The Discontinued Old-School Soda From The '60s That We Seriously Want Back

The '60s were a great era. Those were the days of the Beatles. The first moon landing. And, of course, Tab Cola. Few diet drinks bring up more soda nostalgia or have more of a boomer (and beyond) fan base than Tab. Launched in 1963, Tab was Coca-Cola's first venture in the diet soft drink realm — way before both Diet Coke and Coke Zero (what's the difference between those two, anyway?).

The Tab name was chosen at random by an IBM computer with a little help from Coke's marketing team. (And the suggestion that it really stands for "Totally artificial beverage" is a bunch of hooey, though perhaps applicable.) Playing into the diet fads common in that era, Tab was advertised as a 1-calorie option for weight-conscious adults trying to stay slim, a "beautiful drink for beautiful people." But trimming down with Tab was only part of the picture.

The fuchsia-colored can, along with the sharply sweet and nearly pungent taste (it was primarily sweetened with saccharin), helped the drink develop a cult following that has lasted through the years. It has appeared in countless movies and TV shows (like "Jaws," "Ghostbusters," and "Seinfeld,") and people all over the internet profess their undying love and reverence for and allegiance to the soft drink — despite its untimely demise in 2020. "I'm 48, I started drinking it when I was like 6 ... i went on to make tab my only drink, I remember, when they would put 2 liters on sale ... I would buy 60 of them, Or I would buy about 60 twelve packs a year," one Tab fanatic posted on Facebook.

Tab officially disappeared into the annals of cola history when Coke stopped making it in 2020 (a move that was a bigger mistake than the creation of New Coke, some say). But the drink lives on in the hearts and minds of thousands of devotees. In fact, so many Tab zealots mourn its loss that they launched an entire "Bring Back Tab" movement, spearheaded by the SaveTabSoda Committee in 2021. The committee, which is now a full-fledged registered nonprofit, has a massive grassroots presence, complete with petitions (with more than 9,000 signatures so far) to bring the cherished beverage back.

The self-professed Tab faithful attend Coca-Cola's annual shareholder meetings to rally behind their fizzy friend and beseech its return. They've put up three "Bring Back Tab" billboards and flood Coca-Cola with hand-signed greeting cards on the occasion of Tab's birthday. They also systematically (yet pleasantly) harass Coke with phone calls.

On the "Bring Tab! Soda back to ALL store shelves!" Facebook page, avid Tab-ies regularly post about their various Tab connections, memories, experiences, and initiatives to bring it back (such as filling out a product request form on the Coke website). "I have a bumper sticker on my car that says, 'Honk if you love Tab' and folks on the road honk all the time!" said one fan. Some even admit to having a Tab tattoo. It's a soda obsession, and fans refuse to give up hope that they'll one day see the "Pink Pioneer," as it's affectionately dubbed, back in supermarkets and refrigerators everywhere.

Despite the hard work of the many Tab disciples, however, Coke has yet to respond. The only vestige of Tab in liquid form today is at the three Coca-Cola official retail stores, and it's available from the fountain there.