Backlash from incoherent minority opinion topples broad consensus
"At first, sales were up a significant amount over the previous year, even more than Coca-Cola had expected. According to surveys run by Coca-Cola, most people preferred the new flavor over the old. ... Coca-Cola stock went up, and things were looking really good. But then the vocal minority started kicking up their heels. Complaints trickled in, and angered Coke fans started enlisting the aid of the media. Soon that trickle developed into a flood. One man, Gay Mullins, even started the Old Cola Drinkers of America organization to lobby for the return of old Coke or at least try to get Coca-Cola to license out the formula to someone else. The fact that, in a blind taste test, Mullins picked New Coke over old Coke as his favorite didn't stop him from attempting to sue Coca-Cola over the switch. The dissenters started convincing others. Many who had never even tried New Coke decided they hated it before even tasting it, primarily because they were upset at the fact that the original Coke was no longer available. Finally, just three months after New Coke was introduced, the public outcry forced Coca-Cola to release the old formula under the name Coca-Cola Classic."
Simon Whistler, "Why Coke Tried to Switch to New Coke", Today I Found Out
27 December 2016
See also the informal survey by the Village Voice at the time showing that in blind taste tests people's taste preferences did not match the flavor they said up front that they preferred, and that the only thing all tasters had in common was that they were expecting to be screwed over by the corporate decision process.