Team Pepsi or team Coca-Cola?

Why Spaniards are switching Coca-Cola for own-brand cola

Supermarket cola costs €0.35 a litre, compared with €0.90 for the original. And in blind taste tests, many can no longer tell which is which. Amid inflation, the debate over price, taste and brand loyalty is back with a vengeance. An analysis of responsible consumption in the era of own brands.

Price as the decisive argument
The difference is not marginal: three times cheaper. With the overall cost of the shopping basket rising, the own-brand option wins on pure economic logic. A consumer who drinks a litre a day saves more than €160 a year by switching to Hacendado, Consum or Eliges cola. And the argument is reinforced by the perception that the taste is identical. Several informal analyses by anonymous tasters claim that today's imitations are indistinguishable from the original, which was not the case a decade ago. The hypothesis of a single manufacturer behind all the own brands would gain ground.

Pepsi: the eternal loser
While Coca-Cola retains a loyal trinc, Pepsi keeps drawing criticism. Detractors say the recipe has changed, making it sweeter and thinner. Even those who used to prefer Pepsi admit the brand has got worse, and that only some varieties such as Maxx or the lime one are any good. Coca-Cola, meanwhile, keeps a hard core who consider the original drink irreplaceable, especially the Zero version for its more bitter taste. But even among its defenders there is no consensus: some miss the old glass bottle and its carbonation.

Advertising versus reason: the responsible consumer's dilemma
The responsible consumption subforum raises a paradox: does it make sense to pay three times as much for a drink you cannot tell apart on the palate? Those who go for own brands argue that Coca-Cola's advertising should hold no power over an informed consumer. But others admit that, although they have not seen an advert in years, they still buy the original, suggesting brand loyalty is fixed in childhood and endures. The discussion shows that price does not always win: emotional attachment and habit weigh as much as the wallet.

The open question is whether the convergence in taste will lead to the disappearance of the brand premium. Meanwhile, the responsible consumer seems to have taken sides: supermarket cola is no longer a substitute but a real alternative. And the bottom line confirms it.

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