OK Soda
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
OK Soda was an experiment in quirky advertising from none other than the Coca Cola company. The "Unique Fruity Soda", as it was called, was issued in 1994 in only a few regions throughout the United States. It apparently sold poorly, however, and production of OK Soda was discontinued after less than a year.
What was remarkable about OK (which tasted a bit like Coke mixed with Orange Crush and was described my many experienced soda drinkers as tasting "okay") was the sort of effect it had on those who came upon it. The marketing strategy was like none other, and it managed to touch the hearts of many of the sorts of people who are touched by things like the quirky, almost subversive marketing strategy of an obscure beverage. The soda embraced a certain degree of slacker angst, depicting images of depressed-looking folks on its cans and packaging. It offered a toll free telephone number (1-800-I-FEEL-OK) to call where one could listen to a number of amusing options, from coincidences involving cans of OK (e.g. someone who goes to bed with a full can under their pillow, dreams about OK Soda, and awakens in the morning with the still-unopened can now empty) to "30 seconds of amazingly lifelike bird whistles" - all delivered by a monotone-voiced narrator in hilarious deadpan. Another option was the OK Soda Personality Inventory (see below). Callers were asked to respond with either True or False to five randomly-selected statements - many of which do not seem to lend themselves to a simple True/False answer.
OK also proclaimed its mission statement with a set of ten rules called the OK Manifseto (see below). Some people may be surprised by how many of the rules in the Manifesto and the insightful statements in the Personality Inventory can be applied to real-life situations, and still others have probably taken this whole OK Soda thing way too far and used these rules to guide their way of thinking.
THE 10-POINT OK MANIFESTO
1. What's the point of OK? Well, what's the point of anything?
2. OK Soda emphatically rejects anything that is not OK, and fully supports anything that is.
3. The better you understand something, the more OK it turns out to be.
4. OK Soda says: Don't be fooled into thinking there has to be a reason for everything.
5. OK Soda reveals the surprising truth about people and situations.
6. OK Soda does not subscribe to any religion or endorse any political party - or do anything, other than feel OK.
7. "There is no real secret to feeling OK" - attributed to OK Soda, 1998.
8. OK Soda may be the preferred drink of other people such as yourself.
9. Never overestimate the remarkable abilities of OK.
10. Please wake up every morning knowing that things are going to be OK.
THE OK SODA PERSONALITY INVENTORY
1. Pets are fun.
2. I sure like bicycles.
3. Generally speaking, tables should have at least four legs.
4. When I see a gerbil on a treadmill, I'm reminded of me.
5. Gloomy -- it's just one of the ways weather can be.
6. A tingling sensation in your elbows, feet or other body parts should not be mistaken for a feeling of OKness.
7. Newspapers are black and white and read all over.
8. Cinder blocks are no substitute for a foundation of happiness.
9. Walls should be just tall enough to support the ceiling.
10. There is a mystery element to feeling OK.
11. It's better to be nice than mean, but mean can sure come in handy.
12. A beverage shouldn't get too complicated or tricky.
13. Close family members often misunderstand my special feeling of OKness.
14. Furnaces are good conductors of heat. Better than good -- great!
15. Let's not quibble over semantics.
16. Stories like "The Poodle in the Microwave" are probably true.
17. OKness can never be determined by testing.
18. Best to leave skunks and porcupines to themselves, i.e. other skunks and purcupines.
19. It is not uncommon for astronauts to experience a feeling of OKness while in space.
20. I like cardboard.
21. Other people sometimes envy my feeling of OKness.
22. If you think you can do something, you probably can, unless of course, you can't.
23. I'd rather be a flower than a shovel, but I'd rather be a shovel than dirt.
24. I never want to control other drivers of cars / pilots of planes / family members / the president.
25. I like groups, but I'm no joiner.
26. TV commercials have made me cry, or soon will.
27. I know I should be better at remembering my bad dreams.
28. Coat hangers -- what an invention!
29. Taken as a whole, the universe itself is pretty much OK, or certainly should be.
30. Children sometimes just blurt out the truth.
31. Plywood makes an ideal work surface.
32. Man's inhumanity to man.
33. OKness is very ordinary and special at the same time.
34. Fingers and toes are more important than elbows and knees.
35. Paranormal experiences thrill/bore me.
36. Numbers -- they're the only things you can truly count on.
37. The truth is more obvious than most people realize.
38. Bags are such good holders of things.
39. There's no real point in worrying over anything. Things will probably turn out for the best, or at least they might.
40. Truth is a friendly brown dog wagging his tail, but watch out: he might bite.
41. Buttons, snaps and zippers all have their place.
42. Lucky is such a happy feeling.
43. I rarely find hidden meanings in things
44. Having things not be OK is never a goal of mine.
45. You never really know what you're thinking.
46. When mowing the lawn in rural areas, remember to keep a sharp eye out for frogs and the like.
47. A chair makes a superb sitting surface.
48. A penny saved is a penny earned, but a nickel is five cents.
49. When I shop hard, my palms sweat.
50. Umbrellas do one thing well.
51. Most sandwiches are OK, as are office supplies such as paper clips, manilla folders, etc.
52. I am often confused by other peoples reactions to me, or by mine to them, or by my reactions to their reactions to me, or something like that.
53. Friends and favorite TV shows are about equally important.
54. People are often motivated by indecision.
55. Bread is about as useful as food ever gets.
56. A test is nothing to be afraid of.
57. It is better to be on the outside looking in, but watch out if it starts to hail.
58. For sheer transparency, glass is better than tar paper.
59. If you can get on a game show, do it.
60. Hardware stores are a great place to meet people - especially people interested in hardware.
61. Shetland ponies are both little and big.
62. Erasers are more useful than pencils.
63. If you want to stay in love, don't use the other person's toothbrush/deodorant/et cetera/et cetera.
64. 1, 2, 3 and 11 are all single-digit numbers.
65. If salt tastes salty, then cantaloupes taste cantaloupy.
66. We have nothing to but fear itself - fear and fear-related symptoms, such as crying.
67. OKness is not something to guard against.
68. Most things have a knack for just being themselves.
69. The square root of anything doesn't really matter.
70. Comedy is funnier than science, but science is more scientific.
71. Aluminum siding is both sturdy and attractive.
72. The thing about other peoples opinions is, I bruise easily.
73. I remember making things out of mud as a child or young adult.
74. Socks or shoes - which goes on first?
75. Hopefully, things will turn out for the best.
76. Politicians are full of hot air, as are some of your larger balloons.
77. When things get me mad, boy do I get angry.
78. Fish make excellent swimmers.
79. I think I would make a good talk-show host.
80. Lying has never interested me -- much.
81. I sometimes feel that baths are too wet.
82. At zoos, I often wonder who should be kept in cages - animals or people?
83. To prevent rolling, place your ball firmly on a flat surface.
84. Turning up the heat is a bad substitute for emotional warmth.
85. If you could ever get one, a duplex would be great.
86. If it's toll-free numbers that you want, then it's toll-free numbers that you'll get.
87. There's no real trick to feeling OK.
88. I spend too much time thinking about things like wanting to be famous.
89. Encountering a fork in the road makes me doubt myself. But then, so does a road with no fork.
90. True or False questions are often neither.
91. As they say, the principal's your pal.
92. What other people think of as reality, I think of as a joke.
93. I would feel more comfortable if planes flew on the ground.
94. Sometimes, people who feel OK don't deserve it.
95. People observe me closely because they want my feeling of OKness for themselves.
96. Moles and other burrowing animals have it rough.
97. Station wagons hold a lot.
98. I'm not one to talk behind other peoples backs, unless I need to for personal reasons.
99. Those who have a feeling of OKness can recognize that feeling in others.
100. I prefer drinking things that are wet, as opposed to prickly or dry.
101. The irony is, unless you actually need glasses, they can make your vision worse.
102. A roller coaster is an apt metaphor for just about anything.
103. Hot, dry, boring. This is the desert.
104. Sometimes, the TV screen seems to give me secret messages.
105. Hummingbirds.
106. If you'd like to see your oral hygeinist socially, you should meet him/her at the dentist's office.
107. Rocks are generally both heavy and dull.
108. OKness is spreading throughout the population, whether they know it or not.
What was remarkable about OK (which tasted a bit like Coke mixed with Orange Crush and was described my many experienced soda drinkers as tasting "okay") was the sort of effect it had on those who came upon it. The marketing strategy was like none other, and it managed to touch the hearts of many of the sorts of people who are touched by things like the quirky, almost subversive marketing strategy of an obscure beverage. The soda embraced a certain degree of slacker angst, depicting images of depressed-looking folks on its cans and packaging. It offered a toll free telephone number (1-800-I-FEEL-OK) to call where one could listen to a number of amusing options, from coincidences involving cans of OK (e.g. someone who goes to bed with a full can under their pillow, dreams about OK Soda, and awakens in the morning with the still-unopened can now empty) to "30 seconds of amazingly lifelike bird whistles" - all delivered by a monotone-voiced narrator in hilarious deadpan. Another option was the OK Soda Personality Inventory (see below). Callers were asked to respond with either True or False to five randomly-selected statements - many of which do not seem to lend themselves to a simple True/False answer.
OK also proclaimed its mission statement with a set of ten rules called the OK Manifseto (see below). Some people may be surprised by how many of the rules in the Manifesto and the insightful statements in the Personality Inventory can be applied to real-life situations, and still others have probably taken this whole OK Soda thing way too far and used these rules to guide their way of thinking.
THE 10-POINT OK MANIFESTO
1. What's the point of OK? Well, what's the point of anything?
2. OK Soda emphatically rejects anything that is not OK, and fully supports anything that is.
3. The better you understand something, the more OK it turns out to be.
4. OK Soda says: Don't be fooled into thinking there has to be a reason for everything.
5. OK Soda reveals the surprising truth about people and situations.
6. OK Soda does not subscribe to any religion or endorse any political party - or do anything, other than feel OK.
7. "There is no real secret to feeling OK" - attributed to OK Soda, 1998.
8. OK Soda may be the preferred drink of other people such as yourself.
9. Never overestimate the remarkable abilities of OK.
10. Please wake up every morning knowing that things are going to be OK.
THE OK SODA PERSONALITY INVENTORY
1. Pets are fun.
2. I sure like bicycles.
3. Generally speaking, tables should have at least four legs.
4. When I see a gerbil on a treadmill, I'm reminded of me.
5. Gloomy -- it's just one of the ways weather can be.
6. A tingling sensation in your elbows, feet or other body parts should not be mistaken for a feeling of OKness.
7. Newspapers are black and white and read all over.
8. Cinder blocks are no substitute for a foundation of happiness.
9. Walls should be just tall enough to support the ceiling.
10. There is a mystery element to feeling OK.
11. It's better to be nice than mean, but mean can sure come in handy.
12. A beverage shouldn't get too complicated or tricky.
13. Close family members often misunderstand my special feeling of OKness.
14. Furnaces are good conductors of heat. Better than good -- great!
15. Let's not quibble over semantics.
16. Stories like "The Poodle in the Microwave" are probably true.
17. OKness can never be determined by testing.
18. Best to leave skunks and porcupines to themselves, i.e. other skunks and purcupines.
19. It is not uncommon for astronauts to experience a feeling of OKness while in space.
20. I like cardboard.
21. Other people sometimes envy my feeling of OKness.
22. If you think you can do something, you probably can, unless of course, you can't.
23. I'd rather be a flower than a shovel, but I'd rather be a shovel than dirt.
24. I never want to control other drivers of cars / pilots of planes / family members / the president.
25. I like groups, but I'm no joiner.
26. TV commercials have made me cry, or soon will.
27. I know I should be better at remembering my bad dreams.
28. Coat hangers -- what an invention!
29. Taken as a whole, the universe itself is pretty much OK, or certainly should be.
30. Children sometimes just blurt out the truth.
31. Plywood makes an ideal work surface.
32. Man's inhumanity to man.
33. OKness is very ordinary and special at the same time.
34. Fingers and toes are more important than elbows and knees.
35. Paranormal experiences thrill/bore me.
36. Numbers -- they're the only things you can truly count on.
37. The truth is more obvious than most people realize.
38. Bags are such good holders of things.
39. There's no real point in worrying over anything. Things will probably turn out for the best, or at least they might.
40. Truth is a friendly brown dog wagging his tail, but watch out: he might bite.
41. Buttons, snaps and zippers all have their place.
42. Lucky is such a happy feeling.
43. I rarely find hidden meanings in things
44. Having things not be OK is never a goal of mine.
45. You never really know what you're thinking.
46. When mowing the lawn in rural areas, remember to keep a sharp eye out for frogs and the like.
47. A chair makes a superb sitting surface.
48. A penny saved is a penny earned, but a nickel is five cents.
49. When I shop hard, my palms sweat.
50. Umbrellas do one thing well.
51. Most sandwiches are OK, as are office supplies such as paper clips, manilla folders, etc.
52. I am often confused by other peoples reactions to me, or by mine to them, or by my reactions to their reactions to me, or something like that.
53. Friends and favorite TV shows are about equally important.
54. People are often motivated by indecision.
55. Bread is about as useful as food ever gets.
56. A test is nothing to be afraid of.
57. It is better to be on the outside looking in, but watch out if it starts to hail.
58. For sheer transparency, glass is better than tar paper.
59. If you can get on a game show, do it.
60. Hardware stores are a great place to meet people - especially people interested in hardware.
61. Shetland ponies are both little and big.
62. Erasers are more useful than pencils.
63. If you want to stay in love, don't use the other person's toothbrush/deodorant/et cetera/et cetera.
64. 1, 2, 3 and 11 are all single-digit numbers.
65. If salt tastes salty, then cantaloupes taste cantaloupy.
66. We have nothing to but fear itself - fear and fear-related symptoms, such as crying.
67. OKness is not something to guard against.
68. Most things have a knack for just being themselves.
69. The square root of anything doesn't really matter.
70. Comedy is funnier than science, but science is more scientific.
71. Aluminum siding is both sturdy and attractive.
72. The thing about other peoples opinions is, I bruise easily.
73. I remember making things out of mud as a child or young adult.
74. Socks or shoes - which goes on first?
75. Hopefully, things will turn out for the best.
76. Politicians are full of hot air, as are some of your larger balloons.
77. When things get me mad, boy do I get angry.
78. Fish make excellent swimmers.
79. I think I would make a good talk-show host.
80. Lying has never interested me -- much.
81. I sometimes feel that baths are too wet.
82. At zoos, I often wonder who should be kept in cages - animals or people?
83. To prevent rolling, place your ball firmly on a flat surface.
84. Turning up the heat is a bad substitute for emotional warmth.
85. If you could ever get one, a duplex would be great.
86. If it's toll-free numbers that you want, then it's toll-free numbers that you'll get.
87. There's no real trick to feeling OK.
88. I spend too much time thinking about things like wanting to be famous.
89. Encountering a fork in the road makes me doubt myself. But then, so does a road with no fork.
90. True or False questions are often neither.
91. As they say, the principal's your pal.
92. What other people think of as reality, I think of as a joke.
93. I would feel more comfortable if planes flew on the ground.
94. Sometimes, people who feel OK don't deserve it.
95. People observe me closely because they want my feeling of OKness for themselves.
96. Moles and other burrowing animals have it rough.
97. Station wagons hold a lot.
98. I'm not one to talk behind other peoples backs, unless I need to for personal reasons.
99. Those who have a feeling of OKness can recognize that feeling in others.
100. I prefer drinking things that are wet, as opposed to prickly or dry.
101. The irony is, unless you actually need glasses, they can make your vision worse.
102. A roller coaster is an apt metaphor for just about anything.
103. Hot, dry, boring. This is the desert.
104. Sometimes, the TV screen seems to give me secret messages.
105. Hummingbirds.
106. If you'd like to see your oral hygeinist socially, you should meet him/her at the dentist's office.
107. Rocks are generally both heavy and dull.
108. OKness is spreading throughout the population, whether they know it or not.
