New Coke Is Coming Back and You Can Thank 'Stranger Things'
Because everything old is new again, New Coke is coming back.
And you can thank "Stranger Things" Season 3 for it.
In 1985, Coca-Cola introduced a new version of its popular soft drink. People were mad. They were very mad. "New Coke" was spit out, crushed up, vilified as worse than garbage water, and then made into a punchline and cautionary tale.
Well, 1985 is also the year that Season 3 of "Stranger Things" is set. The new season, which premieres July 4 on Netflix, will feature New Coke in several episodes.
Coca-Cola is taking advantage of the tie-in by selling a limited supply of New Coke starting May 23 at cokestore.com.
"Stranger Things" is no stranger to these kinds of product references; Eggos had the spotlight in Season 1.
And for Season 3, New Coke isn't the only product tie-in for the new season. H&M will sell a line of '80s-style clothing, swimsuits, and flip-flops, with star Dacre Montgomery (Billy Hargrove) featured in the ad campaign. Baskin-Robbins will feature new flavors referencing the show's Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor.
But New Coke "was one of the first ideas in our Season 3 brainstorm,” show creators the Duffer Brothers wrote in an email to the New York Times. “It was the summer of ’85, and when you talk about pop culture moments, New Coke was a really big deal. It would have been more bizarre to not include it.”
The Duffer brothers even directed a remake of the original New Coke commercial, which will be show in movie theaters starting this weekend: