Latest news with #OKSoda
Buzz Feed
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
90s Toys And Games No One Remembers
Recently, I rounded up some obscure things from the '90s that most people don't remember, like OK Soda. In the comments, members of the BuzzFeed Community reminisced about the '90s toys and games that also seem to have been lost to time. Here are 25 of their top responses: "Pogs were huge in Hawaii in the early '90s, I don't know about the mainland. (The name comes from Passion Orange Guava juice.)" —battery126 "The Real Talkin' Bubba talking plush? LOL, no one I know remembers." —oliviasmith1028 "OMG, I totally forgot about water babies. I had one for the longest time, but it was always naked because I didn't have any doll clothes that fit it." —reader65 "I once got sent to HR for hitting our CEO in the back with a Gak hand. It messed up his suit jacket. Worth it." —aahamom "I worked for Mattel in the '90s when we were pitching Gak to customers. We had 50-gallon drums of each color, and we had some awesome Gak fights!!!" —angryflower767 "I had a Thingmaker for Creepy Crawlies and also for other shapes, but I don't remember what it was called. One of the most dangerous kids' toys ever! I can't count how many times I got burned using it, but I didn't care because it was so cool! We had the creepy crawlies that had a very creepy texture. And we had another one that made cars or something; you used two plastic sheets and then somehow stuck them together. There were wheels, axles, and weights, and the cars worked. I loved blending the Plasti-Goop colors." —nyc4ever "Shortly after Creepy Crawlers got big, they came out with Incredible Edibles, Creepy Crawlers that you could bake and eat. God knows what chemicals we ingested after eating those." —Anonymous, 68, Orange County, CA "Another Nickelodeon toy: Floam. What even was the purpose of it?" —Anonymous, 41, United States "I got my friend Mall Madness for her birthday last year (an original one from eBay, not the remake), and that might have been the best birthday party I've ever attended, LOL." —caelesto "We would get all the Disney collectibles from the Happy Meals after every movie release. Toy Story 2 was so huge that we went to the drive-thru and flat out asked to buy all 20 collectibles and skip the weeks-long wait — and we were allowed to! And we still have them!" —saltyspice75 "Please, please tell me anyone remembers Henry, the matching game by Tiger Toys. Anyway, the commercial was hilarious, and I still have my Henry, which still works almost 30 years later. I love playing Henry now." —oliviasmith1028 And here's the commercial: "I'll take your water babies and raise you a Baby Alive." —adrianw440bbeae3 "Puppy Surprise! There was a mother dog, and she had a Velcro pouch tummy. When you opened it up, she 'gave birth' to her puppies. It was kind of like a grab bag because, obviously, you didn't know when you purchased it how many puppies it was gonna have inside. I only got three, and I was pissed. I wanted five!" —Anonymous, 37, CT "Dreamphone." —Anonymous, 39, Columbus, Ohio "Quints! They were little dolls that came in a set of five, and their little diapers had a number on the bum. All of their accessories came numbered from one to five. You could even get a high chair and a stroller!" —Anonymous, 41, California "Lisa Frank Password Diary — a pink and purple password-protected diary with sparkly stickers and pre-loaded 'Lisa Frank' messages. Glitched a LOT!" —Anonymous, 57, Arizona "Nightmare!!! I played it so much that I have the whole intro memorized. I showed it to my partner the other day. He didn't get how amazing it was. I still own it, but no one ever wants to play. Alas!" —potatopeel "I had the Wayne's World game that came with a video. I still enjoy playing board games. It's cheesy, old-school family fun." —b1gm4m4 "The game Ask Zandar. I remember in the commercial, the wizard goes, 'You will get a phone call about this,' and the phone rang. That legit happened to my friend and me once, and we still laugh about it." —ogsassytaco "Pretty Pretty Princess." —Anonymous, 39, Columbus, Ohio "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? was a TV game show so popular, it spawned several video games that were (and I know how cheesy this sounds) fun AND educational! I still remember beating 'Where in Time is Carmen San Diego?' It was one of my great childhood achievements — she was hella smart!" —Anonymous, 35, New Jersey "Our teacher let us play The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary if we were one of the first ones done with our work, so I rushed through all my assignments and nearly failed math that year." —ksquirkyteacher "I had a few Bouncin' Babies, but I've rarely seen them mentioned anywhere." —shytruck932 "Nickelodeon Flash Screen." —Anonymous "Talkboy/Talkgirl." —Anonymous, 38, Los Angeles And finally: "Oh God, I had the Mystery Mansion game, but we only ever played it a few times because it was so involved. I think it got junked a few years ago with all our other board games from when we were kids, because my parents didn't know what to do with it all." —riverbutwhichone Are there any other nostalgic toys and games you miss from your childhood? What made them so great? Let us know in the comments!
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
The Coca-Cola flop you've probably never heard of! Soda giant launched another drink in 1993 with unusual message - but it didn't last long
Coca-Cola launched another 'slightly spicy' soda in 1993 but no one's ever heard of the brand because it was quietly discontinued just two years later. Coca-Cola is so deeply embedded in human consciousness that it is often cited as the second-most recognised words in the world - just after the universally understood 'OK.' According to some studies and brand historians, the name Coca-Cola is understood by 94 per cent of the world's population. However, in a bold Noughties experiment, the soda giant tried to recreate its success and launched OK Soda in a bid to own both of the world's most recognised terms - but it didn't go to plan. Launched in 1993, OK Soda wasn't your typical sugary drink as Coca-Cola crafted it with one target in mind, the Gen X teen (or those people born between the late 1960s and the early '80s) Generation X were often described as independent, self-reliant, skeptical and disillusioned with the status quo, so Coca-Cola wanted to try something new to appeal to their tastes. The idea was to be anti-marketing to an audience that hated being marketed to. Unsurprisingly, however, the audience saw right through what was essentially still advertising and the brand never took off. OK Soda's cans were designed to look deliberately strange; they came in muted grayscale tones and featured drawings by legendary alt cartoonists Charles Burns and Daniel Clowes. Clowes later said he used cult leader and serial killer Charles Manson's face as a model for one of his designs. The grey cans featured cryptic, existential slogans like 'Everything is going to be OK' and 'Don't be fooled into thinking there has to be a reason for everything'. Even the hotline printed on the cans (1-800-I-FEEL-OK) delivered absurd recorded messages rather than actual customer service. OK Soda's flavor was equally underwhelming as it was described as 'slightly spicy' and likened to a combination of orange soda and flat Coca-Cola. When they were looking to introduce a new beverage, Coca-Cola's special projects manager Brian Lanahan told Time Magazine that they chose the name 'OK' because it didn't sensationalise the product. It was supposed to be the marketing world's greatest reverse psychology triumph, but it was a flop. OK Soda never made it past the test markets, after launching in about a dozen US cities, and sales were lukewarm at best. By 1995, two years after its debut, OK Soda was quietly pulled from shelves and officially discontinued. Launched in 1993, OK Soda wasn't your typical sugary drink as Coca-Cola crafted it with one target in mind, the Gen X teen (people born from the late 1960s to the early '80s) Since then, the drink has become a case study in marketing classes around the world of how authenticity can't be engineered. While OK Soda failed to resonate with consumers, Coca-Cola continues to stand as one of the most iconic and globally recognised brands in history. A key driver of Coca-Cola's success is its ability to continually evolve its marketing campaigns and advertising strategies to stay relevant across generations. The very first print advertisement for Coca-Cola was launched in the United States back in 1905,with actress Hilda Clark sipping the fizzy black drink from a tea cup. The advertisement, which resembled a postage stamp of sorts with its floral design and portrait style, marketed the now global soft drink for just five cents. It is in stark contrast to the bold and colourful footage used to market the soft drink's famous curved bottle on television, social media and in magazines in 2015 where a 600ml bottle of drink can set consumers back a minimum of $3.50. Coca-Cola advertising was launched in Australia in 1943 and among one of the first marketing posters was artist Haddon Sundblom's 'Yes Girl' pin-up, which remains a hallmark in design today. The poster features a smiling woman sitting down in her vintage swimwear as a man passes her a bottle of Coca-Cola. The changing face of the soft drink advertising sheds light on just how much social attitudes, trends and fashion have shifted in the past eight decades. Coca-Cola targeted women in the 1950s with slogans like 'refresh yourself while shopping' and 'take some home for the family'. They were pictured lazing on the beach, typing on typewriters and pushing shopping trolleys in their 1950s-style dresses while they sipped from the soft drink bottles. The 70s drew on simple advertising with slogans like 'things go better with coke' and the 1980s often relied on sports to showcase the brand. The iconic Coca-Cola bottle, which was first sold back in 1938 from a factory in Sydney, is marking its 100 anniversary this year. It was designed in 1915 for a mere $500 with manufacturers being told to create something that could be recognised by touch alone and could be identified when shattered on the ground. The bottle has become steeped in pop culture history having been the muse for artists and designers like Andy Warhol, Dolce & Gabbana and Uniqlo.
