Tab
Tab (sometimes styled TaB) was a low-calorie diet cola that The Coca-Cola Company launched in the United States in 1963 as its first diet drink. Its final discontinuation in 2020 closed nearly six decades marked by changes of sweetener and by a loyal following that kept it alive longer than its sales figures alone would suggest.
History
Coca-Cola created Tab after watching the success of Diet Rite Cola, a Royal Crown Company product that had been the only sugar-free soda on the market. Marketers wanted a short name that would not endanger the flagship brand. From a list of roughly twenty candidates, "Tab" was picked, partly because it allowed a play on the phrase "keep tabs", meaning to keep track of something, in this case one's weight.
When it launched in 1963, the drink was sweetened with cyclamate and advertised as containing just two calories per bottle. In 1969 the Food and Drug Administration banned cyclamate, and saccharin became the main sweetener. During the 1970s several sugar-free flavors appeared, along with modest efforts to reach overseas markets. In 1982 the arrival of Diet Coke overshadowed Tab, although it kept a devoted following in the United States.
Culture
For years Tab appealed to people who wanted an alternative to regular Coca-Cola without giving up the taste of cola, and it had a quiet presence outside North America, where it was sold in countries such as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Spain. It spawned root beer, ginger ale and fruit versions, along with caffeine-free and clear variants; the best known of the latter, Tab Clear, appeared in 1992 to rival Crystal Pepsi. Tab Energy arrived in 2006 with a different formula sweetened with sucralose.
Its cult status and sales far below those of Coca-Cola Light help explain its withdrawal in 2020, part of a pandemic-era effort to cut low-performing brands. Some fans later campaigned to save it.