CHANGING CONSUMER CULTURE
ANALYSIS OF THE “COKE CONSUMER”
CHANGING CONSUMER HABITS RELATED
TO INCREASING HEALTH CONCERNS
Study Conducted by: Matt Olson, Kyle Schmidt, Maggie Smith, Brianna Weitz
Prof. Dana Lascu
December 4th, 2015
Introduction
Company Background
Coca-Cola is and has been one of the world’s premiere soft drink companies. The
company’s classic soft drink was developed in 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia by a pharmacist named
John Pemberton. Since its creation, Coca-Cola has remained at the forefront of the soft-drink
industry, has maintained the #1 position in the United States, and holds the largest market share
globally. Throughout the years, Coca-Cola has kept its company and products relatively
consistent, only adding different versions of products. Coke Classic has remained one of the
company’s leading products, but Coca-Cola has also introduced different versions of their classic
drink along with sports drinks and different flavored water. While Coca-Cola is known mostly for
its soft drinks, the other beverages contribute the the company’s overall market value and
obviously help Coca-Cola be such a successful company.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore the Coke consumer and how these consumers’
perceptions (health aspects, consumption, etc.) have changed over the years with the variations of
Coca-Cola and their marketing methods. Specifically, we focused on how the soft-drink consumer
has changed over time and how Coca-Cola has adjusted to these changes and modified their
branding and products to accommodate consumers’ new interests. In this, we hypothesized that
consumers would shift from sodas to alternative beverages as health research has become, and
keeps becoming, more prevalent and health concerns gain priority.
The Coca-Cola market
Coca-Cola was established in 1886 by pharmacist John Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia
(Jorgensen, 1994). The soft drink company has remained on top of the market since its conception
in the 19th century continually beating out PepsiCo. for greatest market share(Beverage Digest,
2015). The soft-drink market alone (defined as non-alcoholic drinks) has been historically
dominated by carbonated soft drinks, as all sodas maintain the largest market share over juices and
other beverages (Freedonia, 2015). Throughout history, Coca-Cola has placed a large focus on
their image and the importance of their brand name. Campaigns throughout history have
maintained the same general happy and sociable images and the company even had a bottle
designed that one could recognize anywhere, in the dark, from a distance, or even shattered on the
ground (Jorgensen, 1994). The carbonated beverage market started as a means of keeping people
out of bars to reduce alcohol consumption but soon created itself a place in American society as a
pass-time and part of the romanticized lifestyle. In 1982 Coca-Cola made the announcement for
the most significant product release by the company since its beginnings, Diet Coke. The target
and reasoning for the beverage was the aging baby boomers and the increasing issue of weight in
the United States (Moye, 2013). From this point forward, health concerns became a main focus for
most American consumers. Early in the 21st century scientists has been making direct connections
between carbonated soft-drinks, and obesity along with other health concerns such as heart disease.
In addition to these findings, major news sources began publishing the findings making it more
accessible to the general public (Extra Soft Drink..., 2001). Following these findings, consumer
interests were beginning to shift. From 2001 to 2011 American spending on weight loss and weight
control nearly doubled from $38 billion to $62 billion and dietary focuses began to shift away from
salt intake to sugar intake, as 38% of adults reported restricting sugar consumption (Miller &
Washington, 2013). As of 2015, 68% of people now claim to take sugar into account over every
other ingredient, including salt and fat (Centre Stage, 2015). In addition to the health concerns
connected to sugar, many faults were being found with artificial sweeteners as well. Certain health
risks were found to be associated with the artificial sweeteners, specifically aspartame, which is
the primary sweetener use in diet sodas. Over this past decade there are various noticeable market
trends within the soft-drink industry. According to the Freedonia focus report, the demand for soft
drinks is going to reach 22.4 billion gallons, showing an annual growth below 1% from 2014 to
2019. While the overall market is slowly growing, the demand for carbonated soft drinks (CSDs)
demand is expected to fall by 12.5 billion gallons in 2019, which can be partially explained by the
maturity of the CSD market. Since 2004, the demand for carbonated soft drinks has fallen 1.8%
annually (Freedonia Focus Groups, 2014). While it is overwhelmingly apparent that the demand
for carbonated soft drinks has declined, Statistica (2015; using data compiled from BeverageDigest) reveals that of this decreasing soft-drink market share, Coca-Cola has maintained a fairly
stable portion of the market relative to decreasing PepsiCo. market share of carbonated soft drinks
(See Fig. 2).
Methods
To view our study in a broader sense, we conducted two different types of data collection
that related to our study. There are many different ways in which to collect data that would benefit
our research, and also multiple forms of data collection that could be useful to our study. These
include items such as surveys, interviews, word-of-mouth interactions, censuses, and observational
studies. All of these forms of data collection could be beneficial to our study. However, we felt
that the two most intriguing, as well as most efficient, methods of data collection were both surveys
and in-person/over the phone interviews. These would do two things for us: 1) distributing a survey
across multiple platforms would allow more respondents to answer our questions with ease, thus
allotting for a higher response rate; 2) conducting personal interviews of consumers who drink or
did drink Coke products would aid us in building a story with which to further our study. As such,
these forms of data collection were both beneficial and crucial to the completion of our study.
Quantitative Data Collection
We first analyzed a problem that we faced while conducting our study; how can we attain
a large amount of data in the relatively short time that will provide us enough statistics to make
assumptions about the “Coke consumer.” Had we had an infinite amount of time, we could have
observed the habits of many Coca-Cola consumers over time and partook in word-of-mouth
research that would be extremely beneficial to our study. However, being that we faced somewhat
of a time constraint, we looked at other options that would produce a relatively high volume of
data in a finite time period. Thus, a survey or an online questionnaire would be the most efficient
route for quantitative data collection. As such, we constructed a survey that asked respondents a
series of questions relating to the study (see appendix fig. 1 & 1.2). For example, the first question
contained within the survey was simple yet informative. We asked, “How often do you drink
Coke?” Giving multiple answer choices ranging from “Never,” to “2-3 Times a Week,” to “Daily,”
the respondent is able to clearly provide an answer. Additionally, this question achieves multiple
goals. First, we introduce the respondent to the topic of the survey. Second, this question provides
numerical feedback that can be used to conduct the study. Lastly, the question is simple, but
provides very valuable quantitative data as to just how much the average consumer drinks CocaCola. A sequential series of questions followed that would provide quantitative data that could be
used to interpret our assumptions about the market that we were viewing. We would then distribute
our survey across multiple platforms, most prominently social media outlets including Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram. As the response rate increased, a snowball effect was observed that only
furthered the amount of responses received. Furthermore, the survey proved to be the most
effective means of collecting a large amount of quantitative data that related to our study.
Qualitative Data Collection
Now that the means for collecting our quantitative data had been addressed, we still needed
to look at the best way to gain qualitative data that would provide an in-depth look at the consumers
we were patronizing. This measure was much more simple to determine, however, since there are
limited ways in which to collect qualitative data. The primary methods for qualitative data
collection are personal interviews, focus groups, and observations. All three methods would have
been beneficial to our research; however, two of the aforementioned methods would not have been
as beneficial to our research as the third. Focus groups would have given a much larger response
from a selected audience, but do to a finite period of time and a potential lack of participants, the
idea of a focus group was minimal. Additionally, a focus group would not have proved to be as
personal as other methods such as observation or interviews.
That said, observation would have been more personal, but not as beneficial to our research
as much as interviews would be. Through observation, we could view the personal habits of our
target consumers, but could not build a story around those consumers that would relate to the study.
It is for this reason that the methodology chosen for our qualitative analysis was personal
interviews to be conducted with two individuals. This would be the most effective means of
collecting qualitative data because it would both provide personal data on an individual scale while
also building a story in which to develop our study. For our interviews, we realized that we would
need to diverse perspectives on the changes presented by the Coca-Cola brand. Consequently, we
chose subjects from opposite ends of our age spectrum contained within our survey (15-71 years)
so that we could achieve said diversity. We interviewed both a University of Richmond student
and an older consumer from Austin, Texas. This would provide two different perspectives on the
changing image of Coca-Cola in regards to our study. Results of the interviews will be discussed
in the “Results” section of this document.
Results
Quantitative Analysis
The survey distributed to participants included a total of 7 measures and two variables to
consider. When analyzing the data a large emphasis was placed on the age variable to help
understand the development of the Coca-Cola consumer across generations. Table 1 and 1b display
the demographics of the study including gender and age.. Across measures there is a slight
variation between sample sizes due to the emittance of questions at the discretion of the participant,
usually relating to consumption levels or lack of opinion and/or answer. A significant discrepancy
in sample size is apparent in the measures of recommendation and observations of marketing
changes. Upon beginning the analysis it became apparent that the original coding of the questions
did not entirely address the purpose of the question so each item was recoded to get a better
understanding of the population studied. For Coca-Cola recommendations the “indifferent” answer
choice was removed to get a better measure of both those who would “yes” recommend the product
and those who “no” would not recommend the product. This significantly limited the population
size but allowed for the analysis of correlations between this measure and other measures studied.
In addition, the observance of changes in Coca-Cola marketing strategies was originally coded to
allow options of “yes’ in a positive way”, “yes, in a negative way”, “no”, and “unknown”. Upon
analysis the positive and negative additions were not relevant to the purpose of the study so all
“yes” answers were merged and once again the “unknown” choice was excluded to better analyze
both “yes” and “no” correlations.
Table 2 depicts correlations for every variable studied—consumption frequency, opinion
of health aspects, duration of consumption, consumer appeal, marketing strategy changes,
likelihood of recommending, gender, and age. Statistical significance was marked at p < .05 and
highly significant p < .01. Because of the small sample size the analysis was more lenient when
considering the significance of correlation values. All bolded values in the table are considered
statically significant. Notable significant correlations were found between frequencies of
consumption, health perspectives, life duration of consumption, and likelihood of
recommendation. Interestingly, significant correlations were also found between age and health
perspectives, and the change in marketing strategies. Highly significant was the positive
correlation of .446 between the frequency of drinking Coke and the opinion on health aspects,
depicting that consumption does drop as individuals become more conscious of the health aspects
of the beverage. In addition, there was also a highly significant correlation between frequency and
how long the participant has been consuming Coke signifying the possibility of consumption
increase over time as those who have been drinking longer drink more. This could also mean that
those who began drinking longer ago are less influenced by health concerns related to soft drinks.
Lastly, when considering consumption frequency, the negative correlation with product
recommendation (-.360) shows that those who drink Coke more often are more likely to
recommend the brand. The measure concerning the opinions on the health aspects of Coke also
posed multiple significant correlations, particularly pertaining to the change of the consumer. The
positive correlation between the opinions of health aspects (1-Very Unhealthy, 4-Very Healthy)
with how long the participant has been consuming Coke reveals that the longer someone
consumers Coke the less critical they are of health aspects. Highly relevant to the study at hand,
there was a positive correlation between age and health concerns. The older the participant, the
less critical they were of the health aspects of the beverage. The correlation between how long a
consumer has been drinking Coke along with their likelihood of recommending showed that the
longer they’ve been exposed to Coke the more likely they were to recommend the product.
Table 3 and 3b give a closer insight into the generational differences in the response to
certain measures. Table 3, when taking the sample size of each age group into consideration,
reveals that the older age group (51-70) seems to be more likely to drink Coca-Cola more
frequently. Our sample population did pose various limitations, as exemplified in this table, but
those limitations will be more specifically addressed within the discussion. Table 3b is a cross-tab
between health concerns and age. The table is simply a more explicit representation of the obvious
generational difference when considering the health implications of soft drinks. Looking at the
response rates of each age group the older generations are far less critical.
Table 3c, while not quantitative in nature was an important additional finding when going
through the data. After looking through the cross-tabs of each measure there was a unique finding
between the participant’s consumption and their observation of marketing changes. The question
“How often do you drink Coke” was divided into 7 responses, never, less than once a month, once
a month, 2-3 times a month, once a week, 2-3 times a week, and daily. For the purpose of this
observation we grouped never and less than once a week together to measure “rare consumption”.
On table 3c you will see the number of responses bolded for the two categories. When taking all
participants into consideration it becomes apparent that 18 of the 37 total “rare” consumers had
some type of opinion about marketing changes. Regardless of yes or no response nearly 50% of
those who don’t even really consume the product were still aware of Coca-Cola advertisements
well enough to share an opinion on it.
Qualitative Analysis
Interview One:
The first interview we conducted was of a University of Richmond student. Questions were
asked that both related to the study and also created a research based story to implement into our
conclusions. The first question asked was simply, “What Coke products do you drink?” The
subject responded with, “I usually drink Diet Coke or regular Coke…” or “...preferably Mexican
Coke…[due to the natural sweeteners used in this product].” When asked why, the subject stated
that her parents would strictly purchase Diet Coke product, and consequently, she became
accustomed to the taste of the diet version of the brand. We also asked the question of how often
the interviewee drank Coca-Cola products. She stated that at her highest level of consumption, she
would drink up to three bottles of Diet Coke per day. Now, the subject consumes no more than
two bottles of Diet Coke within a weekly period. We then posed the question of, “what caused this
change of consumption level,” where it was revealed that a heightened level of health concerns
caused a reduction in consumption by this individual. After consuming up to three bottles a day,
our subject “was beginning to have health concerns” relating to caffeine addiction and soda in
general. We would continue to ask questions about general health concerns and lifestyle habits to
further the responses related to our study. From the interview conducted with the first subject, we
could generalize that health issues were in fact impacting “Coke consumers.” This assumption will
be further proven in the second interview conducted within our study.
Interview Two:
After the conclusion of the first interview, we identified an ideal subject for the topic of
our study. We interviewed a 65 year old male who until recently (circa 2005) was a lifetime
consumer of Coke and Coca-Cola products. First, we opened with another simple question, “What
kind of Coke products do you drink?” The interviewee responded by stating that he no longer
consumes Coca-Cola, but did say that from the time he was a child, he regularly consumed the
original Coca-Cola. He then stated that as he grew older, and diet products were introduced into
the market, he became fond of Diet Coke. When asked why, he gave two specific reasons. First,
he simply enjoyed the taste of Diet Coke more so than the original flavor. Second, he revealed that
both he and his wife were moving towards living healthier lifestyles, and as such felt the need to
no longer consume soft drinks. He said this was in part because of a noticeable shift in consumer
habits regarding health. When asked what would then be his go-to drink, water was immediately
his answer. So, we observed that a consumer who would habitually consume one to two bottles of
Coke per day no longer consumes the product in favor of changing health concerns facing the
modern “Coke consumer.” We asked the subject additional questions regarding general health
concerns about soft drinks, and we were told that “soda is unhealthy, and is portrayed as a
refreshing drink to reach for whenever you are thirsty.” This comment was, among the other
responses received within the interview, also consistent with the generalization that health
concerns are in fact impacting what is known as the “Coke consumer.”
Conclusions
Overall, the various correlations revealed a fairly significant consumer shift. While CocaCola has a large market when considering the different generations, their main focus has
historically been the younger consumers (ex. Young adults). We have found that in conjunction
with the increase in health research and social media spreading these findings, these younger
consumers have become more health-conscious than their predecessor generations. The younger
participants were more likely to have more critical views of the popular soft drink. Beginning with
the age group of 50-71 and continuing with the 71+ age group the participants rated the drink from
somewhat unhealthy all the way to very healthy. The explanation of this could follow the same
outline as cigarette use on a less significant scale. During this age group’s childhood, there was
little health research and few media regulations. The advertisements were widespread and were
fairly integral parts of their childhood when considering memories and experiences. Our overall
data suggests an overall shift in consumer interests, which helps to explain the decline in the market
share of soda in the soft-drink industry today. The consumer has become more health-conscious
as information is more readily available to them and as each new health concern gets passed down
from one generation to the next.
Coca-Cola itself does have an interesting situation when considering this industry because
despite the decrease in sales and interest in sodas altogether, the company is able to maintain its
status as one of the most well-known American companies in the world, being the most talked
about brand in the US (Wang, 2008). We attribute this success to Coca-Cola’s revolutionary
marketing strategies that have been employed since the conception of the company. When
considering the findings of cross-tab 3c, it’s apparent that regardless of whether or not someone is
actually consuming the product, they are well aware of their advertisements and consecutive
campaigns. Our survey included a few qualitative questions to get a better idea of the respondents
and how they feel. One question we asked of every respondent, regardless of all other responses,
was whether or not they had a favorite Coca-Cola campaign. When looking at those who claimed
“rare” consumption levels (never or less than once a month) we found that 50% of respondents did
in fact have a favorite campaign and were able to identify it. These findings of extensive brand
awareness show the overwhelming success of Coca-Cola advertising. Coca-Cola uses their
advertising to not only market their product and name, but establish a lifestyle that everyone could
relate to. By doing so, this brand has become a greater part of the American life and helps to
explain their maintained success despite changing consumer interests.
Limitations
Our study did pose various limitations that must be taken into account when considering
the results. Most significant is the obvious bias of the population. Because the study was distributed
via social media, using the snowball method, a majority of the participants fall into the age group
of 16-25, which comprise a majority of social media users. While there was representation from
the older age groups, they are most definitely underrepresented. In addition, being the first time
we have constructed our own study and constructed our own questionnaire, many of the questions
were not worded for the most relevant responses. It was found that certain questions did not
produce relevant responses and were not heavily considered during the data analysis. Finally, a
slightly different age grouping of the age question would have produced responses more relevant
to generational differences. Had we divided the groups to follow strict generational lines we could
have also analyzed generational differences to add for a greater explanation in a consumer shift.
We only generally considered specific generational interest and life differences. Even with these
limitations the study did provide various findings that created a general explanation for the
consumer shift and change in the industry.
Appendix
Fig. 1
Fig 1.2
Fig. 2
Find the Interactive graph at: http://www.statista.com/statistics/225464/market-share-of-leading-soft-drink-companies-in-the-us-since-2004/
Table 1. Demographics: Gender
#
Answer
Response
%
1
Male
31
40%
2
Female
46
60%
Total
77
100%
Response
%
Table 1b. Demographics: Age
#
Answer
1
15 and under
0
0%
2
16-25
56
72%
3
26-35
3
4%
4
36-50
9
12%
5
51-70
6
8%
6
71+
4
5%
Total
78
100%
Table 3. Cross-Tabulations: Frequency*Age
What is your age?
Total
Table 2. Altered Correlations
How often do
you drink
Coke?
How do you
feel about the
health aspects
of Coke?-Very
Unhealthy:
Very Healthy
How long have
you been
drinking Coke?
Do you think
health
concerns affect
how often
people
consume soft
drinks?
Do you feel
that Coca-Cola
is effective in
appealing to
their
consumers?Not Effective at
all: Very
Effective
Do you feel
that Coca-Cola
has changed
their marketing
strategies over
time?
Would you
recommend
Coke products
over another
company's?
What is your
gender?
Pearson
Correlation
Sig. (2tailed)
N
Pearson
Correlation
Sig. (2tailed)
N
Pearson
Correlation
Sig. (2tailed)
N
Pearson
Correlation
Sig. (2tailed)
N
Pearson
Correlation
Sig. (2tailed)
N
Pearson
Correlation
Sig. (2tailed)
N
How
often
do
you
drink
Coke?
How do you
feel about the
health
aspects of
Coke?-Very
Unhealthy:
Very Healthy
How
long
have
you
been
drinking
Coke?
Do you think
health
concerns
affect how
often people
consume soft
drinks?
Do you feel
that CocaCola is
effective in
appealing to
their
consumers?Not Effective
at all: Very
Effective
1
.446**
.549**
.025
.008
-.176
-.360*
-.317**
-.035
.000
.000
.831
.948
.278
.011
.005
.760
Do you feel
that CocaCola has
changed
their
marketing
strategies
over time?
Would you
recommend
Coke
products
over
another
company's?
What is
your
gender?
What
is your
age?
77
77
75
77
77
40
49
76
77
.446**
1
.258*
-.072
.055
.070
-.313*
-.220
.285*
.026
.533
.637
.670
.028
.056
.012
75
77
77
40
49
76
.000
77
77
**
*
**
77
*
.025
.060
.029
-.466
-.243
-.007
.831
.610
.860
.001
.037
.953
75
75
39
48
74
75
1
-.076
.029
-.053
-.223
-.283*
.514
.859
.719
.053
.013
77
77
40
49
76
77
.060
-.076
1
-.237
-.140
.192
-.141
.637
.610
.514
.141
.338
.096
.223
77
77
75
77
77
40
49
76
77
-.176
.070
.029
.029
-.237
1
.180
-.118
.429**
.278
.670
.860
.859
.141
.380
.469
.006
40
40
39
40
40
40
26
40
40
-.466**
-.053
-.140
.180
1
.004
-.039
.001
.719
.338
.380
.976
.788
48
49
49
26
49
49
49
-.243
-.223
.192
-.118
.004
1
.078
.037
.053
.096
.469
.976
74
76
76
40
49
76
76
1
.549
.258
.000
.026
75
75
75
.025
-.072
.025
.831
.533
.831
77
77
75
.008
.055
.948
Pearson
-.360*
-.313*
Correlation
Sig. (2.011
.028
tailed)
N
49
49
Pearson
**
-.317
-.220
Correlation
Sig. (2.005
.056
tailed)
N
76
76
What is your
Pearson
-.035
.285*
age?
Correlation
Sig. (2.760
.012
tailed)
N
77
77
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
1
*
*
**
.501
-.007
-.283
-.141
.429
-.039
.078
.953
.013
.223
.006
.788
.501
75
77
77
40
49
76
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
Never
16-25
2635
3650
5170
71+
11
1
2
0
2
16
77
Less than Once a Month
15
2
3
0
1
21
Once a Month
How often do you drink
Coke?
2
0
0
2
1
5
2-3 Times a Month
9
0
1
2
0
12
Once a Week
11
0
0
0
0
11
2-3 Times a Week
5
0
0
0
0
5
Daily
3
0
2
2
0
7
56
3
8
6
4
77
Total
Table 3b. Cross-Tabulations: Health*Age
What is your age?
26- 36- 5116-25
35
50
70
How do you feel about the health aspects of
Coke?
Very Unhealthy: Very Healthy
71+
Total
1
23
3
4
0
0
30
2
22
0
1
3
2
28
3
11
0
3
2
2
18
0
0
0
1
0
1
56
3
8
6
4
77
4
Total
Table 3c. Cross-Tabulations: Frequency*Marketing Changes
Do you feel that Coca-Cola has
changed their marketing strategies
over time?
Yes, in a
Yes, in
positive
negative
way
way
No Unknown
How often do you drink
Coke?
Total
Never
3
0
1
12
16
Less than Once a Month
9
1
4
7
21
Once a Month
1
1
1
2
5
2-3 Times a Month
3
1
1
7
12
Once a Week
3
0
2
5
10
2-3 Times a Week
2
0
0
3
5
5
26
1
4
0
9
1
37
7
76
Daily
Tota
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