A CAMPAIGN for Diet Coke carrying the theme “You’re on,” which the Coca-Cola Company introduced in North America only three months ago, is being turned off after being mocked in social media. 
 
 The ads are to be replaced on Wednesday with a campaign for the summer reviving the theme “Just for the taste of it,” which introduced Diet Coke in 1982 and has returned at least three times since. The replacement campaign begins with print ads and commercials. 
 
 The “You’re on” ads presented Diet Coke as a pick-me-up for young strivers, akin to an energy drink. A billboard described it as “how go-getters get going.” A print ad said: “You’ve got an 8 a.m. interview, a perfect black suit and three letters in your future: C.E.O.” And in a television commercial that ran most recently on Saturday, an announcer proclaimed: “When it’s time to be on, it’s time for Diet Coke. You’re on.” 
 
 Text accompanying the same commercial at dietcoke.com reads, “Whether you’re the best man about to give a speech at your friend’s wedding or Taylor Swift about to go onstage in front of millions, the refreshment of Diet Coke keeps you on.” 
 
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 The replacement ads, by contrast, are more traditional, straightforwardly playing up the brand’s taste and sugar-free status. The new commercials sing the praises of Diet Coke’s “delicious crisp taste.” And a new print ad proclaims: “There’s nothing like the refreshing taste of Diet Coke. Except maybe finding a twenty in your pocket. That’s pretty great.” 
 
 The abrupt end for “You’re on” comes after the ads were sent up by several advertising and marketing bloggers who noticed that in some ads the theme appeared above the Diet Coke logo so that it could be read as “You’re on Diet Coke.” (In other ads, the order was reversed: “Diet Coke You’re on.”) According to the bloggers, “You’re on Diet Coke” evoked a cocaine habit along with the history of Diet Coke’s sibling, Coca-Cola, which once included cocaine as an ingredient. 
 
 A headline on a post on the AdFreak blog asked, “Is Diet Coke Dabbling in Drug References in Its Ads?” A headline on The Huffington Post declared, “Diet Coke Trying to Act Like This Isn’t a Cocaine Joke.” And a blog named Animal created parodies depicting lines of cocaine near a razor blade bearing the Diet Coke logo. 
 
 Those reactions were far from the firestorms of outrage in social media that doomed recent ads from brands like Chevrolet, Hyundai, Mountain Dew and Reebok. An assessment by Bloomberg Businessweek magazine termed the Diet Coke campaign “a minor flub.” Still, once ads have been denigrated, derided or lampooned on blogs, Facebook or Twitter, they are often perceived as damaged goods. 
 
 When the bloggers began mocking the campaign in March, a month after its introduction, Coca-Cola North America responded with a statement that it “in no way endorses or supports the use of any illegal substance.” After several weeks, the japes petered out — but they, of course, remain available online. 
 
 The phrase “You’re on” was intended as shorthand for “the uplift” Diet Coke gives consumers, encouraging them to “bring on your ‘A game,’ ” Stuart Kronauge, general manager for sparkling beverages at Coca-Cola North America, said on Tuesday. 
 
 Ms. Kronauge deflected questions from a reporter asking what she thought about the failure of the “You’re on” ads. “We felt like ‘You’re on’ worked,” she replied. “It’s not at all that ‘You’re on’ failed.” 
 
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 Asked why the campaign was concluding so suddenly if it was not a flop, Ms. Kronauge said that the new ads offered “a different way to talk about the brand” that will “resonate with our core loyal followers.” 
 
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 “It’s focusing on the product itself, the great crisp taste, the zero calories, the deliciousness,” she added. 
 
 As for the drug-related criticism, “iconic brands always create a conversation,” Ms. Kronauge said. “We felt it was mostly limited to the marketing community.” 
 
 The disappearance of “You’re on” is not entirely a surprise. Some Diet Coke ads in the last month replaced the theme with the words “Be ambitious. Not thirsty.” 
 
 A reason that “You’re on” was focused on younger consumers was to stimulate demand for Diet Coke, which like other diet sodas — and carbonated soft drinks in general — is losing sales to energy drinks, water, coffee and tea. According to the newsletter Beverage Digest, Diet Coke remained the No. 2 American soft drink last year, behind only Coca-Cola, but volume fell 6.8 percent compared with 2012. 
 
 “The whole diet category got dinged,” said John D. Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, noting that Diet Pepsi fell 6.9 percent, Diet Mountain Dew fell 3.1 percent and sales of Coke Zero, fast-growing until now, fell 0.1 percent. 
 
 In general, said Mr. Sicher, who has not seen the new Diet Coke campaign, “Coke and Pepsi both need to make marketing more about attributes or intrinsics.” 
 
 “It’s very important to get back to marketing these brands, at least in part, as delicious, refreshing and tasting good, and worrying less about brand image,” he added. 
 
 The “You’re on” campaign was created by Droga5 in New York; a spokeswoman at the agency referred inquiries to the client. Although the replacement campaign is being created internally at Coca-Cola North America, Ms. Kronauge said, from materials that have appeared in North America and overseas markets, Droga5 “absolutely continues to be” the creative agency of record for Diet Coke. 
 
 According to Kantar Media, Coca-Cola spent $26.1 million to advertise Diet Coke last year in major media, down from $28.8 million in 2012 but up from $23.4 million in 2011. ||||| What has Diet Coke been snorting? 
 
 In the way the tagline, "You're on," and logo are positioned, the brand's new ads seem to refer to drug use—appearing to spell out the phrase "You're on coke." 
 
 The campaign, by Droga5 in New York, has been building considerable, um, buzz in the media and from consumers flocking to social media with mocking comments. (Gothamist has collected some prime tweets along these, er, lines.) And while one imagines no such connection to cocaine is implied, you can understand the snarky reaction. 
 
 A commercial shows various people downing the product to get psyched up before speeches and performances. Taylor Swift takes a—how shall I put this?—hit backstage, then says, "Great. Let's go." Hey, that's nothing like drugs at all. In The New York Times, a Coca-Cola exec says the ads show how the drink provides "uplift for those moments when you really need to be on." Hey, that's nothing like drugs at all. 
 
 The campaign's wording is so obvious, I'd bet client and agency went this route on purpose. The ads are certainly getting extra attention, and it's not so offensive as to cause the brand harm. Plus, there's plausible deniability. 
 
 And here's a sobering thought: "Drogas" is Spanish for drugs! 
 
 I reached out to Coke and Droga5 for clarification. Oddly, they weren't on (no response yet), but I'll update this post with any uplifting comments they choose to provide. 
 
 UPDATE: Coca-Cola responds: "This advertising is one part of the new campaign for Diet Coke, which is called 'You're On.' It celebrates ambitious young achievers from all walks of life and reminds them that Diet Coke is there to support them in the moments when they are at their best. Every single day, young people around the world experience 'You're On' moments big and small. It could be a job interview or a national TV interview, a first date or a final exam, a presentation to your boss or a performance in front of thousands. The Diet Coke logo is the centerpiece of the ad campaign. Diet Coke in no way endorses or supports the use of any illegal substance." 
 
 Photo below: @david_j_roth ||||| It's never a good idea to have a drug reference in an advertising campaign, especially if you're one of America's biggest marketers and your product actually once included cocaine. 
 
 That's the lesson learned by Coca-Cola, which is dropping Diet Coke's new "You're on" campaign after it was mocked on social media. Ad industry trade publication AdWeek even ask ed , "What has Diet Coke been snorting?" 
 
 While the tagline may seem innocuous, the problem is that the phrase and logo are positioned in such a way that it appears to read, "You're on Coke." It's not likely that the reference was intentional, especially given its initial 19th century formulation, which included coca leaves and trace amounts of cocaine. The flub is an embarrassment for the beverage maker, considered one of the country's savviest and biggest-spending marketers, as it seeks to reverse a slump in Diet Coke sales. 
 
 Coke didn't immediately return a request for comment from CBS MoneyWatch. The campaign will be replaced with an older tagline, "Just for the taste of it," which first appeared in 1983, The New York Times notes. 
 
 When critics first started pointing out the drug allusion in "You're on," the company said in a statement to AdWeek that the tagline was meant to celebrate "ambitious young achievers from all walks of life and reminds them that Diet Coke is there to support them in the moments when they are at their best." It added, "Diet Coke in no way endorses or supports the use of any illegal substance." 
 
 The ads meant to portray Diet Coke as an enlivening drink, one consumed by on-the-go professionals and artists, such as one bus-stop ad that read, "You've moved to New York with two turntables, a microphone and a really cool DJ name. You're on Diet Coke." 
 
 While the tagline at DietCoke.com had already been changed as of Wednesday morning to "Just for the Taste of it," the mockery lives on in social media, with people retweeting images of signs with the offending slogan, as well as jokes and satirical takes. (Gothamist has collected several of the jabs.) 
 
 Still, one Coca-Cola executive told The New York Times that the mockery was mostly within the advertising industry. "Iconic brands always create a conversation," Stuart Kronauge, general manager for sparkling beverages at Coca-Cola North America, told the publication. "We felt it was mostly limited to the marketing community."
– Coca-Cola has dropped its "You're on" slogan for Diet Coke after being widely mocked for ads that appeared to say "You're on coke," thanks to the positioning of the logo. The ads, some of which portrayed the drink as a quick pick-me-up, looked like a pretty unsubtle cocaine reference to some bloggers and the lampooned campaign was ditched after just three months, reports the New York Times. The slogan has been replaced by "Just for the taste of it," returning for at least the third time since it was used to launch Diet Coke in 1983. "It's not likely that the reference was intentional," especially since the company's products used to actually contain cocaine, according to CBS, but David Gianatasio at AdWeek disagrees. "The campaign's wording is so obvious, I'd bet client and agency went this route on purpose," he writes. "The ads are certainly getting extra attention, and it's not so offensive as to cause the brand harm. Plus, there's plausible deniability." Coca-Cola says it "in no way endorses or supports the use of any illegal substance," and the slogan change was simply meant to provide "a different way to talk about the brand." (The company also recently agreed to remove a flame retardant from its Powerade drinks.)