To: kumar who wrote (3208 ) 11/22/2002 11:41:02 PM From: Bilow Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 6901 Hi kumar_rangan; I don't generally drink diet drinks either; to me they taste awful. Same with margarine, I only use real butter. For the life of me, I can't understand how so many people can force themselves to drink skim milk or use imitation vanilla. But a lot of people think the fake stuff tastes just the same. I've known people who won't drink regular CocaCola, rather than diet, not because of the calories, but instead because of the taste, or aftertaste. There are some soybean hamburgers that I like, but I like my hamburger with "fillers" like onions etc. There are even cases where the soft drink industry markets low calorie soft drinks while failing to advertise them as "diet" drinks: (Maybe artificial sweeteners are cheaper than sugar?)The newly approved sweetener acesulfame-K (ace-K) took the carbonated soda market by storm. PepsiCo, Purchase, N.Y., was the first company to capitalize on the sweetener. During the fourth quarter of 1998, the company introduced Pepsi One, a one-calorie soda with ace-K that is sweeter than Diet Pepsi, the company's other low-calorie soda. Pepsi markets the two beverages very differently. The Pepsi One packaging doesn't use the word "diet," which can often be a turnoff for male consumers . (After all, we know "real men" don't diet.) The silver can's graphics and futuristic typography are also geared more to men, as are the television commercials, which feature Cuba Gooding Jr. preparedfoods.com Humans are complicated creatures, and it is sometimes difficult to analyze their motivations from simple observations. -- Carl P.S. Remember "New Coke"? Here's a recounting of the fascinating marketing disaster:members.lycos.co.uk