With the recent rebranding of Pepsi, I found myself thinking back to New Coke. Conspiracy theories about the product abound. Was the soft drink built by Coca Cola in order to fail? Some think so. Reasons include: 1) Changing the flavor of sugar-sweetened Coke dramatically in order to be able to change it back to its “original” flavor—albeit one now sweetened with the much-cheaper high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar—without having consumers notice the change; 2) Creating a new Coke category in order to make Pepsi’s array of products on supermarket shelves look small by comparison; 3) Preempting a forthcoming product called Pepsi Supreme, which tasted more like Coke, by creating a product that instead tasted more like Pepsi; and 4) Providing PR cover for Coca Cola while they secretly removed the last remaning coca derivatives from their product in an attempt to help the DEA stamp out the illicit plant. See also: Crystal Pepsi, and Malcolm Gladwell on the Pepsi Challenge.