Tab cola has officially been discontinued

Coca-Cola’s first diet drink was launched in 1963.

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company has announced it will officially retire "select underperforming products" by the end of the year. One classic soda getting the chop? Tab, the company's first diet drink.

Tab is certainly not alone, however, as the company noted that 200 individual brands will no longer be sold. While regional offerings like Northern Neck Ginger Ale and Delaware Punch may not be mourned by many, Tab was a significant part of American culture.

Soft drinks with artificial sweeteners had been around since at least the 1950s, with brands like No-Cal initially marketing to diabetics. But Tab introduced zero sugar soda to a mass market, bringing with it seductive advertising enticing drinkers, especially women, to drink Tab in order to lose weight.

With the launch of Diet Coke in the early 1980s, Tab's popularity began to fade. But it still had a loyal following, allowing it to stick around for the next 40 years.

At its height in the late '60s and early '70s, the "one crazy calorie" cola expanded to include many different flavors like orange, black cherry, strawberry and root beer.

For some, it was their number one choice while others would rather drink almost anything else. Are you sad to see Tab go or did you forget it was even still around?


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38 Comments

ttenchantr 37 months ago
This is the fortieth or fiftieth time TAB has been declared dead.
bsantaniello 49 months ago
TAB was an acronym for Totally Artificial Beverage. Different in their pink cans!
jh4306 49 months ago
anyone remember vanilla pepsi???? loved it.
WordsmithWorks 49 months ago
Marty McFly: "Give me a Tab." Counter Man: I can't give you a tab until you order something."
Hogansucks1 WordsmithWorks 49 months ago
Quite right- I was close 😗. How bout a Pepsi-Free ? 😁
Kenner 49 months ago
Good riddance. Big sister drank it back in the 60’s. Tasted like 🤭 to me. I used a bottle of it to loosen the nuts on my banana seat bike.
AgingDisgracefully 49 months ago
Wasn't a big fan, though I liked the texture of their original glass bottles.
That's JUST uninteresting enough to post.
djw1120 49 months ago
I forgot Tab was still around.
I'll be sorry to see it go.
stephaniestavropoulos 49 months ago
Anyone remember the Tab drinking glasses? I guess they would be considered hourglass shaped. I had a couple of those.
If you still have them, they would be collector's items and maybe worth a lot of money.
MrsPhilHarris 49 months ago
Never had it. I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners. 🤢
Mukusthebadd1 49 months ago
Anyone remember Pepsi light?
MarkSpeck Mukusthebadd1 49 months ago
Really not a diet drink. Pepsi Light was just Pepsi with a twist of lemon.
Sway 49 months ago
Thought Tab went out with cyclamates and saccharin
texasluva 49 months ago
Probably 1990 was my last Tab to drink. Never thought of it after that. Just something to try a couple of times then life just sorta goes on.
TheDavBow3 49 months ago
Oh my gosh! Thank goodness!! Tab just sucked 🤮
Pacificsun 49 months ago
I thought TAB in the day was quite stylish and a great alternative for a sugarless drink. I was never that fussy about the taste of soda, not drinking a whole lot of it.
Barry22 49 months ago
Marty McFly: "Give me a Tab". Seriously, I thought Tab had disappeared.
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Radar drank grape Nehi.
Ok, but I was talking colas! Fruit sodas have always been around! And yes, I know about Royal Crown but no drugstore would serve it!
Hogansucks1 Barry22 49 months ago
“A TAB? You want a tab, you gotta buy something first- buddy ! ——Ok, a Pepsi-Free then ! “ 😬
Hogansucks1 cperrynaples 49 months ago
‘Black coffee then’
cperrynaples 49 months ago
Isn't this another case of something or someone we already thought was dead? Really, we all know Diet Coke killed Tab 40 years ago!
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Ginger probably only drinks Ginger Ale!
Is that similar to "Video killed the Radio Star" from Sep. 1979 (41 years ago)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r-tXRLazs
djw1120 justjeff 49 months ago
Never heard of that one.
cperrynaples djw1120 49 months ago
The famous first MTV video! No, I wasn't making that illusion but that is a great song!
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