm in the mood for one I'll most likely buy an RC. It's still sold here in some stores in Southeast Michigan.
@@starrystarrynight52 soda**
As a kid growing up in New York in the '70's , we drank RC cola all the time . We also had something called C & C soda . It came in a variety of different flavors . I would love to know the history behind the brand . Thanks for posting .
RC didn't fail. You can still find it everywhere, and personally, it's my favorite cola. It may not be as successful as Coke or Pepsi, but it's definitely not a failure.
Yeah I was confused reading the title of this video because I just drank an RC the other day and think it is still a good solid cola.
🤮
RC cola is great. I actually just saw a new limited edition berries and cream flavor. Definitely not failing, just not a worldwide brand.
It's not as sweet as Pepsi, and not as strong as Coke. It's a perfect balance.
It is my favorite!
I actually like RC Cola more than both Coke or Pepsi. It's a shame more people haven't given them a chance as it's actually a great soda.
I tried and loved it, but sadly it's double the price of coca cola in my country :(
I like it too. Still buy it sometimes when it's on sale.
RC literally started as a "Spite Store"...classic...legend. 🤣
I always thought it was some budget off-brand. >__>
@@planescaped nah bro been around 117 years
I like RC and they still sell it in stores near me. Definitely underrated.
Plus its cheaper and tastes just as good my family gets that mostly cause of the price i dont mind it pepsi and coke are good but its pricey compared to rc
Send me some bro 🤣
@@OverdrivenKatana Same in my country, it's best brand for saving a buck.
@@sjsiemka oh ok ya I like that rc is so cheap here very underrated
what year do you live in???
The Penguins’ arena in Pittsburgh actually sells RC Cola, I think it’s the only major league sports venue in North America that does
How is it that the bulk of the toothpaste tube takes a week to go through, and then that last little bit somehow stretches 3 months?
Home of the Chicago Bears. Solider Field in Chicago.. is also the main Soda pop in the concession stands..
Royal Crown Cola is not out of business. It is still alive and well, and is phenomenally better tasting than Pepsi Cola.
He never said they went out of business
I just had some last week! It goes well with Moon Pies.
@@blakedavis2447 So when you fail a grade in school you still move on to the next grade…cool!
@@TruthOverLies better analogy, you fail a grade and keep going to school either way because they never stopped making Rc cola
@@blakedavis2447 Better analogy…your car brakes fail and you run into a ditch. Your marriage fails…you’re now single etc etc etc
My family did a just for fun taste test a couple years ago and everyone, I mean 100% of us, chose RC as their #1 pick. So from that day forward, RC has been the only cola I ever buy.
Rc is my favorite drink
That's really cool, I should try it for my family
@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ I've never read the book of John, thank you for introducing it to me!
My roommates and I did a blind taste test and came to the opposite conclusion
I feel ya bro, I had a transgender coworker we worked at a Tacobell and he/she would jizz in the sourcream called it "jizzzam" I suggested they call it "cumshot"
RC is no joke and hasn't failed me. I purchase it regularly. It beats the sweetness of Pepsi and the "roughness" of Coke.
I drink all three but really do prefer. RC cola.
Not exactly on topic with your comment but I would just like to say all soda went to garbage after they switch from cane sugar to corn syrup. I can’t even drink any pop or soda with corn syrup anymore because I break out. And whoever thought drinking corn is a good idea is crazy. The flavor of all the soda companies is trash now because of that fact
@@GisherJohn24 I've cut back consumption. Ice cold water with a slice of lemon or a 50/50 mix of
orange juice and club soda can be awfully refreshing while leaving no aftertaste.
Drink water
*Mitch* have you noticed a flavor change? I loved RC until they took out the Phosphoric Acid (used to Sweet Tarts Tart) Now RC just tastes like Coke.
@@jetcitysinatra7300 I'm afraid I'm not a connoissuer, I just noticed that, for me, RC fills a niche. Not as sweet as Pepsi
and not as strong as Coke-Cola. At McDonald's, for some reason their fountain Coke is just killer, but for regular consumption
RC works for me.
My neighbor worked for RC as a truck driver & delivery worker for 35 years. He made no real money since he was on a low hourly pay and made most of his money from commission of sales. It was Him and 1 other guy supplying 6 Virginia counties and 4 Kentucky counties. His pay was low but they had a great retirement package apparently and when he retired a couple years ago he was bringing home more than he ever made while working. So RC might suck but the retirement plan is pretty sweet apparently. I still like RC but the Double Caffeine RC is REALLY GOOD!!
RC cola didn't fail, it still widely available nation wide and is most people's first choice for a cheaper good tasting cola because you know Pepsi and Coke are way over priced.
costs the same where I live lol
I don't buy RC because it's cheaper...I buy it because it's better 😊 and being a little less expensive is just a bonus.
If you're dumb enough to pay full price.
And have gone woke.
The fact that it still exists doesn't mean it didn't fail at its goal of competing with coke/Pepsi. It holds such a small market share these days, that's why it's called a failure in this context.
RC was still a pretty big brand in the 80's, so I never really thought of it as an off brand. My family loved it.
I also think it's a false assumption that something "failed" if it doesn't overtake another product on the market. A local restaurant isn't a failure simply because it's not well on its way to becoming the next McDonalds. Businesses can be small and still make money for their owners.
It obviously still makes money or it wouldn't be produced. There's nothing wrong with being niche.
Almost every pizza shop in Chicago gave a free liter of RC with a large pizza. Its always been popular in Chicago so I never thought of it as an off brand either.
I agree completely, it's not a failure. It's just had a bumpy road. I think it was a bigger deal in pretty much every decade before the 90's, but the fact that it has never left the market tells you that it still does okay. It's probably more popular in certain areas of the county. I'm from the midwest and it was never popular around here as far as I know (although always available), but I've only been around since 1984. I will buy one on rare occasion. It's not bad at all.
it failed whenever it got bought out by snapple
that's like the graveyard of previously widely popular drinks that are almost irrelevant
I can still find RC Cola in my area if I look hard enough. My Grandmother was always an RC drinker. Faygo on the other hand, has completely disappeared from shelves here in New Hampshire, where as 10 years ago you could find it at quite a few stores in this area
you are correct in ur assessment that success doesnt have to mean infinite expansion, however in this economic system infinite expansion (in a non infinite resource world) is the only way to ensure profits grow (which is *The* goal of this economic system despite what it means for ethics or sustainability)
The main reason why I ever had RC Cola back in the day was because a vending machine down the street from me was always broken and returned my money every time I bought one. It was like infinite RC cola for a while. Good times.
When I was a kid there was an auto mechanic up the street that had a Coke machine that sold 6 1/2 ounce bottles for a Nickle. The bottle was returnable for a Nickle!
A similar thing happened to me, an RC cola/Cott machine when I was a kid thought washers I found were loonies (1$) and I'd get 50c change and a soda for a washer.
Same here, as a 10 year old, but 75% of the time the machine would eat my money and I'd go home empty handed.
I remember the snack machine in my barracks use to give you back your change in dimes plus your snack. It got emptied out pretty quickly once word spread and then was never refilled and everyone in the barracks got chewed out during a morning muster.
So you’re a thief?
Decades ago they had RC Cola "With a twist of lemon" and it was solid in glass bottles. Loved it! So refreshing and it had this lemony citrus aftertaste. Was disappointed when it disappeared from the shelves.
RC cola is a good mix between Pepsi and Coke, and always been my go to cola. Not a failure in any stretch
As a kid in the 60's we drank a lot of RC. They always had great promotions, A red RC logo under the cork on the metal cap would get you a free bottle of RC, a blue logo would get you a free 6 pack. 6 bottle caps would get you a free ticket at the local movie theater on Saturday morning. It was a pretty good product and in my opinion they could recapture a lot of the market by trashing the 80s style logo and bringing back the classier Royal Crown name and logo with a few of the old free product promotions.
Kid of the 80's, but I still have fond memories of getting RC whenever I'd get an Arby's sandwich. Atleast until quality started slipping. More the store near me than the soda.
60s I won a quarter a couple of times a week
70s and 80s growing up and RC was pretty popular and I vaguely remember something about prizes in the bottle caps, when soda still came in squat 12 ounce bottles. I had since forgotten about Diet Rite so it was good to see it mentioned. I bought some RC for old time's sake a few years ago. It's a truly terrible flavor that I don't remember being so bad as a kid. I don't know if today's Diet Rite has been reformulated or not, but sometimes, you just gotta let go of the past and be glad that Dr. Pepper is still going strong!
@@austinmillbarge8731 HFCS, versus actual sugar early 80's and back.
My grandfather told me a story that when he worked in Detroit during the Great Depression, he would always have an RC Cola for lunch. I do not drink very much Cola, but when I do its almost always an RC. The flavor is okay, but the vague emotional connection makes it taste that much sweeter.
Rc cola and moon pies built the us after ww2.
I also have some nostalgia. My grandparents would always drink RC Cola every day at about 2 PM. I don’t really drink that much or any soda, but I will always think of them when I see RC
@@joshsimpson79 -I love how specific the older generation was. Everyday around 2 p.m..., _fantastic_ .
It was called the Great Depression because RC Cola was the only choice to drink for some people.
Awww😍
I’m a sales rep for Dr Pepper. We sell pre-price ($1.49) RC and RC Cherry two-liters like crazy. Independent party stores in urban area sell the stuff like crazy. We also sell diet rite. Seems to a be a niche market but it can be found at Meijer and Walmart in the Midwest region.
As someone who lived in the Philippines, RC just brings so much nostalgia. During hot summer days, I'd go to the local sari-sari store, buy myself a bottle, and be called by my friends to play outside. Nowadays, they still give me a bit of joy with their ridiculous commercials
My neighbor runs a sari sari store. So I just walk up to their front door to buy RC cola. Lately coca cola, is getting scarce. But she never runs out of RC cola.
Also nostalgic if you grew up in Chicago. The pizza places always had Pepsi or RC, always got RC
Also nostalgic if you grew up in the Caribbean. I'd say it was more popular than Pepsi at one point though never really a rival to Coke.
I had an RC a few days ago, I wouldn't say it failed. It certainly still exists and is available.
yeah especially here at PH it was available EVERYWHERE
I rarely see it where I typically shop, but I do like it. Still think Coke is the best of the colas, with Pepsi being the worst. But RC is pretty good. It has a good aftertaste but doesn't have the burn that coke has that I need in my cola.
Our local gas station has 20oz bottles for 99 cents so it's got my pick
@@LeviBulger lol clearly you like the other kind of coke aswell coke is the single worst soda in existence
No doubt, I buy it every week here in Georgia, 99 cents for 2 liter . Great product to me.
Maybe it's just me but RC is the perfect sweet middle point between Coke and Pepsi. I love it.
If you're gonna eat a Moon Pie, you gotta have an RC Cola.
We had an RC Cola machine at my high school in the early 2000s, well after the brand fell off. It was 25 cents cheaper than the Coke machine, and in my opinion, the superior cola.
did it's usage reflect those feelings? Was it empty at the end of the day, on most days?
@@vangildermichael1767 I want to know too😂
You could taste the savings.
@Daniel Stewart It fell off in the nineties? Really? I don't pay attention to what happens in the world, I always knew that. But, I guess today I learned I'm even more oblivious then I thought. But I thought RC cola fell off in the early eighties. There used to be an RC bottling plant in my hometown. And it closed up before Ronald Reagan. And that was like 1986 ish (I'm just going by the Challenger explosion. And that was 86 and Reagan). Back then pop came in long skinny bottles. When those bottles went away, I never seen very much RC. especially as a choice at restaurants. It, even today, is still not a choice on the menu at anywhere I've been to in, er...forever.
This world is rapidly passing away and I hope that you repent and take time to change before all out disaster occurs! Belief in messiah alone is not enough to grant you salvation - Matthew 7:21-23, John 3:3, John 3:36 (ESV is the best translation for John 3:36) if you believed in Messiah you would be following His commands as best as you could. If you are not a follower of Messiah I would highly recommend becoming one. Call on the name of Jesus and pray for Him to intervene in your life - Revelation 3:20.
Contemplate how the Roman Empire fulfilled the role of the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 over the course of 1260+ years. Revelation 17 confirms that the beast is in fact Rome. From this we can conclude that A) Jesus is the Son of God and can predict the future or make it happen, B) The world leaders/nations/governments etc have been conspiring together for the last 3000+ years going back to Babylon and before, C) History as we know it is fake. You don't really need to speculate once you start a relationship with God.
Can't get a response from God? Fasting can help increase your perception and prayer can help initiate events. God will ignore you if your prayer does not align with His purpose (James 4:3) or if you are approaching Him when "unclean" (Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 59:2, Micah 3:4). Stop eating food sacrificed to idols (McDonald's, Wendy's etc) stop glorifying yourself on social media or making other images of yourself (Second Commandment), stop gossiping about other people, stop watching obscene content etc. Have a blessed day!
1: RC Cola is superior to coke and pepsi, the flavor is much more distinct.
2: You could get cherry cola (either brand) at any place that served ice cream. You just had to ask them to add cherry syrup to your drink.
you be old rime
Of the 3, Coke definitely has the most distinct taste IMO, but that's not a good thing if you ask me. Very acidic compared to RC and Pepsi.
Adding cherry syrup to a cola isn't the same as the brand's cherry cola though.
@@floyd2386 You're right it's not the same. It's better
@@Z64sports Apples and oranges in my opinion. Honestly, the brand cherry colas don't really taste like cherry, but I personally prefer them to cola and cherry juice.
Grenadine syrup. Cherry flavor goodness.
RC still sells hard here in the Philippines.. our main soda on local street stores..
It really is underrated.. especially after watching your vid.. Much love RC
Best part is that the subsidiary owner(Macay Holdings) is about to acquire the global (Non-US) brand rights too.
I was looking for this comment lol. Have to agree, RC is still being sold here locally
so does rugby cant keep jars in stock
As someone who's from the Philippines also, I have to say RC is still pretty strong here. Nowhere near as strong as Coke or Pepsi but not too rare either. They are usually sold in supermarkets or small stores. I bet they tried selling to restaurants too but Coke and Pepsi are just too strong there.
you misspelled Rugby@@ronch550
I love RC for a long time they stuck to their price for 99 cents, for a two liter, thats when companies cared about making they customers happy not just making tons of money, I love RC, for helping me all those years. Yep now I know I have not been through anything learning how much major Companies and entrepreneurs been through, woe. This is a cool lesson/video.
I still occasionally drink RC, but in the late 80's Cherry RC was hands down my fav soda over all of them, & it was hugely popular then for a few years.
Tried cherry rc a couple months back. It was pretty good
my total favorite!! :)
Gotta try because I love cherry coke
I wonder why they never introduced cherry cola here in my country
@@nunyabiznes33 - its great, hope you get a 12pk of it
RC is delicious! If someone offers me a coke, a pepsi, or an RC, I'm going to choose RC every time. I just love their cola taste over the other two. If you've never tried RC or haven't had RC in a long time, go pick some up and support them!
I just bought three cases this week. Yum
My only complaint is 't hat it serms to go "flat" so quick. I don't remember it doing that when I was a kid...
When was the last time anyone offered you the choice of Coke or RC Cola???
@@kurtpena5462 when's the last time anyone offered you a choice in anything, especially if they didn't even have multiple things to chose from? What's the point of your question anyway? If offered drinks at someone's home, there's always the option to decline any offer, so if someone doesn't like the taste of something, or the lack of healthiness of it, they still don't have to consume something they dislike.
Me too I grew up on RC cola. 👍
My father always goes by this saying: If a restaurant has RC Cola, you know the food's gonna be good
Damn straight.
Your pops is right! Our favorite family-owned Mexican restaurant had RC Cola. Sadly they have since closed. Let me tell you their food was AMAZING and sorely missed.
I've never come across a restaurant with RC
@@MOBMJ there's a bar in downtown Orlando that has it on tap. A real basement dive bar with low Ceilings type place, but I love it.
Only trust pizza shops that have rc
Dude i love your book notes podcast FOUNDERS- you’re a top notch orator with a superb delivery. I always recommend your material 🤙
Same issue when RC came up with the vintage "RC Draft Cola" which was attacked by the other giants in the 90s as "marketing alcohol to minors" meanwhile, 25 years later, pepsi goes and creates "Caleb's Kola" and other throwback vintage beverage labels that look and market like a beer. RC was ahead of its time, always.
Oh God! Royal Crown Draft was the very best soft drink ever. I still wish somebody would revive it. It was a sugar cola when everybody else had switched to high fructose corn syrup.
@@antimuppet they sell rc cola in the dollar tree if you're a cheap Bich like me
You can get it shipped from New Zealand. I have some at my house right now.
Remember Chelsea? It was like a super mildly alcoholic Fresca. i think it was late 70's
Sounds a lot like what Pepsi is doing with Pepsi nitro. The flavor of Pepsi but with the texture of beer. I tried the vanilla flavor. It wasn’t good. I should really give the cola flavor a try before they phase it out.
RC has always been a popular regional brand in the American South, e.g., the traditional pairing of a Moon Pie and an RC cola as a cheap snack. I grew up in the South, and RC cola was everywhere in small towns and country stores. Also, yes, it's popular in the Philippines. I've seen it for sale there in a number of places.
It’s also a Chicago staple. Growing up in the suburbs we had places that only offered RC cola. Still do at some places.
I always wondered why grandma always had RC. She was born in Kansas but moved to Washington and everytime we'd visit her from Oregon she'd have cases of the stuff. She was the only one I knew that bought or drank the stuff.
The stadiums in Cleveland all sell RC Cola as their choice of cola.
Rc was in Indonesia for quite some times. Pepsi also already bankrupt here, Cola rules the higher end market while a lot of sode rules the cheaper ones. Many places won’t sell the cheaper variety because it would cut their margin. But smaller stores sometimes exclusively sell cheaper variety of Cola. My mom owned one and said RC outsell cola by a large margin. But I giess they no longer there because afterall you cant out cheap local cola without foreign liscencing
Even growing up in PA, my favorite snack was a MoonPie and a can of RC
i would never say a legend such as RC cola failed, looking back RC was iconic
It Didn't fail..its just a attention grabbing that the poster OFTEN uses to get C L I C K S........
I think the word "Fail" is on the basis of market share which is what companies judge their success and failure on which is the whole point of "company man" videos. It didn't fail as a great soft drink or a cultural touchstone that is Iconic like you wrote.
I delivered RC back in the 70's we were always behind Coke and Pepsi in sales
What do u mean was I still drink it
Who out there remembers having an RC and a moon pie?
All the colas are slightly different and I definitely love RC the most, it has a slightly "darker" taste that just pairs better as a neutral cola flavor with almost any meal. Coke and especially Pepsi are both a little too sweet in comparison, although that also makes them better choices when going for more exotic flavors (coffee coke and vanilla nitro pepsi are amazing right now for two easy examples). I think the real takeaway is that brand loyalty is stupid and just restricts you from enjoying the full range of products in any given society, which in this case probably means that more of you should try RC if you haven't already.
What is this "Coffee Coke" that youy speak of? (RC with Chicago thin crust pizza, is incredible.)
@@ChicagoIrishman Just what it sounds like, coffee flavored coke. The supply (like with most things) seems to be a bit inconsistent right now but they're all over the place around here so probably not too hard to find wherever you are.
Actually I'm going to need everyone reading this right now to go buy a bunch because "coke blak" or whatever they called it the first time they tried this combo failed like 15 years ago and I'm terrified it's going to happen again. What will I do then, drink coke and coffee separately? Madness!
Fun fact: RC Cola was part of a "staple meal" for the Poor Southern Working man that would have that along with a Moon Pie during their Lunch Breaks. They actually have an annual festival dedicated to that called the "RC Cola-Moon Pie Festival" up in Bell Buckle, Tennessee which would happen normally around the 3rd Saturday in June as it's going on since 1994. Been up there a few times, and it's quite an interesting festival.
That combo was a staple of American lunboxes for much of the 20th century.
As seen in The Green Mile
interesting, tbqh didn't even know that. i just recently discovered something new about (RC.)
And the classic nabs, Vienna sausages, and Pepsi.
"Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous."
The memories. My dad had a pop machine outside his gas station in the 80's and 90's that sold RC Cola, Diet Rite, Bubble Up, Cream Soda and Sunkist. I grew up on that stuff.
tell me you're from the midwest without telling me you're from the midwest
bam! you nailed the 'others' that i couldnt recall. "bubble-up" that killed me
What a horrible lineup
My Top Five: #1 Coke #2 RC #3 Dr Pepper #4 7-Up #5 Muggs
RC Cola was my mom's favorite drink many years ago. She drank it multiple times per day. I drank it too and liked it. Then it disappeared and Mom had to switch to Coke. Fast-forward to 2021 ... for the first time in decades, I saw RC Cola available at a grocery store. I eagerly bought some, took it home ... and it tasted so bad I had to throw it out. The stuff I drank in 2021 had the old RC Cola name, but definitely NOT the old RC Cola taste.
I'm drinking your "Failed RC" now...
In the early 1960's, pop cost 10 - 12 cents over the counter at a local little store. The Coke and Pepsi came in 12 oz bottles while RC Cola came in a 16 oz bottle. The price was the same around 10 - 12 cents each, but the added deposit was 3 cents for the 16 oz bottle and 2 cents for the 12 oz bottle. Still the RC cola was a better deal. We used to go out to vacant lots and check the trash cans for intact pop bottles. These often covered the cost of a fresh bottle of pop plus some candy, depending how many intact bottles were collected and the deposits redeemed.
The good old days...I remember redeeming bottles as a kid and getting sweets too🙂
Around where I live in southwest Virginia you can get an rc cola for 40-50 cents from vending machines that have them while Pepsi and coke are about 75cents to a dollar for the same sized can. Haven't found bottles of the stuff, but I can still buy 12 packs of it and 2 liter bottles, and their always the cheapest sodas not counting some off brand sodas
I remember looking for returnable bottles. Turning them in for the deposit money. Getting more sodas.
RC takes me back to fond memories of my childhood in the late 70s early 80s on the farm. Even then at break time you could either have a "big" RC or Nehi or a "baby" Coke Cola.
This is the first time I have seen an American calling it 'pop' just like we did as English kids. We always called them 'bottles of pop' from the 'pop man'. He would come once a week and you would get money for the old empty bottles. We never called it soda, is my point. (soda is what we mix with whisky 🥃)
RC was the only soda my grandparents would buy when I was a kid. They bought it in 16 oz glass bottles. I drink it now because they're gone and it reminds me of them. The town they lived in had an RC bottling plant that also bottled Sun Drop, which is THE most popular "citrus drink" in the place they lived, even to this day.
Gotta be in the south
I'm Australian and I know Sun Drop because they sponsored IndyCars a few years back
South Carolina or North Carolina?
16 oz glass bottle and a pack of peanuts.. take the bottle back and get a nickel
@@barnes80 founded in Georgia
An ice cold RC and a payday bar is a great combo! Both are highly underrated.
RC and a Moon Pie is even better.
Those were my Mother’s two favorite treats together when I was little :)
RC... AND A PAYDAY!!!
HELL YEAH!!!
R.C. and vagina.
I support this!!!!
Because something isn’t ultra popular doesn’t make it a failure. RC is good!
I actually really like RC cola, I get it whenever I see it in a store. I wouldn’t say it failed, it’s just less popular than other brands.
A fellow tako sticks by their oshi no matter how popular ;p
I would've thought you only drank Dr. Oopsie
Nobody mentioned that more often than not, CC wouldn't supply small grocery stores that carried other brands, not officially of course.
My dad used to drink it when I was a kid but I wasn’t allowed to drink pop as a kid so I used to sneak a can or two. Great memories
Well, the coca cola company buy this rc royal crown and dismantled it from market.
I remember the RC vending machines in the early 90s only being a quarter for a can, so I bought it on that principle alone! It was a good, cheap alternative to the big two.
Soda cans were 80 cents in the machine in AK in 1990, but that may be due to control of catering on campus.
They STILL have that advantage. Their 2-liters are like... half the cost of competitors, and 12-packs were $2-4 cheaper last I checked.
@@kurtpena5462 It was good. Paying more for Coke and Pepsi doesn't necessarily mean you're getting a better product... it means you're paying for all their marketing and their contracts to athletes and celebrities. In addition, stores with sales of of 3 12-packs for $12 means that you're paying $.33 per can, which means they're "cheap," too.
I still remember getting RC from the vending machine outside of the local car wash when I was a kid. When I was only 6 or 7 I was like "damn this is better than pepsi" and would get one any time a store sold it
@@kurtpena5462 you can at some independently owned restaurants
I remember RC Cola machines always being 25 to 50% cheaper than Coke. I think that perceived cheapness is very much linked to the jokes we make about it.
I love your videos! Just discovered your channel and have been bingeing for days! Would love to see you do some long form videos too!
Glad to have you here!
I live in Tajikistan, it is a Central Asian country and here RC Cola is extremely popular. We have the factory here and we used to think that this brand is ours. RC Cola has become our national drink in some ways .Trust me guys it tastes way better than Coke.
I love your country!
I like Tajikstan but kazakhstan is better. it's slightly more organised and they have better coca cola
RC Cola was hard to find, but when I found one, I bought it over Pepsi and Coke. It was delicious, similar in taste to Pepsi and Coke but with a little twist that made it different and I loved the logo and colours of their bottles and cans.
You must be saving a bunch of money.
@@kurtpena5462 Besides drinking Coke, I'm drinking Glup, a bit more sour than than Pepsi, Coke and RC Cola but still delicious
Supposedly. cola is a mix of vanilla, cinnamon and citrus. Always thought RC had just a bit more cinnamon than the rest.
@@Ease54 Yes, and it is very delicious specially when this fizzy drink is freezing cold!
When I was in college, they had an RC machine in the dorm I lived in. The guy that loaded the machine would randomly tape silver dollars to the bottom of some of the cans. RC was already my favorite cola at the time, the fact that I could sometimes get a few extra cans for free made my freshman year bareable.
That guy was a marketing Genius! 🤠🤣
Bearable.
Awesome
Cap 🧢
@@christiansantamaria7233 I cal cap on your cap
My grandma was the only one I knew who always had RC Cola on hand, in fact I have a very vivid memory of going to see the Sandlot in theaters, and my grandma had snuck in RC-Cola and microwave popcorn in a zip lock bag. The movie only had three seats left on opening night, so they placed me in the front row and my grandparents were seated elsewhere throughout the theater. After the lights went down and the trailers started, my grandma stood up in front of the whole crowd to bring me the smuggled snacks and she cracked open the RC cola and the whole crowd lost it at this grandma's brazen refusal to pay full price for concessions and for being generally clueless and having a lack of discretion.
RC cola has always been my favorite of the three and I buy a twelve pack any time I can find it. It's a bit odd to say it 'failed,' in my opinion. Just because it didn't win the Cola wars doesn't mean it's a failure. After all, it's been selling for pretty much as long as Pepsi and Coke. And by the Cola wars standard, you could say that many other sodas 'failed.' I'd say any product that is continually produced 125 years or so is not a failure. Dr Pepper never caught up to Coke or Pepsi either.
they failed to market. Did not us Heather Locklear is her heyday. Expected local distributors to carry the day.
Dr. Pepper outsells Coke and Pepsi in certain markets. It more than holds it's own.
In our country, RC is still well-loved by the consumers due to its affordable pricing compared to Coke. It has been the bang-of-the-buck softdrink of the generation.
I'm guessing your I'm the Philippines?
@@castlewhite1577 yes and this ad proves it ruclips.net/video/hXWj5BK7evM/видео.html
@@castlewhite1577 *What?*
@@datagrab I'm guessing you're in the Philippines?
@@castlewhite1577 exactly
Another thing RC never did until recently unlike Coke and Pepsi is taking the brand internationally. Sticking to the US gave their rivals a huge boost.
I thought RC only based on Philippines....
Out of curiosity, when things like that are carried over to other countries, does it originating in the US make it more or less desirable?
it was in canada and south america to some degree
theres rc in israel
There's RC in Kuwait. I buy it all the time.
I've had plenty of RC over the years. Don't drink much Cola anymore, but when I was a kid, my Grandpa, who's initials were RC, used to joke it was named after him, and he was a big fan of it. I've seen many times in recent years, where Convienece Stores sold 20 oz. bottles at a discount price. (Like 99c when a Coca-Cola or Pepsi might be 30/40c more.
RC hasn’t failed. It still exists, and as someone once said, it’s what keeps the big guys on their toes - it doesn’t have to be a 2-pop system. 🙂
Glen Quagmire said that lol.
@@vadenk4433 He’s not wrong though LMAO.
it’s also extremely popular overseas
@@Nabsolute_ Soft drinks.
@@papapookey8017 as a fin i really liked it got some around amonth ago for the first time
The first time I tasted RC I thought it tasted like a cross between Coca Cola and Pepsi. RC with an Moon Pie is delightful. Also RC with Crown Royal is also quite lovely.
@Beaverish Buck Teeth topped with ice cream!
Royal crown with Crown Royal 😂😂😂
I always got Coke crossed with Dr. Pepper from it.
@Beaverish Buck Teeth didn't you know that soda is a sweet
It's illegal in Georgia to eat a moonpie without an RC cola ,I've been told
Just because it's not as popular as Coca-cola/Pepsi doesn't mean it failed.
It's still being sold worldwide and honestly, I love it. Way better than any other soft drinks for me.
Try not to let it bother you too much. He does all of his videos this way, where they're based more on "his" perspective of the topics.
RC does not do the marketing like coke and Pepsi. They don't have A lister actors and singers they have to pay big bucks out too.
True, in my opinion iphones failed. Just never liked Apple due to those suicide nets around the factories where children as young as 14 were locked inside for 30 straight days and forced to work 14 hours a day every day. I'm sure in a communist country like China it's still like that. But I know most people don't care and refuse to admit what I'm saying even though it was common knowledge at the launch of the iPhone 3.
@@jinhazuki1054 hardly any video on any platform is objective
It doesn't taste the same to me as it did in the 70's. I loved it along with all the others but now its not the same. I need to try a can and see what it tastes like.
It failed so hard that it's one of the cheapest name brand colas available everywhere. RC Cola is amazing and the cherry variant especially is very distinct from Cherry Coke and Wild Cherry Pepsi.
I'm not sure that RC failed. They're still around, selling soda like they've always done. Not being #1 or #2 doesn't mean that you're a failure.
Yes, it is. Keurig Dr Pepper has a great beverage line up.
Tell that to Ricky Bobby 😂
@@ryshow9118 Ah yes. Hillbilly logic.
Worked great for Texas and its elementary school shooter.
OH WAIT NO IT DIDN'T.
They failed to be a major competitor, seems to be the point. But at least they're still in the game.
The brand still exists, but it's a shell of its heyday.
RC Cola was my favorite soda growing up. They used to do a promotion where if you saved like 200 bottle caps, you could turn them in for a free case. My buddy Dave and I did this a few times! Good memories!
man was scrounging them bad boys up trying trade em in to Fester for that sheriff's badge
My dad was born in the mid 1930s, and he ALWAYS had RC Cola in his fridge. He'd order Coca Cola at restaurants but almost never bought it for at home, which I never understood because Coca Cola was the mainstream favorite.
This helped me understand why he probably leaned into RC Cola more, he grew up in an era where it was much more common and even still, it's way cheaper than Coca Cola.
Buying the cheaper of essentially identical product is always the right choice. When out at the restaurant, both brands would be the same price. We pay absurd prices for brand names.
Tried it, liked it and whenever I see it I take it. I saw it in another video thinking it was a US. Only drink and came off as a massive suprise to me seeing it sold in Europe. And to answer your question yeah I respect it, it's great.
RC was my parent's choice when I was young and back then I tasted no difference with the other 2 major brand. I live in rural-ish Canada and it's now very hard to find. When I was able to taste some last year, I was surprised that it was pretty different from the major brands.
It felt less sugary and bubbly, but not in an unpleasant way, more like there was less crap in what I drank.
Until recently RC still used real cane sugar while everyone else used corn syrup.
@@nucleargrizzly1776 Yup. They changed that I noticed.
yup. nice description. That first sip of coke peels your eyelids back (mt. dew also). Obviously suksesful,,,,,but not for everyones taste.
@@matthewburris769 it's successful ugh it's only a 3 syllable word lolz or 2 if something is a success lol
I absolutely LOVE RC Cola, still going strong here in Texas!
It's no dr pepper but hell yes TEXAS STRONG
@@Desecrator6 Oh, for sure, RC isn't on DP status. However, I will take it over Coca-Cola (some would consider this sacrilegious, being I was born and raised in the Atlanta area).
@@TheBiggityBoyd lol yeah I'm totally with you on that
@@Desecrator6 it's owned by them though.
@@michaelkeller5927 You’re not funny
One of the things not mentioned about Cyclomate, the study was partially funded by Coca-Cola and they were involved in lobbying for it to be banned as well, because Cyclomate had a deal that only RC could use them in a cola and coke was upset as they wanted to use it (they wouldnt have a diet cola till 1982). Pepsi also was involved in lobbying, and had also launched in 1964 their diet cola using saccharin, but had trouble beating RC. They saw an opportunity to shut down their competition as well.
Coke had a diet cola, called Tab, long before 1982... "Back to the Future" made a joke about it, when Michael J. Fox orders one at a soda fountain and confusion ensues over Tab vs. running a tab... The irony was that Tab was not that popular and got phased out by Diet Coke around the same time as the movie came out...
@@AndrewAMartin exactly, the difference is TaB had saccharin, aka Sweet n’ Low (the pink stuff) but Cyclomate was thought to taste better. Diet Coke was its first soda with Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal)
That's what happen when government has too much power, everyone will try to throw it at their competition.
The game becomes more and more "Please the Government" instead of "Please the Consumer".
why lobbying isnt illegal is beyond me its self interest trusted into governmental form .
@@pandaberserk3390 Lobbying is just words backed by money.
The term 'Lobbying' comes from the fact that Politicians would talk to people during their coffee break, in the *Lobby*, some of those people would happen to be people from industries or businesses.
You can't forbid people from trying to convince others through talking or incentives, else you might as well say goodbye to Capitalist Democracy.
The small batch Royal Crown Draft, marketed in the late nineties (on Long Island, at least), with cane sugar, was the best cola I’ve ever tasted. It was about six bucks for a four-pack back then, so it was not really affordable. I haven’t seen it around since 2004 or so.
There used to be a grocery store when I was young called “knob Hill Farms” that only sold RC cola from its vending machines and I would get a can for 25 cents every time my mom would take us shopping, so rc cola has a very special place in my heart for sure lol
The barber shop in my neighborhood had a RC vending machine a long time ago.. I miss it
Knob Hill Farms I believe was bought out by Raleys/Belaire. We use to have 25 cent colas but they were Shasta or a store brand.
I would cry and ask for the .50 Cent coke. Those vending machines give me bad flashbacks.
I remember Knob Hill from the early 90's when I was a kid. Great store, great RC cola cheap like you said.
As a child, i recall a Coke salesman telling my grandfather ( who owned a hotel and liquor store ) that his businesses NEEDED to have Coke because it's "what customers demand." What a ploy. Even back in the 70's I recall people looking for something different. I'm so grateful that today's liquor stores stock so many weird and offbeat brands of non-Coke and non-Pepsi owned sodas. RC cola aside ( which I liked ) I will buy anything but Coke. I'll never forget the arrogance of that guy's sales pitch. This is why they own every theme park, movie theater, and other public venue.
While I agree, the salesman did have a point if he’s pitching to a liquor store. It’s not called a Rum and Pepsi or a Jack and Pepsi 🤷♂️
@@frankfurter8187 facts. Also, pepsi only tastes good when you order pizza hut. Mountain dew is the only soda i like from the pepsi family
I don’t drink much soda anymore, but, honestly, I think RC is a refreshingly different cola! Thanks for the interesting episode! :)
I don’t drink much soda of any kind these days, but back in the 70’s and 80’s, RC was my preference.
I also liked that they nearly never referenced other brands in their advertising, unlike Coke and Pepsi (it was the era of “The Pepsi Challenge”, etc.
There really needed to be a mention of how in the 50-70s, the south pretty much adopted RC and a Moon Pie as an iconic roadside staple.
RC is the most popular combination with Moon Pie, but the best is Double Cola with a Moon Pie. Both of those brands originate in Chattanooga, TN.
That and Cheerwine.
@@phantomspaceman Yeah, Cheerwine might be the "deep south" thing maybe, but not neccessarily with the moon pie, not iconically anyway. Stretching all the way over as far as Texas, the "southern pair" is RC & Moon Pie. You'll hear it mentioned in much of the media of the day. Southern comedian Brother Dave Gardner cites it constantly. And the icon Thunderbird Motels today will have them waiting on your pillow for the roadside nostalgia. 🥤🌙🥧🤍
@@Cre80s Lewis Grizzard relayed a story about a man walking into a store and asking for an RC Cola and a Moon Pie. The proprietor surmised that he must be a graduate of [major rival to UGA]. The customer is incensed, asking if ordered pizza or beer would he be assumed Italian or German? The proprietor assured him that no, he would not. So then, the man asks, why am I assumed to be a graduate of [major rival to UGA]?
"Because," the proprietor explains. "This is a hardware store."
@@doktorventure9977 😏😂
It makes you wonder how cultural practices like these even form out of thin air and everyone in the region adopts them. It's not like they're owned by the same company and the thought was seeded with advertising. Nobody says "Mello Yellow & a Chick-O-Stick." There just MUST have been something to have at least sparked it, like a local filling station that had a promo, "free RC/Moon Pie with an oil change." This calls for some research!
RC Cola is all over where I live and I take it over Coke or Pepsi any day, I see it no where close to being a failure.
The massive corporate brainwashing of normies creating a dichotomy left no room for RC, which is seen more as an off-brand like Great Value. If you give serve it at parties, you look poor or something.
It is like they have never heard of the ol' Southern treat of an RC Cola and a Moon Pie.
It’s probably like sundrop or cheerwine and become a regional soda.
..was gonna say, how has a "failure" been around for decades upon decades and sold pretty well. Bizarre title. Just because you aren't selling the same # of units as the #1 product doesn't mean you're a failure
@@EB-bl6cc Yeah exactly!
Brings back memories growing up in Louisiana. A big treat for me and my siblings was an RC Cola and a Moon Pie. We didn't get the pair together often because of the sugar overload. But it was soooo good.
Rc cola would probably be just as popular as coke or pepsi if fast food places simply had the cola available at the soda dispensers
I love RC. We got it a lot as a kid, because it was cheaper at the grocery store. While it might be colored a bit by nostalgia, I still prefer the flavor of RC to the other two.
Never in my life drink RC cola before. Until a week ago and it tasted good
Very underated
It definitely has a different flavor from the other two.
I still prefer RC over Coke and Pepsi when it comes to taste. But RC Cola is getting increasingly more difficult to find in stores, at least where I live.
Back in the 90s RC was always the 2-liter (sometimes 3 liter) that my friends and i would buy from the corner store on our way to go fishing, and was a staple of camping trips and sleepovers. To me it was nearly as good as Coke but because it was under buck while Coke and Pepsi were usually $1.25+ it was a no brainer for kids with limited pocket money....
When I was a kid back in the 60"s I drank RC Cola over Coke and Pepsi because RC had 12 Oz bottles to Coke and Pepsi's 10 Oz bottles. (20% more). Two Oz's may not sound like a lot but to a kid that mowed lawns to get the money to buy his soft drinks that was a lot.
Same here. Always picked out the tallest bottles from the cooler...
This is why I love Arizona. They give you a lot of soda or lemonade or whatever for a dollar. I saw a kid at a bodega, literally counting his pennies to get something, and when he saw the Arizona, his eyes lit up, because he knew he had enough for a big, satisfying drink.
same era, i collected the coke bottles from trash cans and picnic areas to return for the 2 cents deposits each.
@@thomaschristopher8593 Me too, I loved it when I found a 28 Oz. bottle they were worth 5 cents.
@@trublgrl Arizona green tea might be cheap diabeetus slurm...but it's my favorite cheap diabeetus slurm. Got me through college with no car. I'm real sad to see the accountants found out it doesn't make the CEO types enough money...it's almost completely disappeared from everywhere, including has stations. Used to be everywhere and today I couldn't even get a cold can at the grocery. Still at most drug stores though.
Actually, the killer to diet sodas in the 70's and 80's was having to use saccharin which isn't as sweet as cyclamates and it gave most diet colas a bitter taste. I am old enough to remember what cyclamates tasted like and you would swear it was sugar due to it being that sweet. The new sweeteners they are using today seem to mimic sugar as well as cyclamates did.
sad to think it was probably just big sugar trying to say it was dangerous because it would ruin the market :/
Then later there was Nutrasweet which sounds like an identical story except it was banned fairly quickly.
Yeah, 80s kid here. I hated diet sodas of the time because of the chemical taste. And I remember in the 90s when all the major soft drink brands had new sweeteners and started desperately trying to change the public image of diet sodas.
Saccharin & Sucralose are still ruining drinks today. Tastes worse than actual sugar, and it's quite toxic (depending what one reads).
@@henryturnerjr3857 I used to love the taste of diet Dr pepper with nutrasweet. Grocery stores here still sell nutrasweet in packets.
I prefer RC to both Coke and Pepsi. Cane sugar, not corn syrup, a lighter carbonation, and a wonderful synergy with ice. Yeah, as your video stated, RC Cola was the first to bottle cherry cola (it existed on fountains only), first to make a diet soda, and first to put sodas into cans (and later aluminum). I think they deserve more respect. They shaped the soft drink industry as we know it. Also, Nehi was a great beverage! Peach and grape were like divine nectar on a hot day.
Honestly, RC Cola is still one of the popular cola beverage in the Philippines and is presently competing fairly well with Sprite, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Royal.😊
Here in America it's still pretty damn popular.
@@Go4Bro In southern part of US right?
@@ranjanbiswas3233 I see a lot of people up north who love it too.
Royal is rc isn't it? Royal cola?
@@shanezane4171 no, in the Philippines we have another brand called Royal Tru-orange referred to as simply "royal" which is not a cola.
I LOVE RC Cola, has it's own unique taste and really hits the spot. Always buy a case. It is still sold so not sure if it is a failure. True it will probably never have the market share like Coke and Pepsi, but I would not call it a failure.
To go from producing the #3 and #4 beverage by market share, to "existing" is an invariable failure.
It's just goes to show you the power of marketing/media.....
Its ok, usually buy it when its on sale only, anything on sale I'll buy. But dam branded sodas in general are expensive as hell. Usually go with dr.thunder.. as its only 5$ for 24pk lol.
Back in 1976, there was a storyline in "All In the Family" about this. Rob Reiner's character would only drink RC, and if handed another soda he would refuse to drink it. His wife and her mom could not believe he could tell the difference, so gave him three glasses. And he correctly identified all three of them to their shock.
And it was very popular in the South. When I lived in Alabama and North Carolina, it was prominently displayed, sometimes in stores even more so than Coke or Pepsi. And I was a huge fan of RC Draft when it was available. And it is still hanging in there over 117 years after it was founded, so obviously they are doing something right.
Southern by the grace of God. I prefer rc because it's a smaller business than coke or Pepsi
Thanks alot for ruining RC for me… I can’t like something fucking meathead loved
Is it same recipe? Same taste? For example, Harp lager, which used to be the pair for a half and half or Guinness/Harp, now only sells in cans in Ireland and has a cheap generic taste. Harp used to be crisp and sharp lager and distinct, albeit subtle, from all other lagers. Is RC cola still the same?
I remember that episode.
@Timothy Mckee If I'm not mistaken, it's at your mom's house? Possibly your sister's?
In the 90's I used to drink "no name brand" and RC because it was cheaper than Pepsi and Coke. Also when RC was in the same vending machine here, RC was 50 cents and Pepsi was $1 so 2 for 1 was worth it for little kid me.
I’ll take a 12 pack of RC for $3.99 vs a 12 pack of Coke for $7.99 any day and I think it tastes better.
It does taste better. I think Coke is one of the worst brands of cola.
How much is RC paying you to say that?
@Timothy Mckee don’t blame me I vote red 🤷♂️😂
I have nothing against RC Cola at all, I think it's fine.
@Timothy Mckee Umm, every drink is "mostly" water, the water part is what makes it a drink. 🤣
Describing a consumer product on the open market that has been around for 117 years as "failed" requires an entirely new definition of the word "failed".
He means they failed to take the Cola market from Coca Cola
@@dannyh8288 That's not "failed", that's "less successful".
Subjective. I'd definitely say they failed.
Not a single store sells or diner serves that piss water within the last 20 years in my region of US
@@carcass688 You have ZERO WalMart stores in your area?
Where are you, Northern Alaska?
Any company that makes it over 100 years, is successful.
Back in the 70's, I remember having a RC and a Moon Pie on several occasions. They were advertised as a duo all over the south.
Wow says a lot about the south!
RC cola and a moon pie. Loved them as a kid. One sodie I loved as a kid but never see is Rondo
There was a country song with the line “Our champagne and caviar was an RC Cola and a Moonpie”
@@jimcarter7742 Lifestyles of the not so rich and famous. I love my country music, lol.
Mad magazine did a RC & moon pie in the south comic. How to get to 1st base with UR cousin ! Lol !
I still buy RC cola today. After the price hike of the popular sodas in the last couple of years, it’s the best cola for the price. I can get it for .99 or 1.29 for a 2 liter. They have RC berry cream soda cans for $1 at Dollar General stores where I live. I don’t drink a whole lot of soda, but if I get some it’s RC more often than the others.
I was in Bloomington, IL 2 weeks ago for a concert and went to a small little restaurant/pub downtown that had RC on tap. I was pleased because I love RC and don't have it often. First time I had RC at a restaurant in probably 15 years.
On tap?!?! Must’ve been great
I’ve stumbled upon a few places in Illinois that actually had RC COLA on tap too. I wish I could remember but I’ve seen it over the past 10 plus years as I’ve moved around this entire state. It’s truly a treat. I honestly never realized how popular RC was in Illinois, especially southern Illinois where I was raised!?!?!? I knew no other cola until I was about 9 years old. I was born in 1979 and my grandmother was from Kentucky and we had nothing but RC. I had a RC Cola Machine next door my entire childhood.
I raaarely drink soda, but that on tap just sounds delicious. I dont think I've had an RC cola since the early 2000s but i remember enjoying the difference in taste from coke or pepsi. Now i want a pepsi.
I don't drink soda often.
@@MrDmoney622 it was! My wife even decided to have a glass and she doesn't drink soft drinks at all!
I was shocked to see RC Cola as failed as we always keep our fridge stocked with them! Of course we are only 10 minutes from the RC and Moonpie festival - a pilgrimage for any RC or Moonpie lover.
Chatt Town !
Please help how do I eat a moon pie without dying rhe last time I tried one i almost got in a car accident
@@mikeax24 eat it at home in bed
@@3longatedMuskr4t I don't think you've ever tried to eat a moon pie before if you think it's thar easy
@@mikeax24 you stuffing the whole thing in your mouth or what bruh ?
I'm thankful to have grown up in the 70's and enjoyed RC from glass bottles. Definitely on my list of fond memories.
Just a few years ago i was on vacation in Gatlinburg TN and a store there was selling RC in glass bottles.not sure but they must have a bottler still operating down around there that just ships local. I had to buy one, tasted so good!
I was going to say the same thing. RC Cola in a glass bottle was the bomb.
16oz! 4 more ounces than either Pepsi or Coke at the same price.
Exactly the same for me.
Love and miss the fat RC bottles that instead of having paper labels, they had a thin Styrofoam label. (Presumably to keep the drink cold longer, or to keep the bottle from sweating so much.) When I would finish drinking an RC as a kid in the 70's, I would slowly peel off the label in a very satisfying way.
It's hard to call RC cola a failure when it's the soda I buy most frequently
RC is pretty big here in Chicago, so I don’t really think it failed.
I was about to say the same it can’t be a failure it’s doing great here in Chicago
Eh they failed to going nation-wide/international market
I tried RC Cola for the first time when I was in college, and ever since then it's been my number 1 soda. Something about it is just so much more appealing to me than coke or pepsi
So most people don't know this but Sam's Choice Cola is nearly the same as RC Cola, in fact in a blind taste test you probably wouldn't know the difference.
@@jasonharrod3070 Honestly, dude, Sam's Cola tastes like a church meeting. I see where you're coming from, but it's like they mixed 10 year old coke with pure musty old building essence
As I recall, RC tasted of one simple note of cola flavor, was only slightly sweet, and quite mildly carbonated. It was a bit like drinking a half-sweet iced tea or a lemonade or ginger ale, except with the flavor of cola, instead. Of the three, it was arguably the best representation of the actual flavor of cola nut.
Their slogan was "Easy on the syrup, easy on the gas." It was my favorite.
correct. Had RC just this week. It is less sweet than Coca Cola or Pepsi. Whereas Coca Cola has a slight 'vanilla' overtone and Pepsi has a more 'citric' flavor. RC is more simple, almost a bit of cherry. It's also a little less carbonated than Coca Cola and much less than Pepsi.
Try it again if it is in your area, it's a nice cola.
Bruh rc still exists and is nothing like you described. It's just cheap Pepsi. That's it.
@@bixmcgoo5355 Kid, I'm talking about my memories from long ago. I have no idea what RC Cola tastes like now because I don't drink soda pop anymore.
Why the past tense? I still see RC Cola everywhere. Unfortunately, I don't see Diet RC much outside of the greater Lexington KY area, & then only in supermarkets.
I grew up on RC cola loved scratching caps for chance of winning money ❤