I know it’s not healthy, I know it’s full of sugar and other not-so-good stuff, but from time to time, I indulge.
Sometimes there’s nothing quite as refreshing as a glass of regular Coke with a few ice cubes and a little lemon. That’s how I prefer it. Especially after a heavy meal, to help me digest.
Others prefer Diet Coke or Pepsi. Some love Fanta or Sprite. It’s amazing how far these companies go to try to satisfy every possible taste and preference. The level of creativity is amazing, both with Coke’s products and its marketing.
I especially love their rivalry with Pepsi. Their advertisements are usually clever and funny, making them interesting to watch.
Despite Pepsi’s success, Coca-Cola (KO) is the queen of the soft drink world, and the latest data from July 2025 by YouGov confirms it, taking into account the percentage of national respondents:
Top-ranked carbonated soft drinks:
- Coca-Cola: 35.0%
- Pepsi: 27.0%
- Sprite: 24.9%
- Canada Dry: 21.0%
- Dr Pepper: 20.6%
- 7Up: 20.3%
- A&W: 17.4%
- Coca-Cola Zero: 16.4%
- Diet Coke: 15.7%
- Mountain Dew: 14.9%
The ranking is based on surveys from more than 24,000 Americans about their beverage brand of choice and 32,000 more on category behavior.
Coca-Cola is number one for a reason. It’s not just about taste; it’s about the brand history and everything it does to keep its consumers.
And from time to time, Coca-Cola surprises its fans with a new product or the return of an old one.
Image source: Shutterstock
Coca-Cola brings back Diet Coke Lime flavor
Coca-Cola completely dominated the YouGov July rankings by taking the first place across all categories: men, women, Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers.
However, despite its rankings and it being the best-selling soft drink in the United States, according to 2024 data from Beverage Digest, Coca-Cola doesn’t take a break.
Related: Coca-Cola’s discontinued college drink makes a big comeback
In the latest development, Coca-Cola is relaunching Diet Coke Lime on October 6 in retro packaging, according to foodie Markie Devo, who shared the new packaging on his Instagram page.
While the company has yet to officially confirm the comeback of a popular Diet Coke flavor that launched for the first time in the early 2000s, the relaunch was first announced in June 2025 by multiple outlets, including Sporked.
For now, the Diet Coke Lime that was widely sold in supermarkets until 2018 is returning to large stores in a 20 oz. bottle size. Diet Coke Lime was replaced with Diet Coke Ginger lime, which ended up discontinued in 2020 as well.
Rumor has it that a two-liter size may also be available soon.
It is important to distinguish Diet Coke Lime from Zero Sugar Lime, which was launched overseas earlier this year.
Fans go wild over Diet Coke Lime comeback
A number of Coca-Cola fans were thrilled, sharing their enthusiasm on Instagram.
Comments range from “this is the best day of my life,” through “god knew i needed this,” and “can’t wait” to “I’ve been craving this! It’s the only diet coke I like.”
Related: Pepsi copies Coca-Cola to win back health-conscious consumers
While the Diet Coke Lime was discontinued, some fans took their thoughts to Reddit, sharing what they love about it and urging its comeback. In a Reddit thread titled “I miss coke lime (USA)” from 9 months ago, one consumer wrote:
“I drank coke w lime religiously the whole time it was available! It was the only soft drink that I actually ‘liked’ or had a preference for.”
Another focused on nostalgia, saying “Diet coke w lime is like a time transport to being young. My mum drank it religiously.”
In a thread from three months ago announcing Diet Lime Coke relaunch, one consumer wrote: “I’m so emotional. Better be permanent.”
Unfortunately, according to the current non-official reports, this relaunch will be limited unless sales hit the roof and Coca-Cola considers bringing it back permanently.
Either way, it looks like Coca-Cola had perfect timing for this comeback.
Coca-Cola’s strategic marketing move
Millennials and Gen Zers love great nostalgic campaigns, and big brands are well aware of this. What is it about nostalgia that attracts certain generations?
“Millennials, shaped by events like 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and the early internet, often find comfort in content that reminds them of more stable or analog times. Gen Z, meanwhile, engages with nostalgia both as curiosity and creative fuel. Despite being born into a digital world, they gravitate toward pre-digital artifacts – flip phones, VHS-style filters, MySpace-era aesthetics – as a way to explore a different pace of life,” according to a report by Pulse Advertising.
According to psychologist Mark Travers, “Nostalgia is a complex emotion characterized by a longing for the past, commonly accompanied by feelings of warmth and fondness.”
In an article for Forbes, Travers writes that nostalgia is a natural part of growing older, highlighting recent trends observed in the digital world, such as:
- Retro gaming
- Social media throwbacks
- Nostalgic filters, effects and media
- Digital archives and memory preservation
The return of Diet Coke Lime is much more than a flavor comeback — its savvy marketing represented a perfectly-timed play on nostalgia.
Coca-Cola is giving fans what they’ve been asking for, while reminding the market of why it continues to rule the soft-drink space.
Related: Americans are worried about the economy; spending anyway
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