 Our Response: There is a false rumor circulating via email on the Internet that claims that a child in Brazil died after drinking Coca-Cola light followed by chewing menthol-flavored chewy candy. This story is not true.
There is no reason to believe that Coca-Cola ingredients together with menthol flavor or any other food or food ingredient would combine to cause any illness. Coca-Cola ingredients and menthol flavoring are widely approved as safe food ingredients and are used worldwide in a variety of foods.
This email appears to be linked to a number of amateur videos that have appeared on the Internet, which show people, for fun, mixing Mentos candies with Coca-Cola light (or Diet Coke®) to produce a reaction that causes the Diet Coke to shoot into the air. This reaction is thought to be caused by carbon dioxide (which gives carbonated soft drinks their fizz) permeating the porous surface of the Mentos.
However, chewing a Mentos candy destroys the surface needed for the carbon dioxide bubbles to form. Therefore such a foam reaction cannot happen when the two products are ingested.
We strongly advise consumers to treat with skepticism unauthorized or untraceable myths and rumors which they find on the Internet, since they often, as in this case, turn out to be entirely false.
Q&A
Q: Why do Diet Coke and Mentos react this way when combined?
A: We haven’t conducted any research on the reaction between Diet Coke and Mentos. However, some scientists have said that it has something to do with the interaction of carbon dioxide (what gives soft drinks their “fizz”) and the surface of the candy.
Q: What happens if you eat Mentos and drink Diet Coke at the same time?
A: Nothing out of the ordinary. Chewing the candy destroys the surface needed for the carbon dioxide bubbles to form.
Additional Information
The Company has capitalized on the popularity of this harmless stunt and has launched a contest that is based on it. Here is some background on that:
In June 2006, a video clip produced by Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz began circulating on the internet that showcased an elaborate demonstration of the reaction that occurs when Mentos brand candies are dropped into bottles of Diet Coke. The video, created through an acting troupe called EepyBird, created an immediate online sensation and has since been viewed millions of times. There was no Company involvement in that video.
In July 2006, the Company re-launched www.coca-cola.com as its new Coca-Cola brand site. The new site features user generated content driven by regular challenges that invite consumers to post their own videos in response to creative “briefs” that outline a particular theme. The videos are judged and prizes awarded to winners.
Given the strategic direction of the new website, the Company entered into a sponsorship agreement with the producers of the video to create a new video which is more elaborate. The Company is featuring the new video on its site along with a challenge for the month of November asking consumers to create their own video around the theme of “Poetry in Motion.” The challenge is not asking people to recreate the Diet Coke and Mentos video. The video will also be available on Google Video and the producers’ site and will include post-roll advertising and banner advertising driving viewers to Coke.com.
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