Coca-Cola Is Discontinuing TaB After Almost 60 Years

In 1963, Coca-Cola debuted TaB, a one-calorie diet soda that came in a pink can and promised women the chance to “have a shape he can’t forget.” The beverage was intended, as the commercial’s catchy jingle was quick to remind you, “for beautiful people,” with the sunny implication that sipping it could make you one of them.

TaB began to lose popularity after Diet Coke was launched in 1982, but a small crop of devotees still prefer it today. There’s even a website called ilovetab.com that keeps tabs on where the beverage is sold and which celebrities are spotted with a can in hand.

Unfortunately for fans, the Coca-Cola Company has finally decided to discontinue the drink just a few years short of its 60th anniversary. It’s not the only casualty: ZICO coconut water, Odwalla juices, Diet Coke Feisty Cherry, and Coca-Cola Life (a reduced-sugar version of Coke with stevia leaf extract) are also being retired, along with a few regional and international products.

Though plenty of businesses have scaled back their offerings—or gone bankrupt—due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company maintains that these changes were in the works long before then. That said, “the ongoing COVID-19 supply chain challenges and shifting shopping behaviors prompted the company to fast-track its plan,” Coca-Cola explained in a press release.

TaB is now more of a nostalgic cult classic than a lucrative asset. According to The New York Times, Coca-Cola circulated about 3 million cases of TaB in 2011—not even half a percent of the number of Diet Coke cases produced in the same year. But that’s not to say people won’t be sad to see it go.

“We’re forever grateful to TaB for paving the way for the diets and lights category, and to the legion of TaB lovers who have embraced the brand for nearly six decades,” Kerri Kopp, Diet Coke’s group director for North America, said in a press release. “If not for TaB, we wouldn’t have Diet Coke or Coke Zero Sugar. TaB did its job.”