You have grumbled, railed and complained against stark white soda cans and it seems Coca-Cola is listening, as they’ve announced they’ll return normal red Christmas cans next week.

When it comes to our soda cans, Americans are quite conservative, it seems. Coca-Cola announced that after only a month of snowy white cans, the red seasonal cans are coming back, says the Wall Street Journal. Originally the plan was to have white cans on the shelves through February.

The WSJ says some consumers thought it was too close to Diet Coke cans, and were none too happy to pick up what they thought was a no-calorie soda only to find it was packed with high-fructose corn syrup. The horror. Others even claimed a taste difference, or just plain were like, “This is wrong.”

Coke said it became aware of consumer complaints through Internet postings and some telephone calls to the company. Many Internet comments have been critical of the white cans. “PEOPLE! Don’t be a victim,” wrote one consumer on Twitter, warning that mixing up Coke and Diet Coke is “a SHOCK to the palate!”

Store owners reported customers returning opened white cans after they realized they were not guzzling Diet Coke.

This is the first year Coke tried the white can, after several other successful holiday branded cans. They say they were trying to raise awareness of global warming’s threat to polar bears’ Arctic habitat, in a joint effort with the World Wildlife Fund. Coke has pledged $3 million toward the cause. Some complaints regarded the company getting mixed up in the issue of global warming.

“The white can resonated with us because it was bold, attention-grabbing” and “reinforced” the campaign theme, says Scott Williamson, a spokesman for the beverage company. Coke’s marketing executives wanted a “disruptive” campaign to get consumers’ attention, he says.

Disruptive, indeed.

A Frosty Reception for Coca-Cola’s White Christmas Cans [Wall Street Journal]

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