::ZERO COOL::

Okay, so I've been puzzled lately by the Coca-Cola Company's attempts at marketing its reduced-calorie drinks.

First, there was C2. I got that one. Half the calories, because there's half the sugar. Check.

Then came Diet Sprite Zero. I never saw anything in print or other media telling me if it differed from Diet Spriten (in terms of flavor, I could tell no difference).

Then they introduced Diet Coke with Splenda. Yay! It tastes way less like ass than the normal Diet Coke does.

Now, there's Coca-Cola Zero. WTF?

I tried it, and it's actually really good (it tastes like Coca-Cola in the same way that Diet Dr Pepper tastes like Dr Pepper, which was never true about Diet Coke and Coke). It will make excellent Makers and Diets (Makers and Zeros?).

But, thanks to a meeting I went to Thursday that involved several nonprofit agencies, representatives from Wal*Mart, the DEA, and Coca-Cola (sorry, Austin, for the former two), I learned what the deal is, yo. Coke Zero is "the diet version of Coke Classic, whereas Diet Coke was its own flavor formulation." You mean all this time, Diet Coke wasn't supposed to taste like Coke?

Whatever. I'll throw Coke Zero into my rotation of diet drinks -- orange soda, root beer, Mountain Dew, Cherry Coke, Pepsi Vanilla, Dr Pepper, and Sprite -- and think naught of it.