Spin Cycle

Coke's summer name game goes flat with the unchosen

What's in a name?

A lot of buzz -- make that fizz -- if you're Coca-Cola. The soft drink company has been bubbling up on social media in mentions of its summer "Share a Coke" campaign, featuring popular first names on bottles.

"Share a Coke with Kris," "Share a Diet Coke with Austin" and "Share a Coke Zero with Shane" are just some of the names that appear on 20-ouncers in vending machines and store refrigerators.

Coke is not only playing the name game, it's winning. Reports The Wall Street Journal, there have been hundreds of thousands of posts about the campaign with the #shareacoke hashtag as of last week. And on shareacoke.com, more than 353,000 virtual bottles had been shared.

But who is losing?

Barbara. Caleb. Carolyn/Karolyn. Cheryl/Sheryl. Dawn. Diane. Donna. Doug. Gwen. Henry. Jay. Jean. Kristen/Kristin. Laurie/Lori. Lynn. Margaret. Marie. Martha. Max. Nancy. Nathan. Oliver. Randy. Richard. Ron. Tanya/Tonya. Ted. Theresa. Tina. Victoria/Vicki.

And Gibson Fischer of Little Rock, a 19-year-old soon-to-be freshman at Louisiana State University.

"I was very surprised when I searched my name on shareacoke.com and didn't find any results," he says. "I was hurt. I was devastated. What kind of world do we live in where 'Gibson' isn't put on a Coke bottle?

"Every kid gets a trophy except me."

There, there, Gibson.

Coke offers this consolation to those excluded: "Looks like your name isn't in stores. On the upside, you must have a really unique name."

Really unique ... or, well, really old.

Further researching how the list was decided, I found this explanation on the site: "This summer, Coke is swapping out three of its iconic logos on 20-ounce bottles for the 250 most popular first names among American teens and Millennials."

And some names that might be somewhat surprising to the average Joe (on the list) and Jane (also on the list): Amir, Andres, Asia, Bree, not one but two spellings of Brittany/Brittney, Cierra, Darius, Eduardo, Hassan, Hector, Ibrahim, Jamal, Javier, Latasha, Mayra, Noor, Omar, Tiara and Yesenia.

But what's more surprising to me is how in the world Jennifer (which once meant "fair one," but now means "born in the '70s") made the age cut.

I've spotted the name Jennifer twice -- once in a hospital cafeteria and once photographed in my friend Alison's refrigerator (see photo. Sorry, Alison, that you don't get your own bottle, but at least "Ali" and "Allie" are out there). Interestingly enough, both Jennifers appeared on diet sodas. Coke must figure -- correctly -- anyone named Jennifer has a slowing metabolism.

Still, it's the first time I remember actually seeing anything with my name on it. That's because all the other Jennifers (and Jens, Jenns, Jennys, Jennies and Jennas) -- there were always a minimum of four in a class of 25 -- would snatch up all the personalized key chains, refrigerator magnets, mugs and such before I could get there.

So, see, I can relate to people with more unusual names who never find personalized items. A few of them who responded to my Facebook query ("If your name is NOT available on a Coke can as part of the #shareacoke promotion, please lemme know! Thanks!"): Melinda, Tanyu, Manda, Brandi, Micki, Jerrie, Laken, Mickel, Rosemary, Kolin, Jana, Callie, Brynda, Curran, Lienne, Faye, Cyndi, Ora, Trese, Celia, Typhne, Sharpe, Evangerline, Charlene, Eldon and Mondi. Maybe they never see their name in stores, but hey, at least it's now in a column!

And don't feel alone if you can't find a soda with your name on it. After all, neither can Muhtar.

Muhtar Kent is Coca-Cola's CEO.

Pop an email to:

jchristman@arkansasonline.com

Spin Cycle is a weekly smirk at pop culture.

Style on 07/27/2014

Upcoming Events