Episode 135: Cult Products - TaB Soda and McDonald’s Apple Pie
Today we’re digging around in the backs of our minds and the pits of our stomachs to remember a couple of beloved food products. Ones that have cult followings and large groups of people who lament these products’ eventual demise.
We’re talking about the origins of TaB Soda from Coke and the fried Apple Pie from McDonald’s. (Hey, we never said this was a health food podcast…)
So ask the bartender to mix a Texas Tab for you – and maybe a couple for us. We’re hitting the drive thru and then rolling back into the bar.
E X T R A S :
(Top to bottom): Three different print ads for TaB Soda. The first highlights the benefit of a low-calorie soda, the second highlights the female audience target and the third shows the original packaging and logo with the spiraling lowercase “a”.
(Top to bottom): The most recent can design for TaB before it’s eventual discontinuation, one of the billboards targeting Coca-Cola as part of the “Save TaB Soda” campaign
(Top to bottom): The fried (not baked!) McDonald’s Apple Pie, the pie in its eponymous box, the Apple Pie Tree, an original ad from the 1960s introducing the apple and cherry pies
TaB Soda
Wikipedia article
“For TaB Superfans, Bringing the Soda Back is Personal” (Bon Appetit article)
“This Tab Cola Ad From The '70s Is Giving Us The Heebie-Jeebies” (Daily Meal article)
Robert Sidney Dickens design biography
McDonald’s (Fried) Apple Pie
Burger Beast article
“McDonald’s Apple Pie was Born in This Southern City” (YouTube video)
“What Really Happened to McDonald’s Fried Apple Pie” (YouTube video)
Additional Links
Save TaB Soda petition website
