A classic mistake

Coca-Cola surprised fans and rivals alike in April 1985, when it replaced its original soft drink formula with a new version. The company had conducted extensive taste tests of the new Coke before making the switch, but many consumers felt betrayed, and expressed their outrage in more than 400,000 calls and letters.

Less than three months later, the company brought back the original Coke as Coca-Cola Classic.

When the dust settled, what Business Week magazine called “the marketing blunder of the decade” actually worked out well for Coca-Cola, boosting its overall sales and revitalizing interest in its flagship brand. That in turn led some to speculate that the company had planned it that way all along, a charge that then-president and chief executive Donald Keough denied. “We’re not that dumb, and we’re not that smart,” Keough said at the time.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Salon Selectives

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Sometimes just remembering a brand is all a consumer has to do to help bring it back. That is the case with Salon Selectives, a line of shampoos and conditioners introduced by Helene Curtis in 1987. By 1995 Salon Selectives was Helene Curtis’ No. 2 brand (behind Suave) with a catchy jingle and $275 million in annual sales.

But sales began to tumble after Helene Curtis was acquired by Unilever in 1996, and eight years later the line was discontinued.

A company called Beautology Brands plans to give Salon Selectives another chance, citing research showing that 80% of consumers still remember the products. Hoping to turn that awareness into sales, Beautology intends to return the hair care line to store shelves in 2010.

Photo Credit: Chris Larkee

Offering Cold Comfort

Back in the 1980s, when “The Cosby Show” was a primetime ratings champ, Bill Cosby’s commercials for Jell-O Pudding Pops helped turn those frozen treats into best sellers.

But Kraft Foods stopped selling Pudding Pops in the 1990s, telling disappointed fans that sales of the product were no longer sufficient to justify its continued production. Some Pudding Pop aficionados signed online petitions calling for its return, while others traded recipes for homemade versions.

Their efforts were not in vain. In 2004 Kraft licensed the product to Unilever’s ice cream division, which now sells Jell-O Pudding Pops under the Popsicle brand name. Online critics say the shape of the pops have changed, but the taste is pretty much as good as they remembered.

Photo Credit: Courtesy G.I. Joe

Soldiering On

Hasbro rebooted its G.I. Joe franchise in 1982, replacing the original, Barbie-sized (12-inch) military-themed dolls from the 1960s with a set of smaller action figures with a complicated back story and an extensive roster of accessories.

But the “Real American Hero” line of 3.75-inch G.I. Joes was discontinued in 1994. New versions appeared on the market in 2000, and in 2005 the company said it would respond to consumer demand for the figures by selling them directly via its Web site, and in selected stores.

The release of a big-budget G.I. Joe movie in 2009 means that the diminutive plastic warriors probably aren’t going to disappear from store shelves again anytime soon.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Tostitos

Chipping in for the Cause

Frito-Lay discontinued its Tostitos Restaurant Style Salsa in 2007 to make room in its lineup for new dip flavors, including Fritos Zesty Bean and Cheese and Tostitos Creamy Spinach. But devotees were not willing to let go of the discontinued salsa, which they said lived up to its promise of matching what they got at restaurants.

The company received more than 1,600 phone calls and emails within a few months, asking for the product’s return. That was more than twice as many as for any other product that year, Frito-Lay’s Snack Chat blog reports, and the requests kept coming in 2008. Impressed, the Tostitos marketing team responded by bringing the product back. Frito-Lay says its response proves that it’s worth telling the consumer affairs department what you think.

Photo Credit: Courtesy 7-Up

Cherry Bombshell

The Seven-Up company solidified its third-place position in the soft drink business in early 1987 with the launch of two new flavors -- Cherry 7-Up and Diet Cherry 7-Up. The new sodas, marketed to young people and promising a light, refreshing taste, captured 1.4%25 of the more than $40 billion total soft drink market in its first year and boosted Seven-Up’s total share to 6.2%25.

But Diet Cherry 7-Up disappeared from store shelves after Seven-Up, then part of Cadbury Schweppes, introduced a cherry version of its 7-Up Plus soft drink, which contains real fruit juice and is fortified with calcium and vitamin C. The company brought Diet Cherry 7-Up back in 2006, citing popular demand.

Seven-Up, which is now part of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, introduced a new version called Diet Cherry 7-Up Antioxidant, in February 2009.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Lancome

Not Showing its Age

Long before science gave us botox and cosmeceuticals, women sought to prevent wrinkles and other signs of aging by using moisturizing creams like Nutrix, which is made by the Lancome division of L’Oreal.

Lancome Nutrix Soothing Treatment Crème, which became known as La Nutrix in France, was Lancome's first skin-care product, launched in 1936. Enthusiasts swore that besides rejuvenating skin, the product would soothe everything from burns to mosquito bites.

Lancome dropped the product in 2004 to focus on newer and more specialized skin care potions. But the company apparently took heed when its customer service operators started getting calls about the product, which features such old school ingredients as mineral oil, lecithin, soybean protein, lanolin and beeswax. The product is now available again at department stores and at Lancome’s Web site.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Volkswagen

Bringing Back the Bug

From its birth as Germany’s “people’s car” in 1938, through its heyday as a Flower Power icon in the 1960s, the Volkswagen Beetle was prized as a cheap, simple and reliable form of transportation.

The car arrived in America in 1949 and by 1968 more than 400,000 were being sold each year. But then Japanese imports began to encroach on its turf, and the Bug disappeared from VW showrooms in 1978, no longer able to meet U.S. environmental and safety standards.

Volkswagen moved on, introducing pricier cars, but consumers continued to link the company to the no-frills Beetle. And in 1998 the German automaker introduced a new version, a modern car with a shape that recalled the original Bug.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Crown Pilot

The way the cracker crumbled

Crown Pilot crackers were treasured by generations of New Englanders who considered them critical accompaniments to their chowders and stews. The product had a 204-year history when Nabisco decided to pull the plug in 1996. The company said the products sold poorly, were not particularly profitable and were difficult to make.

Some residents of the coastal parts of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts objected, describing the crackers as part of their cultural heritage. A grassroots movement got national press coverage and generated thousands of emails, letters and phone calls. Nabisco relented, and brought the crackers back.

It proved just a temporary reprieve. Citing continued declines in sales, Nabisco halted production of Crown Pilot crackers again in 2008.

Photo Credit: Courtesy PepsiCo

The last straw

People don’t want their favorite products tampered with, and many view even a change in package design with suspicion. PepsiCo found that out in January 2009, when it changed the carton design for its line of Tropicana Pure Premium orange juices. Gone was the orange with the straw poking out of it, meant to symbolize freshness, and in its place was a simple glass of orange juice.

Fans called, wrote and emailed the company to express their displeasure, and PepsiCo retreated, and brought back the original look. It wasn’t the volume of complaints that prompted the decision, a Tropicana executive told The New York Times, but the fact that it was the product’s most loyal customers who were upset.