Thursday, March 22, 2007

RC Cola


Y'know, a little reported problem with living in the past as we tend to do around here at the library is the commercials. For example, last summer when I was going through almost daily episodes of THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE, I found myself buying Parkay, one of Gildy's Kraft sponsers, for the very first time. This past week, after a steady diet of reading the ads in golden age comics, I actually bought an RC Cola for the first time since...oh, I don't know, 1969 maybe? RC was my mother's favorite soft drink so it was usually around the house as I was growing up but I only tended to drink it when we were out of Coca-Cola or Pepsi. "The real thing" was my favorite and my Dad hit the spot with Pepsi. Anyway, the adventures of RC and Quickie were a regular ad fetaure in mid-forties comics. Often better drawn than the comics they were in, here's one that features a testimonial from The Cisco Kid himself, Duncan Renaldo! Back when I last drank the stuff, their TV ads were describing it as "Royal Crown Cola. It's the mad, mad, mad mad cola! RC! The one with the mad, mad taste!" Well, I'm not really mad...but I still didn't care for it!

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:08 AM

    We had mostly RC at our house, too. Not because we liked it - Coke was the undisputed champ - but because it cost half what Coke and Pepsi cost.

    I always thought it tasted like generic cola - yecch.

    And doesn't it drive you nuts that the cartoonist put R.C. (the name of the character) in quotes? My mother-in-law uses quotes freely in her letters, as in:

    I whent to the "mall" today and bought a box of "milk chocolates."

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  2. Anonymous8:23 AM

    RC Cola tasted better in the 60s and 70s.
    When they swtiched to fructose and possibly altered the rest of the formula a bit the taste (at least to me) changed a lot

    I no longer enjoy RC.

    Back in the 60s I preferred RC Cola, then Pepsi. I also loved Fanta Red Creme soda but I couldn't get it in stores. There was just 1 soda machine at the local Marathon(later '76) station that stocked it.
    I probably drank every bottle.

    I also enjoyed original TAB back then. I wasn't dieting I just liked the taste.
    My wife tells me that in the North East TAB came in different flavors in the 60s. I never saw anything but regular cola flavor in Illinois.
    Also, RC Cola at certain times of the year had a "K" on the bottle caps. I read in the Chicago Tribune that this meant the RC Cola was "kosher". Oddly enough I never encountered or knew of a single Jewish person in Momence, IL
    Still, the local A&P had Kosher RC Cola.
    Today I will drink Pepsi 90% of the time. I will drink Coca Cola in restaurants.
    I get migraines from NutraSweet (really I do) so I avoid diet soda.
    Diet 7-up and Diet Rite use Splenda but the flavor doesn't cut it for me.

    RC Cola...once my favorite.

    signed
    Pepsi Addict
    Alan
    JettBlackBerryX@yahoo.com

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  3. Anonymous5:40 PM

    I acknowledge being an RC fan back in high school in Caledonia, MN (that would be 1978-80), and admit to enjoying it every now and then.

    Nowadays, though, my tastes tend towards iced Rooibos tea.

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