Over the past month, Suntory has seemingly put a bajillion yen into pushing its new drink NOPE. Ads featuring its Harajuku-ish interpretation of punk aesthetics have blanked vending machines, train cars, and beyond in an effort to turn this “guilty carbonated beverage” into a hit. It can even be had for ¥100 from certain spots, underlining how much they want this to become a breakthrough product.
My question is...why NOPE? New drinks appear on convenience store shelves weekly, but none have been given the Gabbo routine quite like this one. Suntory offers two selling points to NOPE. First is the “guilty” angle, taken to a kind of comical extreme in ads depicting prisoners (see below) when the actual idea here is it goes well with junk food and boasts 56 kcals in a 600 milliliter bottle. The other is stress relief which could also tie in with the “I'm just going to go for it” attitude of the prior. Whichever marketing you embrace, you're getting a mixture of 99 flavors including various spices, chocolate, vanilla, fruits and beyond.
What Suntory seems to be trying to do is create a more mainstream product cashing in on the “craft cola” boom, wherein companies create small batches of the soda utilizing an assortment of spices and fruits. That or create a more science-tasting version of Dr. Pepper.
NOPE tastes fine in small doses. The “spice” and fruit element comes through most immediately in every sip, making for a flavor that is admittedly unlike anything else found on konbini shelves right now. Yet just because it's unique doesn't mean you want a lot of it. If you go for a NOPE, make sure it's the smaller can version as opposed to the bigger bottle. The sharp, tart flavor becomes overbearing as you work your way down, and you feel guilty about your poor stomach as you down more of it. Enjoy in moderation...even if Suntory's ad budget would shiver at that idea.
