SOHO Natural Cola is a product that was doomed to fail from the beginning. Before a consumer even tastes the product, they are already averse to buying the product.

First, the product is called SOHO Natural Cola. SOHO refers to a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Outside of New York, SOHO does mean much, in middle America. To many people SOHO is associated with poor starving artists like the ones they saw in the play and movie RENT, SOHO is not associated with high quality beverages or food. Using SOHO as part of the name might help if you were marketing the product in New York to help people relate to the product but this product was launched nationally.

Second, on the front of the can it says in three different places, the product is made with pure natural cane sugar. However, the cola still has some high fructose corn syrup as one of the ingredients. The product misses the segment of the population looking to get away with high fructose corn syrup and its potentially negative health affects and misses the segment looking to get away from highly processed ingredients.

Third, the size of the can is too big. The can is 23 ounces, which is too big for many people to drink in one sitting. There is a reason why soda cans are smaller than 23 ounces and the bigger bottles of soda are in plastic bottles. The product has no preservatives so it should be refrigerated after opening but there is no easy way to seal the can so it is susceptible to refrigerator odors which can adversely affecting the taste of the product. The other problem with the can is the soda looses its carbonation very quickly without being able to close the container. The big can does succeed in drawing attention to it on the store shelf but in practice, the large aluminum can is not very practical. The product is made by the Arizona Beverage company, which uses large cans for most of its products but most of their other products are not carbonated, and therefore the product loosing carbonation is not a concern.

Fourth, the product was launched around the same time as the low carb diet fad. People were turning away from products with a high amount of carbs and with 69 grams of sugar in one can, this product was high up on the list of products people were trying to avoid.

The above are four problems with the product that was doomed to fail and we have not even mentioned what the product tastes like. SOHO Natural Cola does not taste like what I would consider cola. First, you taste a strong vanilla flavor and then you have a very strong lingering cinnamon aftertaste that does not want to go away. Cola should have a balance of vanilla, cinnamon and citrus. SOHO Natural Cola is far from a well-balanced mix of natural flavors.

This product is just another attempt for a product that was doomed from the beginning. The back of the can says the product is a great buy at 99 cents. I got the product for 60 cents at a deep discount closeout store and even at 60 cents, I will not be buying more nor will I be missing it when the entire remaining product in existence is consumed or destroyed.