Coca-Cola's OK Soda targeted Gen X with irony and anti-advertising. Nobody bought it.

In 1993, Coca-Cola marketing chief Sergio Zyman launched OK Soda, a cola-flavored soft drink aimed at Generation X. The marketing was deliberately ironic and anti-advertising: neo-noir can designs, chain letters, a telephone hotline, and the slogan 'Things are going to be OK.' The campaign was designed by Wieden+Kennedy and featured work by alternative cartoonists Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns. The idea was to appeal to cynical young consumers who rejected traditional advertising.

The product was tested in select US and Canadian markets but never reached nationwide distribution. The market response was tepid at best. OK Soda never captured more than 3% of any test market, falling short of Zyman's promised 4% target. Consumers found the novelty of the marketing amusing, but the product itself — a generic cola with no distinct flavor profile — did not generate repeat purchases.

The project was canceled just seven months after launch. The entire lifecycle from introduction to discontinuation was roughly two years, but the active market test lasted less than a year. Zyman, who had championed the product, left Coca-Cola shortly after — though he would later return as the company's chief marketing officer.

OK Soda later gained a cult following online, with surviving cans becoming collector's items. The failure is studied as a case study in how clever marketing cannot compensate for a product that consumers have no reason to buy a second time.