Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[greenbow43]

In one of the most stunning reversals in the history of marketing, the Coca-Cola company in July 1985 yielded to thousands of irate consumers demanding that it should bring back the original Coke formula.
(A) demanding that it should
(B) demanding it to
(C) and their demand to
(D) who demanded that it
(E) who demanded it to


which answer is the best to replace the words in blue

the right answer is D,
i am wandering why not B or E

[lotus]

Hi greenbow43,

This sentence is rather long, but is correct with (D). Because it is a long sentence, it is best to have a dependent adverbial clause immediately after "irate customers" describing what the consumer is irate about.

A, B and C are out because they don't begin with "who", the start of the adverbial clause. For example, if you use A, it would be unclear who is making the demand, the customer or the Coca-Cola company?

E is not correct because it does not contain "that" which clearly brings the subject of the controversy back to the Coca-Cola Company. Also, it has the unnecessay "to" in front of the infinitive "bring", making it soud heavy and unnatural. This is a common mistake.

That leaves us with D, the correct answer.

personal anecdote:

I was around during this controversy. It was really quite funny. I happen to like Coke over Pepsi. Pepsi seem to have a "mediciney" taste to it and is a little sweeter. However, Pepsi was gaining popularity with the younger generation and Coke decided to change its formula. It was a big marketing campaign with presumably a lot of consumer testing. Well, it goes to show you that surveys and consumer testing are often useless and meaningless. What it boiled down to was loyalty and brand name. Many Coke drinkers had been loyal to Coke since they were kids. They associated their memories with the taste and the brand name of Coke. The small change in formula didn't change that. In fact, many people said that the new formula was sweeter and actually tasted more like Pepsi, which was exactly what Coke didn't want to hear!

It was in fact a historic reversal. If you see a Coke bottle with a "silver stripe", it was the infamous "new formula". As a note, Coke still has nostalgic value in the United States. You'll see old Coke bottles, Coke ads and Coke machines selling at premium prices. You don't see too many Pepsi items selling at novelty stores.


--lotus

[greenbow43]

thank you very much, and it was so nice of you to tell me your personal anecdote , it helps me know more things about USA, and really make sense. you know , the backgroud of a country is really important when you are learning its language.

[lotus]

To add to the anecdote - many people have noted that Coke tastes better in countries other than the United States. It may be because of the sugar that they put in it. In the U.S., we mainly use beet sugar - whereas in other countries they may use cane or other sugars which taste better. There's even a market here for imported Coke.


--lotus