State Challenges Diet Coke and Pepsi

BOSTON — Massachusetts Consumer Affairs Secretary Paula Gold on Thursday issued a challenge to world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, or at least to the makers of the diet cola product he endorses.

Gold asked the Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola companies to substantiate advertisements now being run that tout taste tests results showing Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi are both No. 1.

Tyson appears in Diet Pepsi commercials in which the soft-drink manufacturer claims it “decisively beat Diet Coke” to become the “undisputed champion.”

Diet Coke relies on an announcer to tell listeners and viewers it is “the winner and still champion” because after beating Diet Pepsi four times in four taste tests, new information shows “Diet Coke (still) beats Diet Pepsi.”