Great article! As a former PR professional, it’s hilarious to hear your take on this media stunt, and talk about the "Ron Burgundys" of Seattle media. Another great detail - you included that the Coke rep didn’t drink the last “King 5” on-camera. PR Rule 267: Always eat/drink the demo on-camera, then smile with delight! I bet they got torn a new one for that!! Ha ha! Until there’s a vodka, whisky or gin button, this Ferrari-Inspired Coke machine remains iRRELEVANT.

Gee, it's kinda like twitter isn't it? Provincials dig it because it brings them closer to the big time. Anybody who has been anywhere near "the big time" wants to stay a million miles away.

The real reason for this, of course, is that America is losing its rightful hold on "fattest modern society", as other countries catch up. Just other day, Mexico (the world's top soda drinkers) took over the #1 spot on the "world's fattest women" list. We have to get that back. We have to move to 128 ounce cups.

At what point does it become a legitimate form of protest to murder marketing and PR people where they stand?

I bet Jim Foreman spooged in the King 5...so I wouldn't drink it either.

@4, that comes with the coming Class War that corporate America is starting in the midwest right now.

You've got a few months, then their blood can flow the same color as the "King 5"!!

They might want to add an insulin button while they're at it. Kind of amazing that you got Farrell to be so blunt. I would think that this will have parents up in arms.

Let's all freebase corn syrup until we croak from diabetes. yay.

Oh my God. Do they have Fanta Cassis? I love Fanta Cassis!

Kid's have been doing this at the soda fountain for years. when I was a child I'd always mix root beer and orange soda to make 'swamp water'

I'm with @1 though - Add some liquor choices and this might be worthwhile.

I overheard a Taco Time manager talking about to a group of very, very excited employees in another Taco Time the other day. Apparently, if a new flavor comes out that they're interested in, they can (manager's words here) "download it from Atlanta".

@4 and the others mentioning insulin: I believe I saw at least two mentions of diet soda, so I would think there are probably a fair number of options without corn syrup. As one who occasionally indulges, it would be nice to have an option when dining out other than just Diet Coke or Pepsi - if you're avoiding sugar and caffeine, good luck. And yeah, sure, soda sucks, yadda yadda.

woah

I thirst.

Thirty years ago, when I worked for Taco Time (N. Division, Spokane), we used to make crazy combinations of soda pop. But here's the thing -- we did it by hand. Old School. You'd move your cup from fountain jet to fountain jet, exacting the precise ratio of Pepsi to Mountain Dew, etc. Throw enough flavors in and you'd call it a Graveyard. I've hated soda pop ever since.

Kids today... they don't know freestyle from vinyl records.

Just a hunch, but the likely end result of combining sticky crap, a touch-screen, and multiple rows of syrup and flavor cartridges will be a huge mess and a constantly "broken" machine requiring the equivalent labor hours of a full-time soda position, AKA a "soda jerk".
Congratulations Coke! you've come full circle, but with more complications, frustration, heavy metals, and energy consumption.

good article paul

@12

Having tried the machine, there are upwards of 30 diet/no calorie options with this machine, included a multitude of waters... They also had caffiene free options as well. Call me crazy, but I actually enjoyed having beverage options above and beyond the norm.

Just read this over lunch (not at Taco Time): brilliant in so many ways. A really good piece - well done.

@18 "a multitude of waters?" Do I dare ask what that means?

I'll stick with Jones Soda's "Celery and Vomit Sparkle". It's my flavor-ite!

@21 Hmmm ... "Celery and Vomit Sparkle" ... I think I've just discovered some new nicknames for my cats. Thanks.

Great article, but you should have made a "Stranger" soda for the mayor. Mmmm, political corn syrup...

Who wants to bet they'll never actually take the time to clean that nozzle?

Why use the ® "registered trademark" symbol repeatedly for Coca-Cola Freestyle but not for the other registered trademark names in the article (Taco Time, Minute Maid, Creamsicle, Jack in the Box, McDonald's)? Is this meant to be read as subtle sarcasm? It would have been funnier to use it wherever possible, and occasionally where inappropriate.

And dear, Paul Constant, did sarcasm also move you to write "For my first drink, I opt for what the alleged Facebook kids are allegedly calling a Creamsicle..."

Allegedly, indeed.

One selection icon notably absent from this fabulous new delivery vector: a Purell® (or other brand/generic) hand sanitizer option. Soon, ALL the happy fast-food patrons can put their fingers in exactly the same place as all the other patrons. But not to worry...Surely, patrons of such establishments share a common trait: a fanatically-fastidious devotion to personal and public hygiene. For the next cold-flu season, the "alleged Facebook kids" may have a new slang term:

iPetriDish

@8: Naw, it just caramelizes, though it does smell delicious. Shitty high, though; gotta ingest it for full effect. Now if you mix it with the F mentioned in that other article...

@18: I'm not sure I'd call various configurations of flavor syrups, aspartame, and carbonated-or-not water "options"; put some good micro-brews, a selection of Rishi teas, some wines, a few shade-grown coffees, and some actual fruit juices in the machine and THEN we're talking real options.

@20: With or without BPA? :-P I believe sie's referring to "water beverages", which might be more accurately described as non-carbonated soft drinks. It's the VitaminWater® marketing model (it may actually have VitaminWater®; I can't remember if Coke or Pepsi bought Glacéau): substitute "water" for "soda"/"pop"/"soda pop"/"soft drink"/"Coke" (that one is used as a generalized trademark in some parts of the South), and people think it's both NOT soda and that it's healthy.

@11! "Download it from Atlanta!" Heart!

Paul, we're all grateful to your pancreas for taking one for the team.

Paul, did you really mean "zip drives" in this article? One of these things?

I was the photographer at the Coca-Cola event last Wednesday, that you described in your article as "A photojournalist from the Seattle Times runs back and forth taking snapshots of people, the back of his T-shirt proudly proclaiming his paper the "2010 PULITZER PRIZE WINNER BREAKING NEWS REPORTING.""

Just so you have your facts straight, I do not work for The Seattle Times. I was shooting it as freelance for the PR firm that held the event.

I've lived in Europe for the last 8 years and have never heard of nor seen 'raspberry coke'.

I've lived in Europe for 8 years and I've never seen or heard of raspberry coke.

Soda fountain for Mayor! Let's recall McGinn and elect the most popular flavor!

Predict this will be a nightmare during restaurant busy times, when each sparkling individual ponders over this important choice...

@31 my condolences...

extra pathetic credit for trying to add to your credibility by wearing that shirt, but maybe you were being ironic...

Is that Wil Weaton?

Will/does the machine carry the Italian Beverly coke drink? That is my favorite at the Coke Cola place in Epcot.